Dieball

Hello everyone! For the first time, I have a Nepenthes in bloom! It's a hardy and compact specimen of N. ventricosa and I would be very pleased if I managed to get some seeds from it. If anyone would like to donate pollen and split seeds 50/50, please pm me. I will of course consider any pollen, anything to get the seeds, but the best would be from burkei, lowii, campanulata, ephippiata, ovata, spectabilis, truncata or xTrusmadiensis.

How about the humidity? Will it tolerate 50-60%?

It's a shame I'm living so far away... Maybe I'll find some cheap flights from Poland

I had one bad experience with them. Last year I bought some Drosera ascendens seeds. I sowed them in a terrarium and after some time what did I see? A bunch of Drosera capensis. So I wrote to them. They responded, that the capensis must've gotten there accidentally from somewhere else and that they surely send me the correct seeds, but they just didn't germinate...Yeah right. What are the odds, of rouge capensis seeds getting into the terrarium, from a plant that's standing a few meters away and didn't flower for some time? Not to mention, that it germinated in the EXACT same spot, that I've sown the supposed D. ascendens. Not to mention, that it couldn't be ascendens, as this plant is not yet in widespread cultivation, as i learned after some time. I'm 100% sure, that it's Drosera latifolia and I wrote to them about that, asking them to correct the name. I gave them a link to the article supporting that and ask to show me photos of the flower stalk. I only got an arrogant response saying "I'm selling what I say i do". They didn't even acknowledge a logical reasoning.

Probably depends on a diet. I've tried with Degu droppings, with no effect, but they are eating mostly straw, so they have high fiber and low protein diet. I think, you would have better results with rat droppings, as they eat a lot of proteins. Their diet include meat, so their droppings should be better. In fact, I'll try it and report my observations in a few days.

Does anyone know, why so many pitchers has their tops cut off in this video?

Yes. Unfortunately Carnisana has been closed, as one of it's co-founders passed away. It was a really sad day for whole Polish community of CP growers.

None. All my lamps were made by one guy from Polish CP forum. PM me for contact to him. They are quite easy actually. The whole secret is in the way you pot the plant. The pot needs to be at least 20cm tall, with a 5cm layer of expanded clay aggregate at the bottom and 1:1 or even 2:1 mix of sand:peat, with 2-3 cm of sand topping. All of that because of the fact, that the part of the plant, where the roots and crown connects is VERY susceptible to rot. This way, the top of the pot is dust dry, while the bottom parts are wet and the roots can reach into the expanded clay part, to reach the water freely.

Very nice Mark! But you must have a high level of humidity on that windowsill, I guess?

A bunch of new photos :) Drosera regia And the same plant, kept in a plastic cup and pure peat, back in april. Regia is really not that hard :) Drosera latifolia [Itarare, Sao Paulo, Brazil] - unfortunately, it's difficult to take photos under led lights :/ Heliamphora 'Midoxa' - my first heli, bought a year ago (I've already sold 5 divisions of it!) Heliamphora cilliata Heliamphora hubri [Bonettia Forest] Heliamphora exappendiculata [Amuri Tepui] Heliamphora exappendiculata [ChimantaTepui]

Yes, I thought they are occuring on those three Tepuis. This plant is looking a little bit like parva to me, but parva isn't growing on Avispa as far I know.

Year I know it's the age of the topic, being this case, but I just wanted to confirm if I'm right, or that H. tatei is more variable than I anticipated :)

Hmmm. Those Heliamphora from Avispa, doesn't look like tatei to me. Aren't those H. neblinae?

I can see N. ampullaria on the screen, so it's some kind of carnivorous plants documentary. Picture is taken inside of a vehicle. Might be a plane, but also a bus, or train.

Today I'd like to show you some of my Pinguiculas! Unfortunately, they got a little bit mixed up, so I'm unsure about some of them, so I'm open for sugestions if I got something wrong! :) P. cyclosecta Pinguicula 'Aphrodite' Pinguicula 'El Mirador' Pinguicula laueana Pinguicula emarginata I'm not sure here, but it might be Pinguicula gracilis x emarginata To the left is Pinguicula agnata x jaumavensis, on the right Pinguicula 'Tina' and at the bottom Pinguicula ehlersiae [Santa Catarina] Pinguicula gracilis (?) Pinguicula 'I have no idea what it is' :) Pinguicula ehlersiae [Santa Catarina] Pinguicula 'Tempa' Pinguicula agnata x jaumavensis Dunno. Debbertiana or esseriana? Pinguicula agnata x gypsicola And on the different note, a Dionaea, that I bought as unidentified. I'm guessing Dentate.

