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Hello Everyone, I would like to provide and update on my attempts to grow a N ampullaria on a windowsill in the UK. I've always wanted to grow this plant. But since my girlfriend moved in, the space I'm allowed to dedicate to carnivorous plants has been somewhat restricted ("houses are for people, not for carnivorous plants" she says). So unfortunately I don't have space for a terrarium large enough to house a Nepenthes. A couple of years ago I thought I'd see whether it was possible to grow this plant on a windowsill. I bought a nice speckled ampullaria from Andreas Wistuba and simply placed it on a windowsill (that doesn't receive any direct sunlight) under some growlux tubes. The plant immediately stopped forming pitchers and as the months passed the rosette of pitcherless leaves was getting smaller and smaller. I suspected the plant was heading for a slow death. The next thing I tried was coiling a soil warming cable around the inside of the pot. This coil was attached to a thermostat which I set to 24C. Over the next few months the leaves slowly began to grow larger but still did not form pitchers. So then a few months ago I placed a plastic dome over the plant to increase the humidity. Here are some photos of my plant now. It responded very posittively to the increase in humidity and is now forming very nice pitchers. So it does appear to be possible to create the correct temperature and humidity conditions for lowland nepenthes on a UK windowsill; using a thermostatically controlled soil warming cable and a plastic dome. However this is not a cheap solution. The soil warming cable cost around £30 and the thermostatic controller cost around £45. I hope this post is useful for some other growers. Regards Mark

[...] So unfortunately I don't have space for a terrarium large enough to house a Nepenthes. You don't need a huge terrarium. You could get away with a smallish fish tank. I have a x hookeriana (ampullaria x rafflesiana) in mine and it is no slouch. Whenever it gets too big for its boots the 'scissors of correction' come out. I think it is going all 'bonsai' on me because it now produces smaller pitchers but lots of them. The tank is not very tall and I would estimate the plant is 30cm or so including pot. [...] So it does appear to be possible to create the correct temperature and humidity conditions for lowland nepenthes on a UK windowsill; using a thermostatically controlled soil warming cable and a plastic dome. However this is not a cheap solution. The soil warming cable cost around £30 and the thermostatic controller cost around £45. [...] The tank above is 90x40cm (3' x 1' 4") which isn't very big (compared to some on here). If I were growing the Nep alone then I could get away with a much smaller tank (2' x 1') . The heat is provided by a 'reptile mat' and a controller (won the mat in an auction and the controller was about £10 (both e-bay)). The tank was my old fish tank that got cracked. Wouldn't trust it full of water but it serves just fine full of peat and stuff. The lighting is LED (again e-bay) and, apart from watering and 'pruning', I just leave the whole thing alone. [...] But since my girlfriend moved in, the space I'm allowed to dedicate to carnivorous plants has been somewhat restricted ("houses are for people, not for carnivorous plants" she says). Rebellion is the only answer. If houses are only for people then we can get rid of all that non-essential decoration, gadgetry, art, nick nacks, photo's, bathroom products, non-essential clothing and shoes ... children, pets etc .. need I go on? Grab some stuff and make an environment that your pet amp. will like.

I think your going to need a bigger dome!! Brilliant! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Probably a bad clone of Homo girlfriendus extremus, consider the compost heap for this one and get one more adaptable to your growing conditions... Interesting experiment with the ampullaria!