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night time temp drop?

Hi guys! I'm new to carnivorous plants and was trying to figure out the best place in my home to grow them. My biggest question is do they require a large night time temperature drop? I am looking at highland nepenthes. Thanx
 
Highland Nepenthes have a very well-defined set of preferred temperatures: highs in the high 70s (avoid temps over 85 for extended periods; my greenhouse regularly goes to 82 or 83 for periods, but never over 85) and the night needs to drop below 60F for most varieties. Certain "ultra-highland" species prefer temps closer 45F. If you choose hybrids, especially those that have warm growers in their pedigree, you can get away with nights above 60F, but plants will still respond better if temps drop below that figure.

I strongly recommend you start with a few of the easy plants, like N. sanguinea and N. ventricosa, or any of their hybrids, and any of the N. maxima hybrids, such as N. Miranda, N. Gentle, or N. Ventrata. Once you have grown a few of these easier plants for a year or so with success, you are ready to take on some of the more challenging species like N. hamata or N. macrophylla; those are not good plants for someone who hasn't yet acquired some Nepenthes skills ;-)
 
They do indeed. My HL tent ranges between 72º and 80º during the day and 50º and 60º at night. This time of year, my drops are acheived by opening and closing the windows in the plant room. I use a portable air conditioning unit for summer.

Without proper temp drops, HL Nepenthes will surely decline (some faster than others). Usually the first sign of this is progressively smaller and smaller leaves being produced by the plants.
 
Thanx for the replies guys, great advice. The only time I will have trouble dropping the night temps is in the summer. I do have a small single room air conditioner that I could use, would that be better than a swamp cooler?
 
Yes. Swamp coolers don't cool all that great and they only work in very low humidity.
 
What i do for all my neps highland and my heliamphoras, is closing completely the terrariums, and throwing the a/c air flux directly on them. This way i can have the night drop i need.
If you do this, just let a lil hole on the other side of the terra(not the side from where air come). This will add some light ventilation.

You will have cool and wet nights for your highland babies :)
 
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