Rob-Rah

A thicket of D. binita dichotoma will take down big moths fine - mine does anyway. Wasps are a bit butch for it still tho.

It was smaller, slower and weaker! :-) Seriously, it never grew well enough to see what mature pitchers might look like. It appearred to be somewhat less hairy than clone U too, perhaps indicating that it wants less bright/exposed conditions. Both of mine were grown in bright light and temps 22-32C. I would try more damp, a bit shadier and cooler conditions for clone 2 if I treid it again. Best wishes

Well thought I'd feedback. After a couple of years growing slowly and just sort of surviving my clone 2 has died. Exactly the same conditions as clone U, which has prospered. Annoying and rather perplexing. Cheers.

D. macrantha's white tuber is distinctive: there are ridges and furrows running "north-south" on the tuber, and the "north pole" has somewhat of a dimple in it, whereas the "south pole" is more rounded.

They float generally. What species do you have?

If it's growing and pitchering and producing nectar secretions then don't worry about changing the conditions. It had never been a very fast species for me. Your lighting sounds quite bright anyway. But I have previously grown N. campanulata with half a day of direct sun and it seemed to like it.

As for this terrarium, apologies if I don't follow what you mean - and I know that English is not your first language - it is true that you can't know how well the plants will do before you try. The N. ampullaria looks far enough under the light to be fine. It is as the other neps grow up towards the light and get close to it that you might get some problems. And while D. paradoxa can grow in lower light (it's a tough plant really) it isn't at all at its best in form and colour. Why not try more suitable plants like the D. schizandra/prolifera/adaelae group in there instead? The single 125W Envirolite is aparrently equivalent to about 600W-650W of normal fluorescent lighting. Which is a lot. To me it seems a bit of waste to use such a great bulb for plants that don't really get the benefit. Best wishes.

It probably takes acclimatising to the new bright conditions, but it will do so. Mine also didn't appreciate the bright light on leaves more used to less light, and showed some browning on them, but once the plant acclimatised and new growth started it was fine. How bright was your light? (Sadly I lost my plant last year due to a highly localised drought in just its part of the terrarium which was remiss of me - lol)

That's a lot of light for neps generally. Are they a high-light selection? I grow my petiolaris group drosera 6" under a 125W Envirolite, and neps like albomarginata, campanulata and clipeata, which do like a lot of light, about 12" under it. How tall is your tank? The neps at the bottom like the N. ampullaria don't want bright light (I grow mine close under a mere 18" 15W standard fluorescent tube in a tank in my bedroom), whereas the D. paradoxa I see down there might find it too shady that far from the light. All looks very smart though. Rob.

What interesting pics. Cheers PS I think you mean "epithet" not "epitaph".

I would suspect that the ideal is to get a reasonable-sixed plant with a woody base before the winter. That would make it less likely to rot off in the cold and dark of the wintertime. Summer sowing can acheive this. I have had plants come up in October grow fast enough to toughen up the bases for the 'dark season'.

I have been growing my U. cornuta in "normal" conditions: 1" deep water in a 4" pot since last summer. It has flowered for the first time and is in flower now. It experienced a rather dry early spring, by accident rather than design. Before last summer, I used to submerge it for winter and try to imitate the natural lake-edge-drying-up conditions, putting it in shallow water for the summer, but got no flowers. So I don't know what you have to do to stimulate flowers really, but I know now that it will flower without special treatment if it feels like it.

Try here: www.greengardener.co.uk

Wonderful. Can we see the whole plant (with pot top)? I have seeds of this but they don't seem to have come up, so would also like to know what treatment you gave them.

Lots of light (direct sun ideal, but filtered sun is ok) and a warming up of the water in summer (due to sun in nature I guess). Lowering the water level in summer can help.

Google up Diospyros kaki - I think that's how you spell it!

Posted it before, but here is a pic of my S. x moorei last year (a lovely clone produced by Chris Crowe I selected from hundreds at his place a few years back) Cheers.

I have two too. Only a year old each. I have heard they do good autumn colours. Can they be fruited in a pot under glass?

I grew supermarket ginger for a few years. Sandy and fertile moist soil preferred, with quite a lot of fertiliser, and the more light and heat it gets the stronger the flavour. The leaves and stems are pleasantly scented too of course. Just place the rhizome 1-2 inches under the soil surface and wait a few weeks with it somewhere warm. Don't water it beyond keeping just moist until the shoots are a couple of inches above the soil (just to avoid rotting the unrooted rhizome). You need to start with a pot at least 10" diameter. It's a fast grower down there. I wouldn't plant in the open garden as the soil won't be evenly moist, fertile or warm enough for it to do more than a half-hearted attempt. The first year you can expect shoots around 3 feet high, but too thin for using as stem ginger. I lifted it each autumn as the leaves died down and stored it dahlia-like over winter, planting again in spring. It needs a rather large tub after the first year, as the roots dont' grow well if constricted (you get thin wiry roots and few of the nice fat rhizomes), and the plant is not nearly as vigorous. Easy enough to get a lot of fresh root for the kitchen, plus some thickish shoots for preserving the stems. I never saw flowers though. I must try galangal, turmeric and cardamom some day. Anyone ever germinated seeds from culinary green or black cardamom pods?

As much light as you can give it (equatorial full sun is possible in the wild).

Marvellous work there!

If your plant is growing very well in its current 3" pot, can you just use the same soil as it is currently in?

The rumour that it likes a wad of sopping wet live sphagnum just above the roots appeasr to be true too.... (although I lost my lovely plant this year due to it being forgotten between Xmas and March and going to the dessication afterlife - *sniff * - *gets wallet out and consoles himself with CP catalogues*)

I grow a bunch of different Arisaema planted out in a woodlandsy bit of the garden. All do fine, except for the A. sikkokianum I planted there. This vanished without a trace unfortunately. I wil get another at some point, but keep it potted. Cheers.

Fairly wet at the root, but avoid stagnant. Low-ish light. Intermediate-lowland temperatures. I think it likes a little air movement. Mine grows merrily and quickly, but I find it reluctant to pitcher freely. I try to imagine damp, mossy rocks, growing in pockets of decaying plant matter in areas beside waterfalls with lots of consequent water spray. I removed it from live LFS a few weeks ago, as the moss was compacting and souring too much. It's now in a mesh-pot in a mix of dead LFS and seramis, and doing sligtly better. Time will tell for pitcher formation in the next few months.