Some coffee; some patience; some time . . .

[BigBella]

Here is a modest, all too nondescript seedling -- seed coat still visible -- in 2013, in a compost of milled sphagnum, long fiber sphagnum, and horticultural sand; and, below, its slightly more colorful counterpart, a year, nine months and change later . . .

Nepenthes edwardsiana 20 August 2013


25 May

 

[thez_yo]

You know you could just as easily ask us all to quit nicely while we're ahead, instead of rubbing our noses in it.

 

[Heli]

Holy crap nice!!

 

[SerMuncherIV]

Might as well quit growing neps now, that's got to be the fastest eddie I've ever seen, and I can't even get a ventricosa to go that fast...Time to bring on the coffee!

 

[Ambanja]

exceptionally well done!!!!!!! can you give a little more info on your growing conditions / fertilizer regime?

 

[BigBella]

exceptionally well done!!!!!!! can you give a little more info on your growing conditions / fertilizer regime?

Thanks all . . .


The seed was aseptically germinated in a TC media; then was transferred to compost, after the first "true" leaves were produced. The seed coat was still present and attached at that point.

Otherwise, growing conditions were those of other highlanders, with days which rarely exceeded twenty five degrees Celsius; and nights which hovered around ten. In January, the plants saw temperatures in the low single digits. They were also grown under natural light and experienced a varying photoperiod.

The loose compost is that of milled sphagnum; long fiber sphagnum; some fine orchid bark, sand and pumice (avoid perlite, which can leach salts into the compost). The pH was maintained at about five with, either a weak peat "tea" with some of the seedlings -- though coffee, poured through the media, biweekly, was far more common.

Dilute 30:10:10 orchid fertilizer was also used biweekly, alternating with that of the coffee, poured through the media . . .

 

[NemJones]

And people say that coffee is a myth..

 

[Not a Number]

Since an orchid fertilizer was also used who can say which had how much effect. Would the same growth be seen with coffee only or orchid fertilizer only?

 

[BigBella]

Since an orchid fertilizer was also used who can say which had how much effect. Would the same growth be seen with coffee only or orchid fertilizer only?

Having already mentioned this on the old coffee thread, growth markedly accelerated with the addition of the coffee to those plants which had already been receiving only the bimonthly 25% 30:10:10.

Further, a more effective study would involve experimenting upon a series of clones -- with and without the variables of coffee and fertilizer -- and not inherently variable seed grown plants . . .

 

[vraev]

You know you could just as easily ask us all to quit nicely while we're ahead, instead of rubbing our noses in it.

lol! True.

Exceptionally done BigB. Man!! if only edwardsiana was more readily available at relatively affordable prices...we can actually experiment with its conditions.

Thanks for sharing your experience btw. I tried coffee a few times and it just killed my sphagnum and I had to repot the plants. Almost killed a macrophylla due to it. Perhaps I didn't properly leech the media after the coffee treatment.

 

[BigBella]

Thanks for sharing your experience btw. I tried coffee a few times and it just killed my sphagnum and I had to repot the plants. Almost killed a macrophylla due to it. Perhaps I didn't properly leech the media after the coffee treatment.

Leeching the compost the following day, was very important; and my live sphagnum thrived under those conditions . . .

 

[Heli]

Thanks for sharing your experience btw. I tried coffee a few times and it just killed my sphagnum and I had to repot the plants. Almost killed a macrophylla due to it. Perhaps I didn't properly leech the media after the coffee treatment.

Damn don't say that Varun! I just coffee treated my plants less than half an hour ago!

 

[vraev]

Leeching the compost the following day, was very important; and my live sphagnum thrived under those conditions . . .

Damn don't say that Varun! I just coffee treated my plants less than half an hour ago!

haha! Don't worry. Most if not all others who use this technique quote amazing results. It just didn't work for me.