Maybe not daily, because there is high humidity in the terrariums, and outside most plants are in trays, but every 3 days, when moss starts to dry, I give them a mist. Those hanging Nepenthes on windowsill I mist every day.

Hi! Glad you like it :) To answer your question, I'm using such a contraption You pump it with the pump on top, and after that, you just squeeze the handle and it's nicely misting the plants. You can unscrew the cap a little bit, to control the grade of the mist, until it's pouring a stream of water, instead the mist. Very useful. And today I wanted to show you a new spectacular hybrid by Borneo Exotics, that I got from Roraima.pl :) Nepenthes mirabilis var. globosa x hamata (let's call it Globata, to avoid that much writing) I think that this hybrid has a lot of potential. Suprisingly, those pitchers looks a lot like N. robcantleyi x hamata, when it's the same size.

Ok now has come the time for my final creation! Giant terrarium, that I've made myself. The base is 90x40cm and height 150cm. I've used the polycarbon, instead of glass, because of it temperature isolation properties. This way I can maintain 10*C temperature drops, by simply putting frozen bottles inside. I use around 15-18 litres of ice every night. The plants are divided into 3 levels: level 1: Heliamphoras Heliamphora ceracea [Cerro Neblina] Heliamphora chimantensis [Chimanta Tepui] Heliamphora cilliata [Lowlands] Heliamphora exappendiculata [Amuri tepui] Heliamphora exappendiculata [Araopan tepui] Heliamphora exappendiculata [Chimanta tepui] Heliamphora folliculata [Aparaman Tepui, Venezuela] Heliamphora heterodoxa [Gran Sabana] Heliamphora huberi [Bonettia Forest] Heliamphora minor [Auyan Tepui] Heliampohora neblinae [Cerro Neblina] Heliamphora neblinae x hispida [Cerro Neblina] Heliamphora nutans x heterodoxa (sharing it's pot with a pair of Brocchinia hechtioides Heliamphora parva [Cerro Neblina] Heliamphora 'Tequila' Heliamphora tatei var. tatei [Cerro Duida] Heliamphora uncinata [Amuri Tepui] Brocchinia hechtioides Utricularia quelchii [Auyan Tepui] (lately new leaves started emerging at the two opposite ends of the mount!) Level 2: highland nepenthes Nepenthes aristolochioides (it shoul be on it's way to me soon) Nepenthes glabrata Nepenthes lowii (Trusmadi) Nepenthes lowii x ventricosa Nepenthes spectabilis x aristolochioides Nepenthes vogelii Utricularia alpina Frizea 'Christina' Tillandsia cyanea Tillandsia feldhoffi Tillandsia usneoides Level 3: intermediate Nepenthes '7' (maxima?) Nepenthes '17' (petiolata x veitchii?) Nepenthes [lowii x veitchii] x spectabilis Nepenthes muluensis x lowii Nepenthes reinwardtiana Nepenthes singalana Belirang Nepenthes spectabilis x ventricosa Nepenthes Ventricosa Utricularia longifolia Tillandsia cyanea Tillandsia usneoides Sophronitis coccinea Vanda PakChong Blue Jairak All in all, I must say I'm pretty proud of it. However, I woul change a few things if I were to ever create a second one. First of all, I'd use a solid, welded skeleton, instead of a garage shelves. Second, I must think of some other way to attach the rails for glass. The silicone i not holding it well enough. And as last thing, I will have to change the floor, for something more waterproof.

Time for next update. Today I'll show you mine Pinguicula habitat. Of course I'm joking :) That's a small tray I keep on my desk at work. Here's the real thing: P. laueana P. gracilis P. agnata P. ehlersiae [Ixmiquilapan]

Hmm. Do's and don'ts? From my experience with this terrarium, I can say that the drainage on the bottom is not necessary. I've never seen any water dripping down there, and it takes precious space, that could be used by roots. Just water from above with some kind of sprinkler. If you just pour water from the bottle, it will just go straight through the soil, instead of slowly being absorbed. You just need to avoid a big stream of water. Avoid watering too much. Keep some live sphagnum and water the terrarium when it's getting a little bit drier, until it's nicely soaked. Also, invest in regular room humidifier. Make some kind of diy pipe, connecting the terrarium with the humidifier and turn it on for 15 minutes every 2hr. That will help a lot. Also, use one 40x40mm computer fan.

