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Nepenthes take their sweet time

After years of growing CPs, it seems I've finally settled down in the Nepenthes camp. I'd say a good 90% of the CPs I currently grow are Neps and I've come to experience a little quirk of these amazing pitcher plants...

...Some of them take their sweet time adjusting to my conditions! In fact, I'd say MOST of my Neps take a long time adjusting. Pretty much from the moment I get a new Nep, it'll stop growing, produce a mangled growth tip (this only happens to some, the others just go into 'freeze mode') and it'll be several months until new, healthy growth resumes.

One time Elgecko said that it takes most of his Neps around 3 months to completely settle into his conditions and I'm finding that observation to be quite true and relevant. But dang, once they settle in, I'm reminded of why I grow these dang things - They're beautiful!

I'd like to know what all of you have experienced in terms of Neps settling into new conditions. You're all much more experienced than me when it comes to these plants!
 
If you're getting them bare-root, some of this is attributed to transplant shock, which is unavoidable, at least to some extent. Even planting the entire root ball wrapped in sphag will still cause some shock, as 1) the previous grower had to "dig it up", and 2) you are putting at least some pressure on very fragile roots during the repotting process, probably breaking some in the process. I'm not saying this is a you thing, because it unavoidably happens to everyone. If I get a new nep and immediately start to grow it as a windowsill plant, I find it takes about a month or two tops to really take off. When I get a new one in a baggie, and stick it in my terrarium, still in the closed baggie for about a day, then over the course of a few days gradually open the baggie more and more, until the nep spends an entire day in the terrarium with baggie fully opened, then pot, I find that, depending on the species, it takes maybe a week or two tops for it to continue where it left off. If i skip the baggie thing, and pot then stick in my terrarium immediately, they only take 3 or so weeks to continue growing, though their first leaf is usually smaller than the rest.

This also depends on what species is being grown as well.

man these things can be enigmatic...
 
well heres a story for ya! i got my first nep, a Ventrata, back in november. i put it on a windowsil(in a peat, LFS, sand mix) and waited.....and waited.....and waited some more. the thing grew immeditetly but never produced a pitcher. until june when i put it outside to see how it would do....now heres the thing i dont get. the next leaf it makes...a pitcher starts to form!!!!! then about a week later this huge storm came out and blew my nep out of its basket and onto the ground. my other nep stayed put. the ventrata that fell lost almost 80% of all the roots it had...i knew this was going to lead to some SEVERE shock...it did and it also started a root rot. the stem grew mushy and i made 3 cuttings. 2 have rooted and the other died. but these new cuttings(ne of which is going black on the grow tip) are not doing ANYTHING. i havent seen new growth in almost a month and knowing ventrata, this isnt normal. thats my story....anyone else?
Alex
 
About this I can also write my personal experience!
Now...here in Italy I have recpotted some Nepenthes and put some of them so as they were ( with their old ot ) into my terrarium.
Some of my Plants simply stopped to grow ( ex : campanulata ) because I think that they must be sure to be in a nice place,ehehe!
There are some plants who don't develope soon pitchers and some of them that don't care about where they are and also continues to grow indistubed.
This spring I remember exactly that when I moved outside Nepenthes ventrinermis ( ventricosa x inermis ) it stopped to grow for 2 months and did loose ALL traps ( and also the one it was producing ) , even the clima was really compatible with it!!!
Incredible! The plant was in its clima and stopped to grow for 2 months just because I moved her!
It seems that Nepenthes really have eyes! Yeah!
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So,this was my experince!
See yah!

Mr_Aga
Milan - ITALY
 
Under my conditions 3 months seems to be the norm.

Alex,
Rooting nep cutting can very a lot on when they start to grow.
I have 5 cutting which I have been rooting for 5 months now. 1 the node swelled quickly but took some time after before it started to make leaves. 3 others are just making leaves now, and I still have 1 that the node has swollen and not done anything else yet, and again it has been 5 months. They certainly can drag there feet.
 
well the node on mine has come fully out...its just not doing anything.
 
Awsome...

It seems about a year ago (around this time) I orderd a N. judith fin... now look at my display!

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Its so preaty! But Now I cant wait to move on, it takes about a month or two for mine to settle in... then again its around mid to high 60's where I keep them...
cool.gif
but now I have about 7... Im so happy

How many neps might you have?

Hail nep's...
 
i have 3...Ventrata, ventrata x ventricosa and "Mutant"
Alex
 
The only nep that has never freezed on me is bical. even when I took it out of it's terrarium (very high temps and humidity, both in the 90's all the time) and put it in my new grow area (temps in the 70's-80's and humidity just above 50%) it never stopped at all or lost any pitchers.

On the other hand N. Clippedia seems to take years to settle in.
 
  • #11
Maybe did you mean clipeata? ;)

Mr_Aga
Milan - Italy
 
  • #12
I've also noticed that my Neps HATE to be moved. Even if the conditions are only slightly different, they'll get stubborn and stop growing for a while. This is why I'm hoping that my relatively new (and stable!) setup will aid in coaxing my plants into full-time, healthy growth.

There's a guy on these forums who runs that website "Nepenthes Around The House" and I use it all the time for information. I'm kicking myself for not remembering his screenname! So whoever you are, if you come into this thread, some tips on acclimating Nepenthes to different conditions would be much appreciated!
 
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