Some Photos from the Collection

Nepenthes inermis x ventriosa (middle)
Nepenthes (lowii x veitchii ) x burbidgeae (lower middle)

Today's the day I finally get an SLR to take some awesome shots of my plants, but, before that happens, I figured I'd take a few more with my trusty camera phone. I've gotten couple requests for larger shots of my collection, so I figured I'd snap a few of those before moving on to a few individual plants. (Everything is gonna be a little wet looking in these photos because I had just watered everything before taking photos).

Drosera slackii (middle)
Nepenthes jamban x dubia (middle right)

This is the highland tank. Or, rather, part of it. (I didn't figure there was much point in taking photos of seedlings that are quite indistinguishable. The grand majority of this tank is dedicated to Nepenthes, but I do have a few Drosera and Utricularia in here as well.

Nepenthes jamban x dubia (left, below Drosera prolifera)
Nepenthes aristolochioides x spectabilis (middle nearer bottom)
Nepenthes talangensis x sibuyansis (middle right)

One of the nice things about growing so many plants together is that you can really get an array of pitchers and growth. Of course, doing so also exposes your plants to risks. If you introduce a pathogen into your environment, nearly everything gets affected. That's why I now have strict quarantine protocols. Unfortunately, before I had those in place, I had introduced a couple infected plants into my collection, necessitating treatment with some nasty chemicals. That lead me to learn that some plants (Nepenthes hamata and hybrids and Nepenthes dubia and hybrids, e.g.) hate chemicals. Subsequently, I've been having to nuture a few plants from near death and others will have to be replaced in time.

Nepenthes gracilis "red"

My lowland tank also houses mostly Nepenthes. Unlike the highland tank, however, it is fairly foggy most of the time, so shots through the glass are not very clear and I was in a rush taking photographs. So, I don't have any wide shots through the tank, but I did capture a few good photographs, like this one of a Nepenthes gracilis "red." My lighting isn't quite good enough to give Nepenthes gracilis its best coloration. In full sun, these pitchers would probably be pure red. (I can't say for sure, since this is a seed grown plant that was given to me when it was very young).

Nepenthes bicalcarata "Brunei Orange Clone"

The bical corner is looking fantastic right now! So, I had to take a few shots of those pitchers as well.

Two different Nepenthes bicalcarata
Leaf burn is from a couple days when it got too cold.

I really enjoy growing different clones of Nepenthes bicalcarata because they are so very different. Some are red or orange, while others stay greenish. The pitcher rim is also markedly different. Some are lower and squat while others are more elongated. "Fang" length can also vary. All these differences make me wonder if future genetic analysis will one day break Nepenthes bicalcarata - and other Nepenthes whose ranges are geographically separated - into more subgroups.