Highland Nepenthes

Nepenthes talangensis x sibuyanensis

Yesterday, I shared some of my terrestrial Utricularia living in the highland grow tent. Today, I thought I'd share some of the Nepenthes. First up is this beautiful Nepenthes talangensis x sibuyanensis. (Behind it are some leaves of a beat up plant that I'm rescuing). I last shared photos of this plant on here back in December. It has really started to take off and has produced some quite large pitchers, probably due to some moderate feeding.

Nepenthes hamata

Speaking of feeding, nothing exemplifies how much a difference feeding makes than this Nepenthes hamata. This new pitcher, although still tiny, is nearly twice as large as the last pitcher. That's an incredible jump, and one that I hope continues as this tiny plant develops.

Nepenthes tentaculata

The phenomenon of pitcher-size jumps can be best seen in this Nepenthes tentaculata. The newer pitchers are much bigger than the older ones. This Nepenthes tentaculata is somewhat unique in that it hasn't had any pitcher loss from fertilizing. I've actually been experimenting with different fertilizers to see which is best suited for the plants. Although I like Osmocote, I've noticed that it has an inconsistent delivery and sometimes burns the pitchers or causes them to die prematurely. Dilluted MaxSea appears to work better when placed in the pitchers.

Cephalotus follicularis

One of the few plants that I haven't really fertilized above and beyond a passing spritz with MaxSea are my Cephalotus. These little buggers were, as longtime readers recall, all grown from leaf pullings. I did a little experiment and learned that, in my conditions, the plantlets performed best in a mixture of long-fiber NZ sphagnum and perlite. They grow moderately well in a mixture of peat and coarse sand. The ones in my Nepenthes mix, which is a drier mix involving coir, long-fiber NZ sphagnum, perlite, and orchid bark and charcoal (when I can find the latter two) did not do nearly as well. So, I've repotted those in the last mix into the first mix, and I'll see how they do over the next few months.

Nepenthes veitchii "pink"

Lastly, I wanted to show off this Nepenthes veitchii "pink." It's an incredibly easy plant and I would highly recommend it if you are at all interested in highland/intermediate plants. I've had absolutely no troubles with this plant, which is remarkable considering how poorly my Nepenthes veitchii "Hose Mountains" fared.