[manders]

I put together two Nepenthes charts based on the stock market hi-lo-open-close charts.

Notes:

The thick bar = Day and Night Temps at the average altitude.
The thin bars = Day temp at the lowest altitude and the night temp at the highest altitude (i.e. the extremes)

PS don't take it to seriously and enjoy

[Dicon]

Hi Mark,
This is actually a very useful guide.

I produced a similar guide for myself but instead of using temp ranges, I used altitude (over 1000m) and lattitude to predict the temperature ranges and guess what?
The "order" in which the species arranged themselves is VERY similar to that shown in your charts!

So if one takes the list "in order" and places it over the range of temperatures you find in your growing space (microclimates) you will find the best microclimate to suit any particular species.

ALL HIGHLANDER GROWERS WOULD DO WELL TO NOTE THE UPPER TEMP RANGES SHOWN ABOVE.

Nice work Mark

[apfire]

I thought your work was interesting.

This post has been edited by apfire: 27th December 2008 - 06:17 AM

[nadja77]

Great chart!
Definitely handy to be able to see at a glance what the plants requirements are.
You must have spent an age to put together all that info!

[LJ]

Great work Mark, and very useful - definitely one page I'll be keeping a note of.

Many thanks for posting this

Heather

[manders]

I'm glad some people may find it useful, I have an awful habit of moving things around a lot and have a really bad memory for the exact conditions that some of them like, especially those in the middle of the range, so I needed an easy lookup table. Some of the things that stood out surprised me a little bit actually.

[fly guy]

That's really useful, thanks.

Hhowever, there should be another topic to discuss it because I think that i.e. range of temps for N. Madagascariensis should be wider:
http://www.wistuba.com/01b021931400a5f03/5...36907e7e0d.html
and some people cultivate it as a highlander (including me):
http://icps.proboards105.com/index.cgi?boa...&thread=657

What's more, there are contradicted opinions whether is should be rather in dry or very moist soil but I'm probably going to much into details.

Radek

[manders]

Radek,

Your right I think discussions of individual plants should be on separate threads. What you cant do easily in a chart like this is incorporate every nuance of every species, for example Rafflesiana may be found growing on white sand in the open and the temperatures may be pushing up to 40c, i don't reflect that on the chart. Same can be said for Lamii that I don't show it going below zero, ditto for Mirabilis and ditto for Khasiana. That said i'm still surprisingly comfortable with the numbers as shown, this is because I think it is close to average conditions, in summer.

If we take Madagascariensis as an example, the chart puts it between 32 day and 23 night. The actual data for Tolanero, alt 8m, which is close to were the majority of Neps are reportedly found is:

Jan Dec
High Temperature ( C ) 30 30 29 28 26 24 24 24 26 27 28 29
Low Temperature ( C ) 23 23 22 21 18 16 16 17 17 19 20 22

Surprisingly close... Remember these are average numbers for the month, so odd readings of 37c for example may be misleading or may simply be a micro-climate in a particular location or the guy stuck the thermometer in direct sunshine, who knows. Precipitation is also higher in the hot months so i'm assuming that's when it does most of its growing. Clearly they can stand cooler temps as they have to get through the cooler period May - Sept, but in the hot months it starts to look like a typical lowlander (unless it has a much higher attitudinal range than what is reported). I'm gonna take a guess though and say it probably grows faster in the warmer/wetter weather!

Cheers,

Mark

[fly guy]

Thanks for such detailed explanation

After checking your temperature list I was just surprised, 'cause max temperature for the last month for my madagascariensis was 19 C and it pitchers from every leaf.

World of Neps is still a mystery for me in many aspects, sometimes I think the only way is to have at least 2 plants from the same source and try to cultivate it in different ways - that's what I'm trying to do now with gracilis - to check what conditions are the best.

[manders]

Thanks for such detailed explanation

After checking your temperature list I was just surprised, 'cause max temperature for the last month for my madagascariensis was 19 C and it pitchers from every leaf.

World of Neps is still a mystery for me in many aspects, sometimes I think the only way is to have at least 2 plants from the same source and try to cultivate it in different ways - that's what I'm trying to do now with gracilis - to check what conditions are the best.

19 is bang in the middle of the normal winter range right? I'm not really sure what point your trying to make.

[nadja77]

Still being new to cultivating nephs my heart sank when I saw the requirements for the plants I got.
Surprisingly my N.Spectabilis has produced a pitcher (finally) and the N.Lowii has grown half (wow) a leaf at temps
reaching up to 35C during the day.
Is it possible that plants can adapt to climates different from their origin when grown from seed?
Again, great chart!

[manders]

Still being new to cultivating nephs my heart sank when I saw the requirements for the plants I got.
Surprisingly my N.Spectabilis has produced a pitcher (finally) and the N.Lowii has grown half (wow) a leaf at temps
reaching up to 35C during the day.
Is it possible that plants can adapt to climates different from their origin when grown from seed?
Again, great chart!

Nadja, What the charts attempt to show are basically the optimum conditions, or the conditions at the average altitudinal range of the plant. Just think of it as a quick guideline. Another way to put it, is that if you put the plant in the temperatures shown it should be guaranteed to be ok. It doesn't allways mean they cant live outside those ranges.

In reality few of my own plants get close to the ideal conditions. I don't climate control anything, except for a few heated terrariums. My own Spectabilis and Lowii get up to 40C in the summer in a conservatory and seem to like it, and down to 8c in winter. My lowland truncata, which is now around 3ft in diameter is wintering at 8-15C, next to my highland truncata. Conversely I nearly killed a glabrata by keeping it in the same conditions as the Lowii and have killed some other plants, it all depends on the species and maybe on individual plants. I wish I could grow all of my plants at the ideal conditions, and they may well grow quicker if I did, but we have to work with what we've got.

I think if you grow a batch of seeds, you may get a range of plants with slightly different preferences.

I wouldn't be put off experimenting, you will get disappointments but also nice surprises.

[nadja77]

In reality few of my own plants get close to the ideal conditions. I don't climate control anything, except for a few heated terrariums. My own Spectabilis and Lowii get up to 40C in the summer in a conservatory and seem to like it, and down to 8c in winter.

Manders,

Thanks that clears things up a bit. I just did not know how tolerant these plants can be outside ideal conditons.
It is great to hear from your personal experience, I can now stop fretting when the temperature
climbs above 25 or below 10 degrees, especially because the plants seem to be doing well anyway.
Since I only have got 3 Nephs (for now) there was no room for experiments.
I am hoping to get some new seeds in January with which I will try and experiment a bit.
Sorry if I am asking stupid questions I am still learning the ropes.
Thanks so much for shedding some light on this!

Nadja