Carnivorous plants

[kak1]

Geck - You are now addicted my friend. Welcome to the world of carnivorous plants. Your VFT's and sarras look brilliant. Where did your maxima come from? Was that the one from John?

Hornet - Can't wait to see your pics mate. Are you moving to the brigalow belt? I've got a few acres out that way and it is quite nice. I'm sure you will enjoy the herping.

Jumala - I've just seen your pics and they are stunning. I recieved my plants a few days ago and will post some pics up soon. What plants did you get? The albomarginata looks awesome as does the eddie cross and the amp. Come to think of it the eddie cross has similar colours to some of the ampullaria varieties. Of course though your cross has no amp in it.

What is the plant in the photo next to the amp photo? Did you get a merrilliana? As people can see the quality plants that EP produce are well worth waiting for. They come packaged well, in great condition and the quality is very hard to beat. I've been drooling over your pics so can't wait to see more.

 

[AUSGECKO]

Geck - You are now addicted my friend. Welcome to the world of carnivorous plants. Your VFT's and sarras look brilliant. Where did your maxima come from? Was that the one from John?

Thanks Mate, the maxima was from John.
Correction to my pic descriptions:
The leucophylla "red veins" is actually mitcheliana x leucophylla

 

[kak1]

These pics were taken last night when I had some time to get pics so my apologies about the poor quality. All of the plants came from EP. The alata is a red alata and the truncata a red flush. The only photo I forgot to get was of my maxima x aristo.

The lowii x talangensis is beautiful and the pitcher shape is much like that of talangensis. I got two of the lowii x talangensis so I look forward to seeing if there is any variation as they grow. The truncata was massive compared to what I expected to arrive. EP though always send great stock.

The wife's eyes rolled when she saw them as I excitedly opened the package up lol. Then I went to show her the maxima x ephippiata and explain that it was a world first cross. By that time though she was in tears from laughter. Some people just don't get it

N. alata (b)

N. talangensis x veitchii HL batu buli

N. lowii x eymae x veitchii H/L

N. lowii x talangensis

N. lowii x veitchii H/L

N. truncata x veitchii x maxima x spectabilis

N. truncata (d)

N. maxima (m) x ephippiata-Hose mountains (world first crossing)

N. merrilliana

 

[AUSGECKO]

Wow, they are really nice Kak, its hard to pick a favourite. Do you plant all your Neps in straight Spagnum moss?

 

[Jumala]

Yes I love opening parcels from EP its like Christmas :lol:

Kak - the plant on the left of the amp is adrianii, the one on the right is alata.

I ended up with
adrianii
alata (giant x Luzon)
ampullaria
thai
sibuyanensis x albomarginata black
albomarginata rubra
ventricosa x ephippiata

5 species this time

beautiful plants Kak will be interesting to see the merrilliana develop I didn't get one THIS time :lol: but I have already spoken to Geoff and that is on the next order ...

 

[Radar]

I noticed something today with some of my larger neps that I've re-potted a few months back. Some of them were potted ever so slightly too high, and with the heavy rain we've been getting up here over summer and their position in a roof run-off area (did this on purpose, they are too large to get injured by a bit of water) the potting medium has washed away from the roots closest to the stem exposing a couple of centimeters around the plant and maybe 5 or 6mm depth of rootball. Being this close to the stem they are all large, thick roots. Where this has happened, new shoots have sprouted from the roots and are just beginning to pitcher, even though they are only 4 or 5 cm across and the pitchers maybe 4mm tall.

I know this happens in other plants, and I know neps produce new basal shoots as they grow, just didn't think exposing their roots would trigger new shoots so blatantly. The ones with all roots underground haven't produced new offshoots at all, they were all repotted at the same time and kept under the same conditions.

 

[AUSGECKO]

Rednut, if you were to cut the root off close to the stem that the new plants are attached to, do you think they would take?

 

[kak1]

Geck - I use two mixes however most of the Neps I have are planted in long fibre sphagnum. With some though (particularly smaller plants) I also add a little perlite for drainage.

The other mix I use is an orchid mix which I have used on a few common hybrids and species. I however have not used this mix on any EP plant. I may try scoria or pumice in future as a trial with fertilizing neps.

Jumala - I thought that was an adrianii and a hot looking one at that but wasn't a 100% sure. Thanks for confirming it. It's hot as down here at present so I am having to keep the plants cool using a fan and mister. How is the heat going up there?

I look forward to seeing the N. merrilliana grow and how it deals with my conditions. I am also hoping to get pitchers the size of EP's giant . You got yourself a nice list of plants there. Please post more pics of your plants when you get a chance.

Rednut - I have heard of this happening with Neps that have roots exposed. I am not 100% sure but I believe people have been able to take cuttings off these roots. How they did this though I am not sure. Keep us updated on the progress of the growth.

 

[Jumala]

Kak - yep to say I was pleased with the adrianii would be an understatement!!!!!!! Don't know why I didn't get one before!!
The weather here is just the usual hot and humid .... typical tropics lol :lol: That's why trying to keep highland is just too hard and expensive I was looking at buying a property in Tasmania .... could always set up a little glasshouse specifically for the highland neps LMAO :lol: ahhh the things we do for our collections. Mind you I'd still have to be here for all the lowland stuff!!
Even if your merrilliana didn't get as big as EP's male they are still going to be pretty darn huge

Geck - all of my plants are in pure long strand spagh moss. They are nearly all grown in the hydro system with the exception of a few large pots that won't fit in the gutter :lol:

I'm thinking about setting up a watering system with a big tray/tank underneath to collect and recycle the water. Run a pump and irrigation pipe overhead with drippers to each of the pots. Have a timer on the pump - same as I already have.

