dvg Posted December 8, 2009 Report Share Posted December 8, 2009 Some of you may have seen this thread already if you frequent other forums. But for those of you who haven't, I'd like to share a series of pics of my N. villosa, showing some of it's progress over the course of a year. N. villosa is a wonderful Nep and definitely one of my favorite highlanders. Here is a link to the N. villosa thread: http://lhnn.proboards.com/index.cgi?action...3436&page=1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amperon Posted December 8, 2009 Report Share Posted December 8, 2009 Really very beatifull plants ! Good job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benenthes Posted December 8, 2009 Report Share Posted December 8, 2009 how the... how did you manage to grow it so fast?? (btw. N. villosa is my favorite!!!) .. great job!!!!!!! best regards Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christerb Posted December 9, 2009 Report Share Posted December 9, 2009 Yes, very impressive growing. It will be interesting to see your future updates on this, you seem to have found the 'sweet spot' for this plant. Regards, Christer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kclee Posted December 9, 2009 Report Share Posted December 9, 2009 Those are some pristine plants. You have probably heard this a dozen times but... what are your growing conditions? I'm especially interested in your daytime/nighttime humidity levels and temp drops. I ask mainly because I'm looking into getting a N. macrophylla but have been a bit hesitant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benenthes Posted December 9, 2009 Report Share Posted December 9, 2009 exactly the same with me!!! what are your conditions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dvg Posted December 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2009 Thank you all for your kind comments, This plant is grown in my basement under two 46" T5 5000k fluorescent tubes. The day time temps are right around 20C, with the summer temps possibly lower than the winter temps, because of the infloor heating system.(Not much need to turn it on in the summer). For the plant's evening temperature drop, I mist or spray down all of my highlanders, place a 7" tall propagation dome over them and move them all into a cooler room in the house. This cool room, below house grade, gets down to 3C on the coldest winter nights here (-40C), and gets up to 15C on the hottest summer days (37C). In the summer I have been using frozen gel packs to keep the night time temps down between 5C to 6C. I don't have a device to measure humidity, but it does get very dry here, especially in winter. To compensate for this, I place a topdressing of lfs on my planting medium. I also mist the villosa with refridgerated water, when I can during the day. The plants are exposed to ambient household humidity during the day, but get quite a reprieve from this during the night, in their wet enclosures. For planting media, I aim for roughly an equal mix between organic and mineral components. As for feeding, I have found that a coffee treatment (Thanks for the inspiration for this Dave Evans) once every six months, definitely perks up these plants. I also raise various cultures of wingless and/or flightless D. melanogaster and D. hydei fruit flies. What flies the CP's don't manage to entice into their traps, a steady population of feral spiders manages to make good use of these leftover stragglers. Thanks for your interest with this plant. I am happy to see that there are a few passionate N. villosa enthusiasts, here on this forum. regards, Doug dvg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tha_Reaper Posted December 9, 2009 Report Share Posted December 9, 2009 wait... coffee treatment... whut? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loligo1964 Posted December 10, 2009 Report Share Posted December 10, 2009 (edited) wait... coffee treatment... whut? It's an increasingly popular method for fertilizing Nepenthes. Basically, one applies left-over coffee (minus the grounds) to the pots -- flushing it through the media-- as an alternative to watering them twice a year; some growers swear by it. Basically, it further acidifies the compost and supplies some trace nutrients. There are links to this procedure on the Terraforums (US) site: http://www.terraforums.com/forums/showthre...ighlight=coffee Edited December 20, 2009 by loligo1964 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Evans Posted December 10, 2009 Report Share Posted December 10, 2009 Here is a page I made about this: http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~dpevans/Nepenthes/N_rajah.htm Pinguicula do not like coffee, BTW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benenthes Posted December 10, 2009 Report Share Posted December 10, 2009 now thats what I call true caring for a plant!! thank you for sharing!! best regards Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tha_Reaper Posted December 10, 2009 Report Share Posted December 10, 2009 thanks loligo1964 and Dave Adams. I never heard of this treatment before, it certainly sounds like something that is worth trying sometime soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amar Posted December 10, 2009 Report Share Posted December 10, 2009 I think I'll try it out, I have a rajah and an macfarlanei, both have just been sitting there, hardly growing, no pitchers, but healthy, albeit small, leaves. very interesting, thanks for that... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calek Posted December 10, 2009 Report Share Posted December 10, 2009 Nice pictures! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amar Posted December 20, 2009 Report Share Posted December 20, 2009 I think I'll try it out, I have a rajah and an macfarlanei, both have just been sitting there, hardly growing, no pitchers, but healthy, albeit small, leaves.very interesting, thanks for that... Well, I did it. I made weak brew. have an espresso machine where you put in coffee prepacked in round filters. something like this: http://www.pennineteaandcoffee.co.uk/comme...ecoffeepods.jpg One of those round coffeefilter-thingies makes one cup of good coffee, I used one portion for about 1.5liters of water...and gave it to my macfarlanei and rajah! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_p_c_ Posted December 20, 2009 Report Share Posted December 20, 2009 the plant has made tremendous progress since January! congratulations, very nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dvg Posted March 2, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2010 Just an update. This plant now has a wingspan of seven inches, leaf tip to leaf tip. http://lhnn.proboards.com/index.cgi?action...3436&page=1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
durham Posted March 24, 2010 Report Share Posted March 24, 2010 Thats some seriously quick growth! Almost as fast as a ventricosa or something! I'm going have to start keeping mine colder from now on ;) Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dvg Posted March 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2010 Thats some seriously quick growth! Almost as fast as a ventricosa or something! I'm going have to start keeping mine colder from now on ;) Cheers Thanks Durham. This villosa has had three coffee treatments to date. dvg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
durham Posted March 29, 2010 Report Share Posted March 29, 2010 Seeing these amazing results made me decide to water my villosa and aristolochioides with some coffee, it seems to have turned the sphagnum almost black I left it over night and flushed later the next day, I'll take some photos and make a post about it once it kicks in =) Does it normal have that effect on the sphagnum? Cheers H Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dvg Posted July 1, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2010 Here is an update on my N. villosa. I've had this plant for just a little over two years now. This plant is currently eight inches in diameter from leaf tip to leaf tip and is now sporting a basal shoot in it's pot. http://lhnn.proboards.com/index.cgi?action...3436&page=1 dvg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Andreas Eils Posted July 1, 2010 Report Share Posted July 1, 2010 Hi there dvg, so, looks like I need to share my daily cup of coffee with my Villosa, eh?! Very interesting! Andreas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loligo1964 Posted July 1, 2010 Report Share Posted July 1, 2010 Some of you may have seen this thread already if you frequent other forums. But for those of you who haven't, I'd like to share a series of pics of my N. villosa, showing some of it's progress over the course of a year. N. villosa is a wonderful Nep and definitely one of my favorite highlanders.Here is a link to the N. villosa thread: http://lhnn.proboards.com/index.cgi?action...3436&page=1 Congratulations on your first basal -- besides it being a great-looking plant. Mine is slowly catching up . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dvg Posted July 2, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2010 Thanks for the comments guys, Andreas, Once you start sharing your morning cup of java with your Neps, they'll eventually take the iniative and just send their new tendrils over to the general vicinity of your coffee maker, as if to say..."Filler up!". dvg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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