Some Highlanders/Intermediates

Nepenthes robcantleyi x talangensis

Over the past couple weeks, I've been upgrading my highland/intermediate set-up from a simple rack and terrarium combo with grow lights to a (much more expensive) grow tent. After a year at my current apartment, it was clear that the plants were getting much too large for the terrariums, and a rack without any kind of closed humidity was terrible in our dry, dry winter. So, I upgraded to a GrowLab 145. It's a bit more expensive than some other tents, but the build quality is great and, most importantly, it has two very large "windows" at the front for when you want to take a peak at the plants, but don't want to disturb their environment.

Nepenthes singalana x dubia

Moving the plants has really given me the opportunity to take a look at quite a few which I don't often see. It's also been a great opportunity to see how well some have adjusted to my environment, such as the robcantleyi hybrid above, and how much some have grown over a short period, such as the singalana x dubia above.

Nepenthes singalana x dubia

So far, I'm very, very pleased with my new set-up. Over the next few months, I've budgeted for some improvements, including, hopefully, a MistKing, which will help automate watering and, assuming the Luxul bulbs I'm trying out work well, new LED replacements for T5HO lights, which will greatly decrease the amount of cool air that I'll have to send into the tent to keep things at a reasonable temperature.

Nepenthes robcantleyi

And the best part of all is that I've started to see mature, albeit smallish, pitchers on many of the plants that I've gotten over the last couple years. Some, like this robcantleyi, I've been waiting for for a while. It's easy to see why this is one of the most popular species of Nepenthes. Hopefully, I'll have some more fantastic plants to share in the coming days.