Brendan

Hi Ken, Usually if you spray the Ceph, to get it used to the conditions, water will seep into the traps and they seem to be thankful for this. So if you don't spray your plants, possibly adding a little water would be beneficial. Regarding having the lid closed, this is due to temperature. If it is to hot the Cephalotus will close its lid to stop evaporation of the valuble secretions inside the trap. Where do you have the plant positioned? The reason is my first attempt at a Cephalotus failed as I placed it in too hotter conditions when it was just adapting to the new environment, which lead to the plant dying. With this plant I have now, I left it in a warm environment which only gets the rays of the sun in the morning because they aren't as hot as midday. After a few months the plant is pitchering happily again. Hope this helps.

Stunning!

I agree you don't need to house your particular plants in a terrarium environment. Only plants that are totally dependant upon hunidity such as Nepenthes require them conditions.

There is nothing wrong with that mix dongliang. No need to worry at all.

It is very normal for the trap and some of the leaf to go black.

You could turn the temperature feedback to a lower temperature manually. I guess it isn't very convenient doing that every night! However because the days are getting warmer also, you will probably need to lower the temperature anyway? When the lights go off there will be less heat from that too. :)

Thanks Stephen and David! I'm thinking about getting a larger glass tank and using that. However, I did test out the aquarium heater on the plastic tank and it easily maintained a temperature of 70 - 75F; with plenty of humidity. All I did was put about 1 inch of water in the bottom and submerged most of the heater. Things are looking brighter! Thanks again.

Thanks for the information guys! I already have a small aquarium heater as I used to have tropical fish. So I could use that to start with and then change it when I need the space! I'll have a mosey down to B&Q later in the week and also Batleys because I can remember seeing Growlux tubes there! Thanks again! Brendan!

I'm seeking the knowlege of those out there who know how to set up a small Lowland Nepenthes tank! I have just purchased a plastic tank which measures 14 Inches long by 10 Inches wide by 12 Inches high. I currently have another of these tanks and use it for a Highland Nepenthes tank to great success, however I would like to produce a Tank specifically for Lowland varieties. Reading other articles here, I still cannot find any which specifically relate to a tank of my size or material (plastic), so am unsure as to what lights to purchase etc. I also have no idea how I would go about fixing the light to the top as water evaporation could get into the light? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I thought they couldn't flower behind glass, or at least it would be very unlikely?

What signs do I look for, for a flower coming through, ignoring the final structure of the Stamen/Stigma. I just checked on my N.Ventrata and saw something coming through that looks like many pygamy gemmae on a stalk?

Could it possibly be the low light level? That is just a prod in the dark. But... If you place a plant in a sunny windowsill, after a period of time the plant will bend towards the light. This is because of plant hormones, called Auxins, moving to the dark side of the leaves and subsiquently causing that side to elongate, which explains why it bends towards the light. Your VFT seems to have very long leaves, could this be due to a low light level? It could be producing longer leaves to get as much light as possible - more chloroplasts. I notice also that your VFT is still very green when it is an Akai Ryu form. Mine even has slight red pigmentation in its first trap. I could be totally wrong!

Lovely Pictures - thanks for posting them! :)

I'm in - My VFTs grew quite big last year. Hopfully the nutrients they got from the abundance of flies they caught will help ;)

Yeah, I found that as well Richard!

Biologist, Chemist & Mathematician - Student!

Durham, England.