Coffeed Nepenthes update

[dvg]

Here is an update on some of my coffee fed Nepenthes. These plants were purchased from CZ Plants in May of 2008. They were all potted up into five inch diameter plastic pots, and were initially grown together in a 16" x 8.25" terrarium. Once the N. rajah outgrew the terrarium it was moved into a terra of its own.

Just to show a progression of these plant's growth since February 2009 up until today, here are some previous shots.

From February 5, 2009. From left to right, N. macrophylla, N. villosa, N. rajah.

May 2, 2009

August 3, 2009 The rajah was moved out and replaced with a smaller villosa in this pic.

Today I decided to squeeze the rajah back into the terra with the original villosa and macrophylla, just to show how the plants have grown since the last update. All of these plants have been given two or three coffee feedings since I first began the coffee treatments in Feb, 2009.

Today, April 16, 2010 From left to right, N. villosa, N. rajah, N. macrophylla.

And because the rajah covered up some of the villosa and macrophylla in the terra shot, here are the plants spread out together on our sidewalk. Left to right, N. macrophylla, N. rajah, N. villosa.

Although a commercial fertilizing program might very well have sped up the growth of these plants, i am happy with their overall health, and general appearance. Coffee does seem to be quite safe for use as a starter fertilizer. And it looks like I'll be repotting these plants in the next couple months or so.

dvg

[Tha_Reaper]

that rajah showed some spectaculair growth on coffee...

Is it actually known which ingredients in coffee make it such a good fertilizer? is it just the N source, or maybe the caffeine too?

but you just gave them 2 or 3 coffee feeding over the course of a year? shoudnt that been done more frequently? (i give my neps around 1 cup of coffee each month)

[cosmo]

Woow!! impresive results!! I have read a lot about this cofee treatments and I have already tried it out in two of my Nepenthes, deffinately I will do the same for the others after seeing this! specially in my N. rajah.. awesome! congrats

Regards,

Abiram

[dvg]

Thanks guys,

Reaper, I was looking online for some of the ingredients in coffee grounds, and i read somewhere that they contain about 2% Nitrogen. Coffee also leaches a lot of nutrients out of the soil it's grown in, so I would expect there to be a few trace minerals in the beans as well. I water my plants about once every six months with coffee, as I wasn't sure how safe it would be when I first started out with it. Now that I've had a bit of success with the coffee, I am going to move on to experimenting with low urea commercial fertilizers.

dvg

[cosmo]

Talking about fertilization, I am thiniking on trying with an hydroponic solution, has anyone made this before??

I'll let you know how the things are going with this tinny experiment..

Abiram

[Jonathan F.]

Can you store brewed coffee for your nepenthes?

[Dianne Salter]

Wow fab results!!!

Di

[dvg]

Cosmo, let us know how that works out for you.

FTH, I do store coffee between waterings. If you store it at room temperature it should be good for a few days. If stored longer than that it will slowly start to grow mold. It can still be used though. Just skim off the mold if it is present and reheat the coffee on the stove top, to rid the coffee of any mold lurking about in it. Another option is to refridgerate or even freeze the coffee for later use. I suppose one could even make coffee ice cubes for slow watering the highlanders.

Di, thanks.

dvg

[Syracuse]

Thanks to share your experience Dvg. I tried the coffee after your last discussion; I hope to have the same result! ;-)

Louis

Edited April 23, 2010 by Papilio

[mobile]

Talking about fertilization, I am thiniking on trying with an hydroponic solution, has anyone made this before??

I use hydroponic fertiliser on Nepenthes and Cephalotus and have not observed any ill effects.

[cosmo]

I use hydroponic fertiliser on Nepenthes and Cephalotus and have not observed any ill effects.

Oh! great to know! I am wondering if you use it at full strength or diluted?, also how often do you fertilize your plants??....thanks for answering

Abiram

[mobile]

Oh! great to know! I am wondering if you use it at full strength or diluted?, also how often do you fertilize your plants??....thanks for answering

I use half strength, which with the nutrients I have is 0.75EC. I don't have a fixed routine but I guess that it's once every three or four weeks in the growing season.

[cosmo]

I use half strength, which with the nutrients I have is 0.75EC. I don't have a fixed routine but I guess that it's once every three or four weeks in the growing season.

