What is a good beginner

[slamster1789]

my grandmother is getting me a gift certificate to another cp site and i want to get a few neps what would be the best lowland to start off with? what conditions will it need? thanx in advance

 

[Clint]

hot days, warm night. you can also grow some adaptable highlanders such as ventricosa as lowlanders, or hybrids like ventrata.

pretty much any lowlander is a good choice if you know what your doing.

 

[pond boy]

Well N.x hookerana(hookeriana),N.raflessiana,N.x coccinea,and N.gracilis all come to mind.

They will all need the following conditions:

Water: keep soil constantly moist but not soggy.Use only disstilled,rain or r\o water.

Soil: Use a well drained soil devoid(or almost) of nutrients,a good mix is equal parts peat\perlite\fine orchid bark.

Light: Diffused sunlight with little direct sun. They like a lot of sun but not a lot of direct sunlight.

Temperature: daytime of 75-90*f,night of 60-70*f.

Humidity: High at all times. You can mist them.

I hope that covers it all

Edit:darn Clint did a quicky post well I was typeing this

 

[slamster1789]

i had rafflesiana in mind i plan on getting ventricosa as a highlander, i wan at least one of each type to start i am also getting khasiana(cant spell it without looking), i was looking into gracilis as well what about alata? i plan on making a lowland terrarium with maybe a vft or two something simple.

 

[pond boy]

Alata is good too. Well a vft won`t do particularily well on the hot temps and fixated photoperiod of a lowland terarium. Better to keep it outdoors and then bring it in on a cool windowsill for dormancy.

 

[slamster1789]

thanx for the advice, wouldnt a vft work if you just removed it every now and then? i think ill try a raff.

 

[rattler]

ampullaria is a good and interesting species. i would prolly stay away from bicals as they can get huge fast in the right conditions. raff's are excellent. look at some of the lowland hybrids too, there are some interesting ones availible x trichocarpa, x hookeriana, x wrigleyana, x mixta, x Miranda, x Ile de France and others are very interesting and good growers if you can find them.

Rattler

 

[Clint]

you can grow the vft in the lowland setup during the growing season, but you must take it out for it's dormancy.

 

[Tony Paroubek]

N. rafflesiana will get pretty big in short order too.

Some other lowland types that are slower growing or stay reasonably small..
N. albomarginata
N. bellii
N. campanulata
N. viellardii
N. adnata (included it but very uncommon on the market)
N. truncata will get huge but pretty slow growing and durable so will usually do well once it's too big for a terrarium.

Tony

 

[Clint]

campanulata is a great suggestion. they are THE smallest nepenthes

 

[The Griffin]

N. campanulata is good, and adnata is excellent also.
If you can get flytraps cheap(like on PFT on loccasion), you could grow them that way. When they start to wane in vigor, they are telling you that they are getting tired, and then you can pull them out, cut the leaves and put the bulb in slighly damp sphag in the fridge for about four months.
N. gracilis might make a good choice as it is not big in diameter, but it scrambles a lot. If it starts vining up, you can set it in a different direction, or clip and and see if a basal forms. you might get a very bushy plant.

Cheers,

Joe