- Joined
- May 1, 2004
- Messages
- 2,290
I'm normally a person with two very green thumbs, but for the life of me I cannot seem to keep these things! IF I manage to keep one alive and the plant looks good, it loses its pitchers and never regrows them, just keeps growing and vining. I know that there are "lowland" species and "highland" species, with different requirements, but I can't seem to find any decent information on which species belong where. Perhaps it would be better to describe my situation, and let some of you experienced Nepenthes keepers make recommendations based on that. I really would love to be able to keep some of these.
I live in South Carolina, in the northeastern quadrant of the state, so I'm not quite in the Coastal zone. Summers here vary a LOT insofar as humidity goes; until recently, this summer has been very dry and HOT. We are currently experiencing a shift in weather bringing us almost-daily showers/storms, high humidity and temps in the upper '80's, tops. Winters are typically cool and dry. I have several areas in the yard where I hang my plants during the summer, once the threat of frost is gone, so there's a lot of areas that receive a "filtered" or "dappled" sunlight that really seems to agree with my Rhipsalis, Epipremnums, Hoyas and other tropical, mostly-hanging plants. I've tried keeping Nepenthes in the same way, but they either died or lost their pitchers and did not regrow them. I have to admit, though, that I had no idea whether I had highland or lowland species, or for that matter, what species I had, period. I just saw them and bought them. I do NOT have a greenhouse or hothouse. Most of my plants winter on an enclosed back porch, which is not heated, and has windows all the way around except for the southern side, which is the rest of the house. With the exception of one Philodendron and one Hoya species, and of course, theNepenthes, all of my others do well on the porch, even when temps drop down into the '20's at night, since they are protected from the actual frost, and probably get some benefit of warmth when we open and close the main door to the house on our way in or out. I know that I cannot keep Nepenthes out there in the winter, though, unless there are species that are more cold-tolerant than the ones I've had. That means having to bring them inside, into the main part of house, and the kitchen is really the only room with a decent sunlight exposure. I DO have access to deep-well water, unchlorinated. Now, are there any species or varieties which can be kept successfully, AND will keep or at least re-grow their pitchers, given the parameters I have to work with, or is keeping any of this genus simply a lost cause?
pitbulllady
I live in South Carolina, in the northeastern quadrant of the state, so I'm not quite in the Coastal zone. Summers here vary a LOT insofar as humidity goes; until recently, this summer has been very dry and HOT. We are currently experiencing a shift in weather bringing us almost-daily showers/storms, high humidity and temps in the upper '80's, tops. Winters are typically cool and dry. I have several areas in the yard where I hang my plants during the summer, once the threat of frost is gone, so there's a lot of areas that receive a "filtered" or "dappled" sunlight that really seems to agree with my Rhipsalis, Epipremnums, Hoyas and other tropical, mostly-hanging plants. I've tried keeping Nepenthes in the same way, but they either died or lost their pitchers and did not regrow them. I have to admit, though, that I had no idea whether I had highland or lowland species, or for that matter, what species I had, period. I just saw them and bought them. I do NOT have a greenhouse or hothouse. Most of my plants winter on an enclosed back porch, which is not heated, and has windows all the way around except for the southern side, which is the rest of the house. With the exception of one Philodendron and one Hoya species, and of course, theNepenthes, all of my others do well on the porch, even when temps drop down into the '20's at night, since they are protected from the actual frost, and probably get some benefit of warmth when we open and close the main door to the house on our way in or out. I know that I cannot keep Nepenthes out there in the winter, though, unless there are species that are more cold-tolerant than the ones I've had. That means having to bring them inside, into the main part of house, and the kitchen is really the only room with a decent sunlight exposure. I DO have access to deep-well water, unchlorinated. Now, are there any species or varieties which can be kept successfully, AND will keep or at least re-grow their pitchers, given the parameters I have to work with, or is keeping any of this genus simply a lost cause?
pitbulllady