Nepenthes northiana

[Sebulon]

Hello,

I got interested about this species recently. I read it's pretty difficult plant, but what makes it so difficult? I read that it doesn't like peat and sphagnum in the substrate, so what kind of mix do you guys use? How much light etc. All info appreciated.

Greetings,

Jarkko

[manders]

Hello,

I got interested about this species recently. I read it's pretty difficult plant, but what makes it so difficult? I read that it doesn't like peat and sphagnum in the substrate, so what kind of mix do you guys use? How much light etc. All info appreciated.

Greetings,

Jarkko

I have two and they are quite tricky, i've had the best success in pure perlite, warm and not to brightly lit. The roots rot easily, which may be one reason not to include peat. I never had pitchers when I had peat in the mix, but maybe they were just too wet.

[Sebulon]

I have two and they are quite tricky, i've had the best success in pure perlite, warm and not to brightly lit. The roots rot easily, which may be one reason not to include peat. I never had pitchers when I had peat in the mix, but maybe they were just too wet.

Wow, pure perlite sounds so crazy. Like putting the plants straight into the perlite bag. How often do you water them, I guess the water just flows through the soil?

[manders]

Wow, pure perlite sounds so crazy. Like putting the plants straight into the perlite bag. How often do you water them, I guess the water just flows through the soil?

Perlite holds a surprisngly large amount of water, I keep them in a humid terrarium which means the compost (perlite in this case) is very slow to dry out. In nature the roots probably get quite dry, which makes them prone to rotting in terrariums etc. I have to say mine have not been the best growing so other growers methods may work better.

[Sebulon]

Perlite holds a surprisngly large amount of water, I keep them in a humid terrarium which means the compost (perlite in this case) is very slow to dry out. In nature the roots probably get quite dry, which makes them prone to rotting in terrariums etc. I have to say mine have not been the best growing so other growers methods may work better.

Ok. Thanks anyway for the advice, now I'll just wait if some über-nepenthes grower to come and help me a bit.

[Jimmie Hansen]

I to find Northiana quite tricky. At first I grew it in pure live spaghnum. But I soon changed this to about 30% live spaghnum and the rest perlite and orchid bark.

After that the plant really took off.

I grow it warm, (about 28C day temp and 23C night) the same light levels that I have for ampullaria and with very high RH.

Edited April 15, 2010 by Jimmie Hansen

[Sebulon]

I to find Northiana quite tricky. At first I grew it in pure live spaghnum. But I soon changed this to about 30% live spaghnum and the rest perlite and orchid bark.

After that the plant really took off.

I grow it warm, (about 28C day temp and 23C night) the same light levels that I have for ampullaria and with very high RH.

Sounds promising, your temperatures seem exactly like those in my lowland terrarium, so the plant should be ok if I just get the soil mixture right.

Thanks!

[manders]

Sounds promising, your temperatures seem exactly like those in my lowland terrarium, so the plant should be ok if I just get the soil mixture right.

Thanks!

just think about what a well drained limestone cliff face is like, many people say an alkaline soil mix helps, I've tried one with perlite/ vermiculite to make it alkaline, no obvious benefit so far. Well drained is a must though!

[ifurita]

Note: I live in what can be considered to be extremely lowland conditions. As such, my temps are very high naturally so I can't say too much about how warm to keep the plant.

Ironically, I'd say that northiana is actually quite an easy grower once some basic requirements are met. All I had to do was to change the media and how often I water the plant and I've never had any problems since.

Media: Anything extremely well draining will work, pref something relatively rough and mainly non-organic. I've got a pot of northiana in just perlite and its never ever given me any problems. I've also got another one in a pot of perlite mixed with burnt earth(the stuff which looks like dry red rocks) with a topping of sphagnum and again, no problems.

Watering: Nothing special about the water, just that I only water my northianas after the pots go bone dry, which is about once every 2-3 days. The pots are so dry, I can hear an "ssssss..." sound from the media after I water.

Light: The plant loves getting as much light as possible and will refuse to pitcher in response to lower light levels unless humidity is extremely high.

Humidity: Must be extremely high if you want to see pitchers. My area is not that humid and so I don't get pitchers that often. I'd say you'd need >85%, pref in the 90s if you want to see nice large pitchers consistently. The plant itself doesn't need such high humidity and you can get a very nice looking and healthy plant with not as much humidity, but who wants large healthy looking leaves with no pitchers? The best northianas in my country are grown by a guy whose growing area has practically 100% RH.

Anyway, just my 2 cents...

[Sebulon]

Note: I live in what can be considered to be extremely lowland conditions. As such, my temps are very high naturally so I can't say too much about how warm to keep the plant.

Ironically, I'd say that northiana is actually quite an easy grower once some basic requirements are met. All I had to do was to change the media and how often I water the plant and I've never had any problems since.

Media: Anything extremely well draining will work, pref something relatively rough and mainly non-organic. I've got a pot of northiana in just perlite and its never ever given me any problems. I've also got another one in a pot of perlite mixed with burnt earth(the stuff which looks like dry red rocks) with a topping of sphagnum and again, no problems.

Watering: Nothing special about the water, just that I only water my northianas after the pots go bone dry, which is about once every 2-3 days. The pots are so dry, I can hear an "ssssss..." sound from the media after I water.

Light: The plant loves getting as much light as possible and will refuse to pitcher in response to lower light levels unless humidity is extremely high.

Humidity: Must be extremely high if you want to see pitchers. My area is not that humid and so I don't get pitchers that often. I'd say you'd need >85%, pref in the 90s if you want to see nice large pitchers consistently. The plant itself doesn't need such high humidity and you can get a very nice looking and healthy plant with not as much humidity, but who wants large healthy looking leaves with no pitchers? The best northianas in my country are grown by a guy whose growing area has practically 100% RH.

