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Nepenthes windowsill growers - assemble!
- Thread starter trashcan
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Trashcan,
All the stuff from my lowland collection on the photo page is grown as houseplants on a windowsill or near a window. Average house temps and humidity seems okay for some plants. Ones to definitely avoid are the hot, humid lowlanders like bical, ampullaria, and northiana to name a few. The thicker and waxier the leaves, the better the odds of good growing. Highland or lowland truncatas seem to do well. I would venture to say that any of the intermediate hybrids to possible lowland / highland hybrids that are available should do fine. Typical classics like maxima, ventricosa, and alata should be easy. True highlanders I haven't tried growing indoors just because I have more room outside. I wouldn't do the real up there highlanders like macrophylla, villosa to name a few. But some of the midrange guys like boschiana, eustachya, vogelii, platychila (the last two are rather pricey) may work. Anything from around 900m-1600m range I'd give a go. Since there are so many good lowland / highland hybrids available now as well as species plants that are very reasonably priced, I'd experiment with some just for fun.
Oh, I don't have air conditioning but air movement does help. I try as much as possible to leave the windows open a bit during the day to increase air movement around the house.
Joel
http://www.nepenthesaroundthehouse.com
All the stuff from my lowland collection on the photo page is grown as houseplants on a windowsill or near a window. Average house temps and humidity seems okay for some plants. Ones to definitely avoid are the hot, humid lowlanders like bical, ampullaria, and northiana to name a few. The thicker and waxier the leaves, the better the odds of good growing. Highland or lowland truncatas seem to do well. I would venture to say that any of the intermediate hybrids to possible lowland / highland hybrids that are available should do fine. Typical classics like maxima, ventricosa, and alata should be easy. True highlanders I haven't tried growing indoors just because I have more room outside. I wouldn't do the real up there highlanders like macrophylla, villosa to name a few. But some of the midrange guys like boschiana, eustachya, vogelii, platychila (the last two are rather pricey) may work. Anything from around 900m-1600m range I'd give a go. Since there are so many good lowland / highland hybrids available now as well as species plants that are very reasonably priced, I'd experiment with some just for fun.
Oh, I don't have air conditioning but air movement does help. I try as much as possible to leave the windows open a bit during the day to increase air movement around the house.
Joel
http://www.nepenthesaroundthehouse.com
trashcan
O:-)
Update. All three plants took the expected hit. I decided to move them directly on the windowsill and did not use the ziplock acclimation method I had planned. The pitcher lids lowered on the ventricosa and then blackened. However, after this, the plants have all started growing. None of the growing points were affected, although they did not grow for the first few days. They have continued growing
I'm personally surprised at how well the ventricosa x talangensis is doing. This must be a pretty vigorous hybrid. This also looks like it is going to be a pretty big plant. Quite a bit of space between each successive leaf.
Hopefully in a couple of weeks I'll see the first pitcher that developed completely on the windowsill.
I'm personally surprised at how well the ventricosa x talangensis is doing. This must be a pretty vigorous hybrid. This also looks like it is going to be a pretty big plant. Quite a bit of space between each successive leaf.
Hopefully in a couple of weeks I'll see the first pitcher that developed completely on the windowsill.
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Trash,
I wouldn't expect any new pitchers for a while. When I get my plants and put them indoors or worse, outdoors with the lowered humidity the pitchers often dry up and die. You can tell by looking at the leaves of the plants when they arrive. In higher humidity like in greenhouses the leaves aren't as "tough" and often wilt as they adjust to their surroundings. Then after a few months when the plant is settled in and producing waxy leaves the pitchers will follow. There are some Neps that won't lose their pitchers while adapting to windowsill conditions. Some of those are usually the really tough pitchered ones and not the more papery pitcherd plants. Good luck adapting your plants.
Joel
I wouldn't expect any new pitchers for a while. When I get my plants and put them indoors or worse, outdoors with the lowered humidity the pitchers often dry up and die. You can tell by looking at the leaves of the plants when they arrive. In higher humidity like in greenhouses the leaves aren't as "tough" and often wilt as they adjust to their surroundings. Then after a few months when the plant is settled in and producing waxy leaves the pitchers will follow. There are some Neps that won't lose their pitchers while adapting to windowsill conditions. Some of those are usually the really tough pitchered ones and not the more papery pitcherd plants. Good luck adapting your plants.
Joel
trashcan
O:-)
So far only the ventricosa has had any pitchers die. The top half of 2 pitchers have died, and the third looks a little rough but isn't dead yet. The copelandii had one of its pitchers lower its lid, but the other three look perfect. The ventricosa x talangensis has not shown any ill effects yet.
All three are showing still growing at a reasonable rate. I'm hoping for the best, but maybe you're right- I am being a bit optimistic.
All three are showing still growing at a reasonable rate. I'm hoping for the best, but maybe you're right- I am being a bit optimistic.
