Revisiting the University of New Hampshire!

Nepenthes in flower

After spending the morning giving a presentation on carnivorous plants to 4th Graders, I stopped by the University of New Hampshire greenhouses to visit their staff and carnivorous plant collection. Boy, are their plants doing great! All the big Nepenthes were in flower. (Sorry guys, they opted not to do any crosses).

Nepenthes ampullaria x ventricosa

And the Nepenthes themselves were all looking great! Most of them are back to the gigantic sizes that they were when we trimmed them about 6 months ago as part of the spring cleanup. (UNH fertilizes its Nepenthes collection on a regular basis, and it was obvious how much of an impact that has on plant growth. It's just incredible!)

Pinguicula

Speaking of plants that were doing phenomenally, these Pings all had one plant per pot when we repotted them in the early spring. Now, each pot has at least two plants! It was amazing! (And, frankly, since my Pings have been suffering a bit lately, I was taking some notes). (No fertilizer for these guys).

Nepenthes truncata (highland)

One of the most phenomenal plants in UNH's collection in terms of size is its prize Nepenthes truncata, and this was pitchering in full force during my visit as well.

Nepenthes 'Rokko'

And, the Nepenthes 'Rokko' cutting I had dropped off in the spring is now producing rather large pitchers and has grown tremendously. What a fantastic cross! It's such an easy to grow plant, and has such interesting pitchers. I'm surprised more people don't grow it.

Nepenthes sanguinea x ramispina

Lastly, I just had to mention that UNH has been running an experiment over the summer whereby they've been fertilizing some Venus Flytraps but not others. Somewhat surprisingly, the fertilized plants are actually growing much more vigorously than the non-fertilized plants. (I forgot to grab a side-by-side comparison).