Anyway, just my 2 cents...

Thanks a lot! What do you think about perlite and orchid bark mix? You could tp-dress the soil with orchid bark or sphagnum, but I rarely use sphagnum for lowlanders because the moss just looks so bad in warm temperatures.

Now I'll just have to find a place to order this plant from.

[Rob-Rah]

Mine is in a mix of seramis, perlite, vermiculite, fine bark, and some dead sphagnum moss (in approximately decreasing order of amount)

[Sebulon]

Mine is in a mix of seramis, perlite, vermiculite, fine bark, and some dead sphagnum moss (in approximately decreasing order of amount)

Is it growing well? I guess you don't have that much sphagnum in the mix, so it doesn't really affect the plant.

Does anyone have a picture of this plant for me? I'd love to see your plants.

[HESSEL]

my northiana is growing in a mix of orchid bark,perlite,vermiculite and small amount of peat. i have had no problems with this mix and it is pitchering.

i do grow it in very high humidity inside a seed tray and cover. and its our so in very high light levels that it seems to like. and i do water it about once a week not like my others because it seems to like it a bit dryer then the other neps that i have.

[Icarus]

my northiana grows well in 100% life sphagnum. I recognized better growing with increasing light and temperatures.

[Dave Evans]

just think about what a well drained limestone cliff face is like, many people say an alkaline soil mix helps, I've tried one with perlite/ vermiculite to make it alkaline, no obvious benefit so far. Well drained is a must though!

I don't use vermiculite, it doesn't hold up in CP soils. With the exception being Mexican Pinguicula which are kept drier than most other CP's.

Vermiculite is also not a subsitute for limestone, so you cannot draw any conculsions about limestone from using vermiculite which is mica.

Peatmoss is no good for N. northiana and some other species because it is too acidic. Sphagnum is nowhere near as acidic, but pure Sphagnum may still holds too much water for N. northiana. Sphagnum is fine to use in the soil mixture as long as the soil is free draining.

[Dave Evans]

just think about what a well drained limestone cliff face is like, many people say an alkaline soil mix helps, I've tried one with perlite/ vermiculite to make it alkaline, no obvious benefit so far. Well drained is a must though!

I don't use vermiculite, it doesn't hold up in CP soils. With the exception being Mexican Pinguicula which are kept drier than most other CP's.

Vermiculite is also not a subsitute for limestone, so you cannot draw any conculsions about limestone from using vermiculite which is mica.

Peatmoss is no good for N. northiana and some other species because it is too acidic. Sphagnum is nowhere near as acidic, but pure Sphagnum may still holds too much water for N. northiana. Sphagnum is fine to use in the soil mixture as long as the soil is free draining.

[manders]

Vermiculite is also not a subsitute for limestone.

They are both alkaline and contan mangnesium and iron ions.

Edited April 21, 2010 by manders

[Dave Evans]

Okay I'll try a different approach. I don't think vermiculite is good to use in Nepenthes soils, while it might be used I'm sure it offers no benefit and in short order it compacted and turns into sludge. Limestone on the other hand has been used for hundreds of years to sweeten soils and it is good for Nepenthes too. The chemistry of the two minerals is the not same, not even close. Feel free to do some research of your own on the subject.

Vermiculite is better used in soils for starting seeds, making cuttings, shorter seasoned annuals, some houseplants and Pinguicula. Also, vermiculite dust is just about as safe to breath as asbestos dust is.

I just don't want you to think they are somehow interchangable; or that the use of one has any real information to give you about the other.

[manders]

Okay I'll try a different approach. I don't think vermiculite is good to use in Nepenthes soils, while it might be used I'm sure it offers no benefit and in short order it compacted and turns into sludge. Limestone on the other hand has been used for hundreds of years to sweeten soils and it is good for Nepenthes too. The chemistry of the two minerals is the not same, not even close. Feel free to do some research of your own on the subject.

Vermiculite is better used in soils for starting seeds, making cuttings, shorter seasoned annuals, some houseplants and Pinguicula. Also, vermiculite dust is just about as safe to breath as asbestos dust is.

I just don't want you to think they are somehow interchangable; or that the use of one has any real information to give you about the other.

Dave, thanks for your your opinion. The research i'm doing is to actually try it and see what happens. So far there are no problems, too early to tell if it actually helps. I am well aware of the chemistry of the two materials. Vermiculite has some properties similar to some types of mafic and ultramafic soils and so I included it in the test with the northiana allong with a number of other materials.

Do you have a citation for the health risks as it seems to be factually incorrect?

[Dave Evans]

Hmm, well it and silica dust can and do damage lung tissue. It can be wet by poking a small hole in the bag and spraying some water into the bag, don't over do it too wet and can start to compact, the vermiculite only needs to be damp so it doesn't give off dust. And some brands have very little dust at all, which is really nice.

I've been interesting in using an ultramafic sand as a base for a Nepenthes soil, but have no idea how to acquire some...

[manders]

Hmm, well it and silica dust can and do damage lung tissue. It can be wet by poking a small hole in the bag and spraying some water into the bag, don't over do it too wet and can start to compact, the vermiculite only needs to be damp so it doesn't give off dust. And some brands have very little dust at all, which is really nice.

I've been interesting in using an ultramafic sand as a base for a Nepenthes soil, but have no idea how to acquire some...

I had the same thought, I tried a soil additive a few years ago which should have supplied similar compounds to an ultramafic based soil, results where inconclusive at the time. Its not clear to me whether the species of nepenthes that seem to grow exclusively in ultramafic areas are there because of that or if its simply a coincidence.