Ok, thanks, I will try my nutrient solution with my plants... lets see what happens.

Abiram

[Taliesin]

Have you tried this with other carnivorous plants or with nepentes in higher doses ?

I'd like to try this with my plants but some of them are doing poorly allready and i worry i might make it even worse...

[dvg]

Hi Taliesin,

I've primarily used the coffee treatments on my Nepenthes and some houseplants, used at regular strength and applied twice a year. I've read that Pinguicula don't particularly care for the coffee treatment.

If your plants are otherwise healthy, but seem to be stalled in their growth, the coffee might help them get out of their growth rut.

Feel free to experiment with it, as it seems fairly safe. I've given all of my Neps at least one coffee treatment, and some of them have been coffeed three or four times already.

Good luck with it.

dvg

Edited June 1, 2010 by dvg

[Amar]

Hi Taliesin,

I've primarily used the coffee treatments on my Nepenthes and some houseplants, used at regular strength and applied twice a year. I've read that Pinguicula don't particularly care for the coffee treatment.

If your plants are otherwise healthy, but seem to be stalled in their growth, the coffee might help them get out of their growth rut.

Feel free to experiment with it, as it seems fairly safe. I've given all of my Neps at least one coffee treatment, and some of them have been coffeed three or four times already.

Good luck with it.

dvg

just don't use the method on pygmy drosera, they'll go straight to cp heaven.

[Taliesin]

Just used coffee on some yellow nep seedlings and some etoliated dews i found in an old lfs tray

[dvg]

I have never given any of my dews a coffee treatment, and I've also heard that pygmy dews don't like coffee.

As far as Nepenthes started from seed go, I gave some small N. fusca seedlings a coffee treatment and they have doubled and tripled in size from the size they were stalled at before.

Let us know your results with the coffee, especially with those dews of yours.

dvg

[manders]

Just did a bit of digging around on coffee analysis and found that coffee seems to act as a quick release fertilizer for a number of trace elements including phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, copper and calcium and acts a slow release fertilizer for nitrogen and has a Ph of 6.5.

[dvg]

Just did a bit of digging around on coffee analysis and found that coffee seems to act as a quick release fertilizer for a number of trace elements including phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, copper and calcium and acts a slow release fertilizer for nitrogen and has a Ph of 6.5.

Manders, that might explain in part coffee's seeming ability to boost plant growth.

Do you have a link to your findings on coffee analysis?

dvg

[manders]

Manders, that might explain in part coffee's seeming ability to boost plant growth.

Do you have a link to your findings on coffee analysis?

dvg

Any other explanation?

Starbucks Coffee grounds test

[dvg]

Thanks for the link Manders.

That is the best coffee analysis that I have seen to date.

There has been some speculation on coffee's plant growth boosting abilities. Some have wondered if besides the nitrogen and trace minerals found in coffee, that maybe coffee might also work as a growth stimulator due to some as yet unknown growth stimulator or hormone. Nothing has been proven with that, but in time, who knows what else will be found out about coffee.

dvg

[mobile]

Any other explanation?

Starbucks Coffee grounds test

The analysis is based on coffee grounds and states that the nitrogen is not freely available until soil micro-organisms break down the organic fraction. Given that many of the growers who feed their Nepenthes coffee do so in liquid form (percolated), I would presume that the amount of available nitrogen would be very small?

I've been adding L-glutamine to Heliamphora pitchers for a few months now and the growth rate seems to be good. I would be interested in knowing if anyone has tried this in Nepenthes pitchers.

Edited June 6, 2010 by mobile

[manders]

I doubt that its hormonal or enzymatic for two reasons.

Firstly tea and coffee have been used on plants for a long time and have always shown the benefits of adding leaf litter & micro-nutrients. The more pronounced response that nepenthes seem to show is more likely due to the fact that they're generally, in cultivation, growing in inert media with none of the required nutrients, so adding some makes a disproportionate difference.

The second reason I would argue is that enzymes and the like are generally denatured when you boil them or squirt superheated water at them.

Nepenthes in the wild are often not in inert media and surely obtain nutrients from decomposing leaf litter. (its even been proposed that ampularia targets leaf litter as a 'prey' item). In my mind adding coffee or tea, is just giving them what they would be getting in nature anyway.

[mobile]

Works as a herbicide too

http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/Entomology/...994/kebede.html