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Ok, I just joined terraforums about seven minutes ago because I have this burning question to ask! I just finished reading "The carnivorous plant FAQ" online--but some information conflicts with the care sheets on sarracenia northwest. Can I actually grow a species like "Nepenthes alata x (alata x ventricosa)" on a windowsill that provides "direct morninng sun"?
Or will it (nepenthes in general) according to "The Carnivorous Plant FAQ" grow better in a terrarium?

The windowsill option would be a lot less more humid
and if I took the terrarium approach I could place in a fan to have air circulation, mist a lot to have high humidity, and good growing lights

which option is more optimal for the best growth?

thanks a ton!
-Chefdjc
 
you can grow Ventricosa, Ventrata(ventricosa x alata), Khasiana, Gracilis, Maxima(possible), Sanguinea, Spathulata(possible and gets very large), x Rokko and x Emmarene are all good candidates for a windowsill. personally i grow Ventrata and ventricosa outdoors in a hanging basket shaded by the leaves of its tree but i also have a TC mutant nep indoors on a window sill. right now for me terrariums are just to hard to keep up. humidity is a big part in getting the plant to make pitchers but the main thing is light. if you give good light then your plants will succede!
Good luck
Alex

PM if you have any questions
 
Welcome to the forums
smile.gif


Actually both sites are correct. You can grow some Neps on a windowsill but all of them will grow better in a terrarium/greenhouse. It is all a matter of degrees.

FWIW I grow a number of Neps on the windowsills here at my lab and most do great after they settle in. I also grow some outside in direct sunlight at my house and I have yet another batch growing in my crawlspace under lights.
 
Thanks both to you so much!
Now I can order some plants from online!
(from trusted sites, Of course!)
 
to a nepenthes, a windowsill can be like a desert and a terrarium like a jungle.

which would you rather live in? jungle for me!
 
Hey, if you have a good windowsill, and reasonably humid conditions, you can grow neps like crazy. Here's my windowsill nep setup, where I have a N. hirsuta x veitchii, and a N. ventricosa that share a single pot:
383e6935.jpg


And here's a closeup of a N. hirsuta x veitchii upper:
bb2de83a.jpg


These get only an hour or two of semi-direct sunlight a day, bt once they settled in, they grow like crazy. They slow down a lot in winter, however, when they get almost no direct light.

Capslock
 
Right but keep in mind that this is different from place to place. My conditions in Belgium are not the same as the conditions in California or Hong Kong. During the day nobody is home down here, then temps in winter go below 15°C inside the house, not ideal...
 
you are so lucky to live in san fran! i DREAM of living there.

i gotta get out of georgia pronto!
 
Keep in mind where the advice is coming from. Sarracenia NW is trying to sell plants - not only that, but they specifically stock Neps that they believe will do well as houseplants, for their customers' ease-of-care. Their instructions pertain mostly to the plants they sell; they put a lot of work into choosing hardy varieties and hardening off their plants before sale, so I can pretty much assure you that the instructions on their website assume that you have a healthy, robust plant that is prepared for household conditions.
Barry Rice is just a knowledgable grower with many other responisibilities who gets lots of emails saying, "Why is my plant dead!?!?!" Naturally, Barry's cultivation instructions tend to be a bit more conservative. :)
~Joe

PS - Welcome to the forums!
 
  • #10
Dude I got all my neps by a east window and they are all pitchering and sending up new leaves. My humidity without the humidifier stays around 60% but at night when I turn it on it goes to around 85 and up.
 
  • #11
Welcome to TerraForums. I have a lot of respect for the caresheets that SNW provides. I also grow my Neps (ventrata, Judith Finn, and Miranda) in a planter, right at the window sill. Here's some older pictures:

Strausplants0241.jpg


AF001501.jpg


AF001301.jpg
 
  • #12
For me it all depends on different things. I've had some Neps grow great on a windowsill and horrible in a terrarium, and vice versa. I think most Neps can grow well as windowsill plants after an adjustment period, so it more depends on keeping all their other conditions good (water, light, temperature, etc.) and consistant rather than worrying about just the humidity being high.

Just look at Elgecko's N. hamata. Who would have thought THAT plant could be grown as a windowsill plant? Not me!
 
  • #13
So should I be screwing around with a humidifier at night?
 
  • #14
I have very limited experience, but all my neps came from Sarr NW, which happen to be a sanguinea and a ventricosa, which I understand to be very harty plants. I have no problems on my windowsill in Atlanta GA so far. Let's see what the winter brings.

Also, my plants grow in the A/C so I bet the humidity is lower than "ideal"
 
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