Rob-Rah

Well, I've had my plants a few days now, tried out in various locations, pots, soils, sun-exposures, moisture, etc. Could it have been a worse time in the last few years to try to coddle a plant which is not going to like the heat? So far none have collapsed at least.

I've got a cheap RO unit to hook up this weekend. The forecast is still no rain for the foreseeable future. I'll see how it goes, though I'm wondering how best to use the huge volume of waste water I am going to get. I am imagining a run of loose guttering pieces on the floor stretching along the garden to various flowerbeds! The wet-membrane thing......... as this water is not for human consumption, would there be any problem in just storing the membrane in a jar of water, while the unit is not in use? We don't care about bacterial growth for our plants..... or do we?

What is the cheapest effective option for rendering tapwater OK? RO units/Distiller? I have been on the edge of water supply for the CPs more often than I like, but have managed to keep afloat just about. Obviously we're not talking plumbed-in systems or push kitchen fittings, but what are the options and the sorts of prices?

Just how hot is "heat"? Are we talking 23C or 30+C? I saw it doesn't grow terribly higher than Utric nelumbifolia and U. reniformis, neither of which are ultra-picky about heat, and can take quite a high degree of cold.

Kamil Pasek (BCP) is offering seedlings (?) at the moment - I'm going to try one out for the cause.

No - I'm getting a bit worried. It's not rained *properly* here for two months or more as far as I can tell. I'm down to around a quarter of water left and the forecast just shows sunshine and mid-20s for the next two weeks at least.

To resurrect this thread...... I know this is now in cultivation. Has anyone anything to report on what works or doesn't work for it? Best wishes, Rob.

I have a dim memory of reading somewhere that some Nepenthes pitchers are stuffed and cooked in some areas...... (??) And Pinguicula is used to produce a cultured dairy product in Scandinavia. I know nothing about Sarracenia in that respect though.

I have ordered a few times and had no problems. I know their entire website and catalogue (and presumably orders system) was sadly wiped out by a hack last year and they are still only just getting back on their feet.... perhaps that's it? (I didn't know they delivered to Turkey!)

Maybe this was done to death a few decades ago... but I don't recall. Did anyone ever manage to identify and come up with the cultivar shown on the front cover of Gordon Cheers's 1983 book 'Carnivorous Plants'? After all these years I still want that plant :/

Mine's in a very airy mix and I take mine out of the water trays in October/November and it gets completely dried out for a cold (min 1-2C) but sunny winter until March/April - whenever it tries to start growing and gets put back in the water trays. It flowers well every year well.

caudata is fine under zero if dry in winter, but only tried this a few degrees by accident!

Can you tell us what sort of bog garden you have there? Is it properly sealed from the "outside world" at all? I ask this as the soils in Croatia are generally alkaline, and contact with these will probably lead to unwanted minerals in the bog garden. Just wondering.... Which bit of the country are you in?

What are you going to do with it over winter?

Wow. Just to think what you could could do if you swapped to Radio 3

Yes, they're dead. They seem to have been well under 8 to 10C though. That damage is almost definitely from freezing or near-freezing. You also seem to be standing them in water. Neps shouldn't really stand in water at the best of times, and certainly not in cold conditions. That, combined with looks like peat-based soil, may have assisted with rotting the roots.

Sounds an interesting new hybrid. But I'd anticipate a back-cross of the result with U. campbelliana (or a good red quelchii) might be needed to get a good colouration in the flower.

Mine just makes basals when it feels like it. It seems quite random, but I get a flush perhaps only once every two years or so. No specific training, but the main stem has grown quite horizontally of its own accord. The main vine is just kept trimmed every year or two to be a manageable size for its tank. The prunings are typically used as cuttings, and then grown on until they are strong enough to sell as new plants.

If the pots are normally kept standing in water, I have never used any kind of stuff to cover the draininge holes, and the soil stays in the pot just fine.

N. ventricosa is more "intermediate" in cultivation. It doesn't need extreme conditions. I grow mine on a windowsil.

Sorry if this is posted elsewhere...... Bats in Borneo roost in carnivorous pitcher plants Cheers.

It has both.

My amp has been living under its current conditions for about 6 years. It gets cut back every few years to keep it at around 30-40cm of stem. It would be far too big for my tank otherwise!

Could you be drying out the plant with too much light/radiant heat? As I said in a previous post, I am dubious that conditions in which your heliamphora will thrive will be conditions for the neps you are growing with it. My own N. ampullaria (a 'Cantleys red') grows with a mere 18inch 40W tube of light (plus ambient light in a normal household room) and pitchers fine.

Your CPs: •Venus flytrap, giant Z11 •Nepenthes ampullaria var. Cantley's Red, x2 •Nepenthes ampullaria var. Harlequin, x2 •Drosera capensis, var. all-red, x3 •Nepenthes bicalcatrata, x2 •Heliamphora minor, x2 Fall into three cultivation groups..... 1) Require winter dormancy with bright light and a seasonal change in photoperiod and cold temperatures in dormancy: Dionaea, and to a lesser extent Drosera capensis 2) Require tropical, hot conditions with nights always above 16C and days in the 20s and a constant 10-14 hour photoperiod of medium to low light: Nepenthes bicalcarata & N. ampullaria (x2) 3) Require warm days, daytime temperatures around 20-25C and nighttime temperatures around 8-12C, and a constant 10-14 hour photoperiod of very bright light: Heliamphora D. capensis will probably tolerate what you throw at it, with the exception of low light. Sorry to be negative, but these plants just WILL NOT grow happily together. Eventually some WILL die.