Perhaps I don't know how much water to run through the pot BigB? I guess I also am a bit too cheap with it as I have to buy my water from the grocery store with it now becoming around $2 per gallon. I just water enough for it to run through the pot and pour out of the bottom holes. How much of it do you recommend running through? Volume would be hard to say as it depends on the size of pot and media composition. Is there a particular amount of run off time I should aim to hit? like 20sec of just water running through? But how about if you just pour a lot more water at one time through the pot, you could accomplish the same thing with lower "run off time". I may be overthinking this too much. lol

 

[BigBella]

Perhaps I don't know how much water to run through the pot BigB? I guess I also am a bit too cheap with it as I have to buy my water from the grocery store with it now becoming around $2 per gallon. I just water enough for it to run through the pot and pour out of the bottom holes. How much of it do you recommend running through? I may be overthinking this too much. lol

Say, do you folks have RO water machines outside markets, in the Great White North? I thought that I saw some in Toronto. The ones where you supply your own bottle and by the gallon? In San Francisco, land of the Golden Gate and, lamentably, arse-less chaps, it runs between .37 to .40 a gallon. I generally test mine with a TDS meter; and it's rarely over 8 PPM. I run it through the pots until it appears on the clear side. My composts are loose; so it doesn't take much time.

And yes, Varun, you are soooo overthinking it . . .

 

[vraev]

haha! Yup! we do. when were you in Toronto? Keep me posted if you are around next time...would be awesome to meet up.

In fact I just bought my first 5gal bottle of distilled water. It cost $5.75. It was from a local small business store. They charged $12 for the bottle + tax and then the water. I have been getting the regular small 4L bottles of water from the grocery store so far just for the sake of convinience. I might have to end up going this route now as it is definitely cheaper once you invest in the big bottle. The annoyance is transferring it to a smaller container/spray bottle without it spilling.

lol! Gotcha. will have to try it again soon. I didn't used to wait till the water runs clear. It would still be tanned and it was hard to distinguish whether it was tannins due to peat or just the coffee.

 

[Tower]

Hey Big Bella,
Forgive me but is this the same two plants?

 

[Av8tor1]

And so it came to pass, the david came down from mount by the bay
Words of wisdom share did he, be it known that coffee is the nectar of the gods
Drink my child but share with thy nep, for it is thy eddie that benefit most of all

Denton 2:25

 

[BigBella]

And so it came to pass, the david came down from mount by the bay
Words of wisdom share did he, be it known that coffee is the nectar of the gods
Drink my child but share with thy nep, for it is thy eddie that benefit most of all

Denton 2:25

". . . and slew they the goats, and place they the bits in tiny pots . . ."

Butch, you should really talk, oh Padishah Emperor of Tincher Tepui . . .

Hey Big Bella,
Forgive me but is this the same two plants?

Absolutely no forgiveness; and yes, it was and is the same plant, though with a bit more color and less likely to be overgrown by the green hell that is Polytrichum . . .

 

[vraev]

"..... though with a bit more color and less likely to be overgrown by the green hell that is Polytrichum . . .

BigB....are u sure?..that isn't polytricum. atleast not most of it...there seems some which can be polytricum though. this looks more like a sheet moss species. polytricum is a lot bigger....isn't it? this is typically almost all polytricum species...size wise...also polytricum moss ends up being a lot more thicker and vascular. Also a lot darker green generally. If you look around, u can see both mosses in question in these below pics. Polytricum is evident...the other one is all over too...just a bit sparse in these pics. It is probably a separate species of moss that is the bane of my existence in pic 1 that drowns everything in my tank...the lighter fluffier sheet moss.

 

[BigBella]

BigB....are u sure?..that isn't polytricum. atleast not most of it...there seems some which can be polytricum though. this looks more like a sheet moss species. polytricum is a lot bigger....isn't it? this is typically almost all polytricum species...size wise...also polytricum moss ends up being a lot more thicker and vascular.

I did remove a great deal of the moss from the pots; and there are, after all, something on the order of seventy-five species of Polytrichum -- some greener; some more vascular in appearance; some less so; and they vary in size. It was more of an issue when the plants were seedlings . . .