I think both. The components are bad quality, the spectrum is wrong, and the light is not intense enough. Shipping from Poland to other EU countries is generally cheaper, than from EU to Poland I doubt it would be more than 10€ (maybe even half of that). The key is good components (don't use SMD). I don't have enough technical knowledge, to give you any more details :/

To be honest, commercially available leds are way overpriced, and less effective than custom-made leds. The ones that you linked, are most probably just a piece of garbage. Even a few Phillips Tornado bulbs would give better light. I have one trusted guy, who makes all the lamps for me, quite easy. Under just 45W my Heliamphoras are getting all red, so you can imagine how intense they are. As for the price, The 45w lamp cost me around 70€ (but I have a little discount ). I know it can sound a little bit expensive, but belive me, sooner or later, you're going to regret any other way of lighting. I tried something cheaper and eventually ended up changing everything for leds. If you want, you can pm me, and I'll get the email address to the guy.

Well. I have a different lighting in every piece of my collection, so I'll list all of them. I will list all my lighting, even for the parts of my collection that I'm still going to post in the near future, to keep the topic tidy :) The lights everywhere are between 15-20cm. Windowsill: Sylvania grolux 35w T5 (lower row) and Sylvania aquastar 35w T5 (upper row) Upper shelf: Phillips Tornado 20w (cold light) and 10w led bulb (from Roraima.pl) (both are gonna be changed for 35led panel probably in the future) Lower shelf: Led panel 36w Lowland terrarium: Sylvania grolux 35w T5 and Sylvania aquastar 35w T5 Glass 'landscape' terrarium: Led panel 65w Highland terrarium: lower: Led panel 45w middle and upper: Led panel 25w Pinguicula aquarium: Sylvania grolux 24w + 12w Led panel (it's gonna be changed for 35led panel probably in the future) It's called Mylar. It's quite easy to get :) Actually, I know it should probably be a problem, but as you can see it isn't. Maybe because they're not being lighted directly from the side, but a little bit from above. Or maybe because of the Mylar, which has excellent reflective properties and that makes the plants being lighted from every side. Those two bulbs were a temporary solution,but they're doing fine, so I'm not rushing the light change. Ok. I've answered the questions, so here is the next terrarium. Sorry for the weird colors, but my camera has problems with handling the led light. glass 'landscape' terrarium 80x40x40cm *Heliamphora pulchella [Churi Tepui] *Heliamphora pulchella [Apacapa Tepui] *Drosera graomogolensis *Double flower on D. aliciae *Wierd flower stalk on D. aliciae *This one I bought as Heliamphora heterodoxa x nutans, but I'm not so sure about that... Anyone has any ideas? *And another probably misidentified - bought as H. heterodoxa, but probably is H. heterodoxa x minor *Heliamphora minor *Overall view on the lowland and landscape terrariums Overall I'm not yet satisfied with this terrarium. Sphagnum going wild is making it too chaotic and Helis are placed randomly. Fortunately they're in pots so I can move them freely. I also need to get rid of the more common drosera, altough I'm keeping the capensis, because it became somehow dwarfed. Nice and compact. Oh and D. nidiformis, because it's growing nice and red. I'm aiming to have in there: Heliamphora minor and pulchella. In few different variations and localizations. Also H. hispida (it's not on the photos). Maybe I'll move my H. cilliata in there, but I'm not sure. Drosera graomogolensis, D. ascendens, D. adelae, D. oblanceolata, D. prolifera, D.solaris, D. spirocalyx, D. tomentosa. That's it for today. Next time: my Pinguicula aquarium!

Couple more photos: Lowland terrarium I have in it N. ampullaria in a few variations: *Lime Twist *Green and Harlequinn Green *Red Speckled *N. ampullaria x spectabilis *N. campanulata *N. bicalcarata Red Flush *N. bicalcarata I also have in there some petiolaris drosera, but they're dormant now. * Drosera lanata 'NT Form' x petiolaris

Thank you! But the most interesting part is still ahead :)