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They Might Be Giants

This seasons pitchers are getting quite huge. This one hasn't even started to open yet - N. truncata X spectabilis:
20140520-054506.jpg


Got big pitchers coming? Post pics!
 
I agree, that will be huge....................................and that's nobody's business, but the Turks.
 
Is it just me or does that picture look wrong? LOL

That's going to be a nice pitcher!
 
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Is it just me or does that picture look wrong? LOL

That's going to be a nice pitcher!

"Wrong" as in "rude"? LOL -- No, its just you, Don :-O
 
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Nice picture, but why is there a fern in the background? Are you trying to replicate a jungle-like environment?
 
Nice picture, but why is there a fern in the background? Are you trying to replicate a jungle-like environment?

*laughs* Does the fern annoy you??!

When you set up a greenhouse with highland conditions and lots of live Sphagnum, the ecosystem takes its own course and things like ferns spontaneously generate out of the moss strata. There are at least four species of ferns growing in the greenhouse - some of which have made a home in the gravel floor of the greenhouse. It has nothing to do with willing anything to happen, its what happens if you allow it.
 
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You get ferns as weeds? I usually just end up with grass or similar such plants, which I proceed to remove whenever I see them. Carefully, so their roots don't break off and spread the weeds.
 
You get ferns as weeds? I usually just end up with grass or similar such plants, which I proceed to remove whenever I see them. Carefully, so their roots don't break off and spread the weeds.

Ferns-as-weeds -- pretty much, yes. It's what happens in that environment. They spontaneously generate out of the various brands of dried sphagnum I use for my media.
 
I also get ferns as weeds in my work greenhouse. Very common in a wet/humid environment. Mostly Dryopteris, Thelypteris, Nephrolepis, Phlebodium, Pellaea, Pyrrosia, Psilotum, and Adiantum.

For me, it's really interesting because our teaching collection with the ferns is in a completely different greenhouse from the CPs. I weed out ferns from the CP room. The only way I can explain how those ferns repeatedly germinate their spores in the CP room is for the spores to have been blasted from one greenhouse to another through the exhaust fans.
 
  • #10
Speaking of giants, this is the season's first new pitcher on my N. naga. I know, I know, not exactly a giant, but its much bigger than the previous one.
20140521-093541-34541014.jpg
 
  • #11
Speaking of giants, this is the season's first new pitcher on my N. naga. I know, I know, not exactly a giant, but its much bigger than the previous one.

What do you mean by the first pitcher of the season? Do you mean the first pitcher in the summer? Because Nepenthes don't go through dormancy do they?
 
  • #13
If the seasons change enough (light levels, temp drops), oh yeah, they slow down in growth. Not a true dormancy really, but they often stop pitchering.
Paul, I can't wait to see when that naga pitcher goes black!
 
  • #14
Wow, the coloration of that naga reminds me of those decorated eggs (that is one shiny metallic looking inside).
 
  • #15
woah
those are nice - Naga especially. how big is the plant? and how old is it?
Whats the biggest trunc X spec pitchers around? im sure they can get massive

and the ferns - they can become quite a problem
they look impressive, lol, but they grow MUCH faster than the neps so they tend to take over. ive had some hit 2m before taking them out
 
  • #16
Neps have a great deal of seasonality for me, though I have a completely artificial environment. Typically offshooting/vegetative growth (spring)--> pitchering (summer) -->flowering (fall/winter) -->sluggishness (winter)


Varies by species, too. I let them do what they want without too much prodding. I feed when they seem to want to grow, and I withhold when they don't.
 
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  • #17
Neps have a great deal of seasonality for me, though I have a completely artificial environment. Typically offshooting/vegetative growth (spring)--> pitchering (summer) -->flowering (fall/winter) -->sluggishness (winter)


Varies by species, too. I let them do what they want without too much prodding. I feed when they seem to want to grow, and I withhold when they don't.

Very good summary, Kevin! Thanks.
 
  • #18
You'd think with completely artificial lighting and temperature control they wouldn't have any seasonal patterns.
 
  • #19
You'd think with completely artificial lighting and temperature control they wouldn't have any seasonal patterns.

If all you have is completely artificial conditions with consistent year-round light + heating, then you won't observe a significant seasonal slowdown. However, most people have a situation where natural lighting is part of the equation, and with some degree of seasonal temperature changes. Those growers will see some changes in plant performance through the change of seasons.
 
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