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Albomarginata in UK garden Centres ?!?!?!?


Phantom

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I'm currently on honeymoon in Hampshire, and earlier today popped into a Bournemouth B&Q to find a N. Albomarginata for the hefty sum of £3.98.

I was just wondering if this is a common thing down here/elsewhere, as I've never seen them in any shop/garden centres etc EVER up north ????

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I bought a couple of Neps last week from the local B&Q, but thought they were Ventrata (could well be mistaken however, and hopefully am since I bought a Ventrata from Little Shop of Horrors just a few weeks ago....).

At under £4 you cannot go wrong no matter what type they are. I also bought a Drosera Aliciae, forgetting that I'd sown about 300 seeds a couple of months ago :sarcastic_hand:

One thing that gets up my nose is that they lump all the CP's together on the label, and give a totally inadequate instructions on how to care for them - for anyone who has not bought one from B&Q, here they are in full.

Sarracenia/Dionaea/Nepenthes/Drossera (sic)

Dress Size (what???) - Extra small.

Watering Regime - Keep soil moist at all times. Prefers rainwater or boiled water that has cooled

Favourite Hangout - Place out of direct sunlight. Mist regularly.

I can see most of the CP's they sell dying in just a few months :suicide_fool-edit:

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I've only seen ventrata in DIY stores, would be great if they have started to stocking others though. At that price maybe one of the Hampshire CP sellers will stock up :lol:

Are you sure that your honeymoon hasn't effected your eyesight or judgement though? :JC_cupidboy::sarcastic_hand:

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How long before we see Eden Black at B&Q? :shock:

I don't think that the big TC labs are particularly interested in Cephalotus cultivars. I've never seen any of the more common ones, such as 'Hummer's Giant'. I see that 'Eden Black' is in the collection of someone who has TC capabilities though :wink:

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definitely an albomarginata

did not buy it though as I don't have lowland conditions

Sincy it's a lowland nep, I will not be buying it either....

How many people are going to see that plant, recognise what type it is, and be able to give it the conditions it needs to survive?

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definitely an albomarginata

did not buy it though as I don't have lowland conditions

I thought you could get away with giving it intermediate conditions...

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I thought you could get away with giving it intermediate conditions...

Summer will not be a problem, if you have a warm room winter should be ok too (they grow at uptp 1200m, apparently thats as high as termites, ie their food, generally go in the tropics). If its a green variety i'll defintely give it a shot in a window if i can find one at B&Q prices, the darker varieties need more sun than we typically get.

I've a red one for a few years at room temperature but without additional light its a poor performer.

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Not sure how relevant this is to the UK, but I've been growing the green form for about four years in an unheated terrarium that gets a good amount of direct sun. It's a bit slow in winter (temps can get down to around 10C in there) but it seems pretty indestructible. I nearly lost it in a serious heat wave once which killed the growth point, but it sprouted another one soon afterwards and recovered quickly. I wish the highlanders in there had been as resilient.

The pitchers of this species have very thick walls and are very rigid, and maybe it's for that reason that they last a long time. And it almost never produces a pitcherless leaf even in winter, so it usually has a few healthy pitchers at any given time, sometimes many. I notice that the distinctive white rim below the peristome often turns yellowish quite quickly, so maybe the "termite bait" has an earlier use-by-date than the rest of the pitcher, I don't know. Anyway, despite the very plain colour scheme I find the pitchers of this species quite attractive.

Cheers,

Tim

Edited by Tim Caldwell
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definitely an albomarginata

did not buy it though as I don't have lowland conditions

Well, it is an intermediate species often mislabeled as a lowlander, so you don't have to worry about giving it lowland conditions. Intermediate temperature conditions are actually rather normal for humans, so intermediate species tend to be rather easy to grow as long as you have the other basic requirements covered.

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They had 5 at B&Q 'Extra' in Newport, Isle of Wight.

When I first came across this plant I did think it was a lowlander and did wonder if I should buy it or not - I don't have full lowland conditions at the moment, although I am in the process of setting up a lowland area (terrarium) in my garage. Anyway I did buy it with the thought that even if I couldn't give it ideal conditions it would still stand a much better chance of survival with me than it would while it waited to be moved to the 'bargain area'.

Just a word of warning to anyone new who picked one up because they wanted to try their hand at growing a nep...or indeed picked up any other nep (x ventrata) at B&Q.... don't forget it's in a pot within a larger UNDRAINED pot.

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Found one today at B&Q as well. It was among the "dieing plants" shelf. It was quite healthy though so I bought it. I dont know how to post pictures here so no photos until I know how to!

Went to a different store and found some today, although given where they were B&Q seem to regard them as some kind of mushroom. Nice large plants so bought two, absolute bargain. There was also one with a different leaf shape but no pitchers, regretting now not buying it so will probably nip back next week... :D

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