Lowlanders Love the Heat of Summer

Nepenthes bicalcarata

It's summertime! And the lowlanders love the heat! (Well, okay, they mostly love the fact that it's not bitter cold). Happily, the warmer temperatures (pushing 90 degrees Fahrenheit in the lowland terrariums) have caused my lowlanders to grow and pitcher quite a bit over the past month or so.

Nepenthes gracilis "red"

I haven't increased the lighting in my lowland terrarium recently, but I do need to, as this "red" Nepenthes gracilis shows. It would really benefit from some more light to cause some deeper red flushing on its pitchers. (Funny enough, this time last year, the entire plant was as big as that single basal. It's quite a prolific plant).

Nepenthes gracilis "black"

This Nepenthes gracilis "black" needs even more light. I swear it's black! It was when I got it. The problem is that so many lowlanders are adapted to growing in full-sunlight in the tropics that when they transition to growing in artificial light, well, there's just no way to get them as much light. So, the plants do not have quite as brilliant a color palate as they would in the wild. That's a big contrast with the (usually) shadier highlanders.

(((King Tiger x rafflesiana) x alata) x smilesii) x campanulata

This Nepenthes (((King Tiger x rafflesiana) x alata) x smilesii) x campanulata is doing quite well. I'm pleased with its prolific pitcher growth, but it's low growth and tendency to create basals has me wondering if something happened in the tissue culturing lab to make it grow in a way that's a bit different than most plants. Then again, maybe that's just the nature of this plant.