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CaptainPink

Greetings from Indonesia :awesome:

I just recently purchased my first CP which is an N. bicalcarata. I'd like to know more about how to take care of my CP and hopefully I can get more and more useful informations in this forum;)
 
Welcome to Terra Forums! I expect someone more skilled in Nepenthes culture can do much better than I but you might find useful information here: The Carnivorous Plant FAQ: Nepenthes It is worth noting that N. bicalcarata is a lowland species preferring higher temperatures.
 
They also require high humidity, putting a heat pad under the pot helps with that! And welcome!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
CaptainPink said:
Heat pad as in the one used to be tucked inside your shoes to keep you warm during winter?
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A heating pad like one would use to keep a area of a reptile's tank warm (UTH = "under the tank heater") or one that might be used under small pots with seedlings or freshly planted seeds to keep soil temperatures from getting too cold.

Considering you live in Indonesia, you probably won't need any such thing unless you are growing indoors with air conditioning or happen to live in a cool area. With the average temperatures and humidity common to most of your country, you will likely be able to grow bicalcarata outdoors year round.

;)
 
Yeah I expect you'll have no trouble meeting the temperature and humidity requirements of N. bicalcarata, and they get huge so I would certainly recommend growing it outdoors if possible.
 
DragonsEye said:
A heating pad like one would use to keep a area of a reptile's tank warm (UTH = "under the tank heater") or one that might be used under small pots with seedlings or freshly planted seeds to keep soil temperatures from getting too cold.

Considering you live in Indonesia, you probably won't need any such thing unless you are growing indoors with air conditioning or happen to live in a cool area. With the average temperatures and humidity common to most of your country, you will likely be able to grow bicalcarata outdoors year round.

;)
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Yeah I agree probably I won't need those. It's always hot when it's sunny and humid when it's rainy. Basically perfect :awesome:
 
nimbulan said:
Yeah I expect you'll have no trouble meeting the temperature and humidity requirements of N. bicalcarata, and they get huge so I would certainly recommend growing it outdoors if possible.
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Hi Nimbulan

Yea basically the climate is perfect and the altitude also for bicalcarata. I might expand my collection with a neoguineensis probably.

Btw, I lurked quite a lot around the form before joining and I often saw your iconic purple lipped nepenthes avatar there and I assume you must have lots of knowledge about CPs, nimbu.

I want to ask, I used 70% cocopeat and 30% sphagnum as the growing medium here and I was uninformed that you're better of soaking and rinsing the cocopeat before using so I'm afraid if my medium contains too much salt for my bical. Should I repot it and change medium? For now, I'm in the process of soaking and rinsing another batch of cocopeat. If so, I will use the rinsed cocopeat and reuse the sphagnum used in my plant as topping later on, but I'm afraid it will set back my plant cause at the moment the plant has one very healthy pitcher wit lots of dead ants inside.

Thank you
 
I'm certainly no expert but I've learned a lot in the past couple years. With cocopeat it really depends on the particular product. It's difficult to get clean cocopeat here but you may have an easier time finding some where you live. When in doubt, get a TDS meter and test the water after soaking it.
 
CaptainPink said:
I want to ask, I used 70% cocopeat and 30% sphagnum as the growing medium here and I was uninformed that you're better of soaking and rinsing the cocopeat before using so I'm afraid if my medium contains too much salt for my bical.
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In your climate, I would worry that your media may be too dense/water retentive. I would think a bit more "open" mix like coconut husk chunks with a bit of sphagnum might be better. Only a nep novice myself so hopefully a more experienced grower will chime in. (The husk chunks would also be best soaked/rinsed for salt removal unless you were sure they hadn't be soaking in salt water.)
 
The media density wouldn't be an issue, unless it rains a ton or you over-water. I'd say wash the coco peat a lot of times before use, however, you are in a bit of trouble with choosing a bical as your first nepenthes and immediately having to repot it again, since that species has very sensitive roots.

What I would do is this: Have entirely rinsed media on hand in a different (and fairly large) pot, and very carefully dig out your bical, attempting to disturb the roots as little as possible. Then, rinse the media attached to the roots of the bical by pouring distilled or rain water over it, being gentle as you do so. Use at least 2 liters of water to do this, as a gentle, waterfall stream. Then, pot the bical in the large pot you have prepared with already rinsed media.

I advise using a large pot, because once this species recovers, it grows relatively fast, and you want to be able to avoid repotting it again for a while. Expect your bical to stall a bit for a few months (a result that likely would happen just from the first time you potted it anyways). Give this plant partial shade, or the leaves will burn (turn a sickly yellow and brown, and be unable to make food for the plant). The media it grows in should remain moist to the touch, but if you poke it, you shouldn't see water on your finger. The pot needs to drain well. You sure didn't go easy on yourself picking this species as your first nepenthes.
 
PsychoSarah said:
You sure didn't go easy on yourself picking this species as your first nepenthes.
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LOL, I can't help it because I thought it would be great since the place where I live leans toward lower elevation XD

And also I kinda like the fangs and the orange color of the bical may have brought me to this imminent doom XD

Also it was around 2 months ago since I pot my bical, almost of all the pitchers were damaged upon shipment except for one compacted pitcher which already bloomed and now it is very healthy with pack of dead ants inside. Should I do it right away? Since probably around 5 more days I'll be finished with rinsing my cocopeat, but it can wait more if I were to use very large pot since I need to rinse another batch. What size of pot do you recommend?
 
CaptainPink said:
LOL, I can't help it because I thought it would be great since the place where I live leans toward lower elevation XD

And also I kinda like the fangs and the orange color of the bical may have brought me to this imminent doom XD

Also it was around 2 months ago since I pot my bical, almost of all the pitchers were damaged upon shipment except for one compacted pitcher which already bloomed and now it is very healthy with pack of dead ants inside. Should I do it right away? Since probably around 5 more days I'll be finished with rinsing my cocopeat, but it can wait more if I were to use very large pot since I need to rinse another batch. What size of pot do you recommend?
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For the size yours already is, I'd say a pot at least 50% bigger (multiply the pot's dimensions by 1.5). Bicals become quite large, and nepenthes in general start to grow much faster once they reach about 8-13cm in diameter. If the plant has been doing okay for 2 months in the media, it will probably be safe to wait a few more days if you really need the time. However, just so you know what you are getting into, this species can grow up to 20 meters tall, and have a larger diameter than 120 cm. This is why people advise others to grow this species outside if possible. Sure, it will take quite a few years to get that big, but I would be shocked if the pot you have it in now would be of suitable size for very long. Plus, this species really doesn't like to be repotted, so starting off with a large pot reduces the number of times you'll have to stress the plant.
 
Thanks for all the information

Never thought that this species will grow THAT big. I know that this species has particular big stems and roots but never thought it would become 2 metres.
 
DragonsEye said:
In your climate, I would worry that your media may be too dense/water retentive. I would think a bit more "open" mix like coconut husk chunks with a bit of sphagnum might be better. Only a nep novice myself so hopefully a more experienced grower will chime in. (The husk chunks would also be best soaked/rinsed for salt removal unless you were sure they hadn't be soaking in salt water.)
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I kind of agree with your suggestion in using chunks instead of peat here. Because earlier this morning I saw my cocopeat turned to mush after the ninth time soaking and rinsing with air conditioner water. Maybe I ought to buy coco chunks today instead of peat? I planned to soak and rinse the cocopeat I have 10 times (each 12-24 hours soaking) and I've found out that after the 7th time it was I don't know, maybe perfect like the peat was very clean and nice. But after that it became mushy. I hope anyone can give me suggestion here but I guess chunks might be the safer option.
 
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