 

[AUSGECKO]

Ange, what size pots do you use for your Neps in your gutter system?
I'm keeping all my Neps in 6in pots, some of them self waterers.
All my VFTs, drosera and sarras are in pots that I sit in some plastic guttering I made up with water in the bottom of them. Unfortunately the largest pots I can fit in the guttering is 100mm pots.

S. flava ssp. rubricorpora

S. rubra gulfensis x leucophylla "Night Sky"

S. flava ssp. Ornata

S. leucophylla "Yellow flowers"

S. rubra ssp. gulfensis

 

[Jumala]

Geck - love your guttering hahahahaha my evil plan to take over the world commences!!!!!

Yes the drawback is the small size pots that you can use so they sit flat on the bottom of the gutter Because you are using your guttering for VFTs, Sarras and Dors there is no reason that you wouldn't be able to use another plastic holding container. Have a look at the plastic options at the hardware; cheap shops ie the Warehouse, Crazy Clarks; plumbing shops. If you are doing a flood and drain system like mine then you can make up a sump system quite easily and relatively cheaply .... another one of my hobbies/obsessions that I have/had was fish - freshwater and marine. You can make up a sump and filtration system quite easily and cheaply if you have to :lol: got 4 marine tanks currently set up because a friends tank crashed after the cyclone no power tends to do that after a few days

Your plants don't hang over the side of your pots therefore you can go for a wider container. That is the drawback with Neps Even the small species will end up over the pot and down past the bottom unless you string every growing point up of course :lol:

The thing to be aware of though is the UV stability factor of anything plastic that sits outside in the sun. I've found that the Australian
made plastic tubs last a lot longer in the sun than the imported ones.

Beautiful Sarras by the way

 

[AUSGECKO]

Thanks Ange, I stole the guttering idea from you hope you don't mind. I actually work in an aquarium so I have access to plenty of pumps and filtration equipment, my biggest hurdle at the moment is the fact I live in a 2 bedroom unit, I live in one, the reptiles live in the other and the balcony is getting awfully crowded with plants, I think I need to look at getting a house and build a bog garden or something similar

 

[Jumala]

lol it was all part of my plan .... share the idea and allow it to take over
Ahhh well working in an aquarium would be very handy for this stuff!!
Unit .... hmmmmm well at least you have a balcony that you can fill!!!!!!!!!!!! you can try stacking your guttering - provided you can get it to balance and be secure ....

some more photos names are the file names.

I've put in the two ephippiata crosses that I have - ventricosa and truncata.

I tried to show the white edge on the sib x albo cross - it short of shows up. I thought it would be an interesting cross especially considering they used a black albo

Update on the cuttings - if you look closely you can see a little green shoot on the side of the leafless ones!!!! WOO HOO!!! Looks like this works!!! I've got them in clear plastic containers so I can see the ends clearly and see if there is any development. At the moment they have algae growing on them :lol: but I don't think it will be a problem. I can't see any root growth but something must be going on if there is a little green growth happening ....

 

[Jumala]

so no-one has any further updates or additions to make .........

 

[Radar]

Other than the fact that my neps are loving the current rain and pitchering like mad. No

 

[AUSGECKO]

I love them pitchers Ange, its hard to choose a favourite but i really like the truncata x ephippiata, them cuttings look like they are doing well, their not dead so thats a start

Here are some updated pics of mine, it also looks as though my D. capensis seeds are sprouting


My D. burmannii flowering

N. tobaica x ampullaria when i got it a month or so ago and how it looks today, its picked up heaps and is producing pitchers

N. vetricosa when i got it and now, this one isnt doing so well :shock:

N. rokko, I think it is flowering?? what am i suppose to do with the flower and how do i tell if its a male or a female?

 

[Jumala]

see I knew I wasn't the only one with more photos!

Geck - your amp cross looks very nice I love the colour contrast plants
The ventricosa looks like its burnt? where have you been keeping it? what mix do you have it in?
Yes that is a flower on your Rokko!! YAY! You'll have to wait until it opens to tell if its male or female. I don't think you can tell before the flowers open if its male or female .... Unless someone knows of a way? Might be worthwhile if when you work out what you have seeing if there is anyone who can assist with setting a seed pod.

I will have a lot of plants if this cutting experiment does go well

 

[AUSGECKO]

The pitchers on the ampullaria x are only about 1.5cm but I still can't help but check them out every day 
The ventricosa I put in full sun as soon as I got it and that's why it is like that I think, I now have it in indirect light. It is potted up in 50% orchid mix 20% vermiculite 20% perlite with 10% spagnum moss, all rough percentages of course.

 

[Radar]

Mix sounds fine for a ventricosa, they are generally pretty hardy and easy to grow. Keep it in bright sidelight (rather than direct sunlight) if you don't have a shadeclothed area or dappled sunlight available. One thing about neps is they don't like being shifted all the time. Find somewhere that looks good and leave it, making sure it gets enough water. If you keep moving them (not saying this is what you're doing) they get knocked up pretty easy. It's an easy mistake to make if you put them in strong light, burn them, freak out, put them in too much shade, try to rectify that and put them out somewhere you're not sure about, and move them around, etc. Find somewhere that looks nice and leave it

 

[AUSGECKO]

They are pretty much in their permanent spots for now, the only time I move them is when it starts raining I pop them out to get some water but back to their spots when the sun comes out