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Hi :)

I have tried searching for info on here that might help me out but to little avail. Perhaps if I have missed something glaringly obvious, somebody may point me in the direction of an existing thread that I can read though, but in the meantime, here goes!

I got back into keeping carnivorous plants just over a year ago and now that I have the time and space to do a better job of it, it's gone a little way beyond a few plants kept on a windowsill. I have a cold frame greenhouse that I keep most of my plants in year round, with the exception of some of the more delicate ones I have obtained recently that I will treat accordingly when the time comes. Anyway, amongst those that I have out there are some yearling seedlings- both vft's and cobra lilies. They were out over winter and survived just fine but they are so very slow growing, I am wondering if they may do better if I were to bring them inside and put them under my T5 grow light? I just bought it for other plants but I would like to use it for my carnivores if it will be of benefit to them. I also have a bunch of sarras, some more Darlingtonia and a new lot of giant vft seeds that I sowed a little while back which are now beginning to show (well, not the vft's, it's a little soon for them yet I think). Would they be happier in more stable temperature/light conditions do you think?

Everything else that has been kept outside in the little greenhouse is doing really well but I am still very new to growing from seed so if anyone has any advice regarding what I could do to give these seeds/seedlings a stronger start, that would be great :) For information's sake, the seedlings are all about 1.5cm across, the darlingtonia each have a bout 3-5 little tiny traps and the vft's a few more and the new lot of sarra/darlingtonia seeds that have germinated started showing maybe a week or two ago. They are all in appropriate carnivorous plant mix compost with no moss at this stage.

Also, I have one small nepenthes hybrid (no idea what... it was a garden centre gift from someone) that was in the cold frame but I have since brought it inside after reading more about their care. It gets wonderfully warm and humid on sunny days but I fear it might get a bit too cold for it at night out there. I don't have many bright windowsills in my house that are not in direct sunlight. Where would you suggest I keep this plant that it may thrive? I have a modified shelf in the cold frame that blocks direct sunlight but is still bright but I just don't know if it's a good idea to put it back outside at the moment!

Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you!

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Sarracenia and Darlingtonia seedlings are naturally slow growing and can take several years to get to maturity. I don't find this an issue as I sow seeds every year so always have new plants maturing. You can keep them under lights all year round for the first few years to accelerate growth if you want to.

Nepenthes, depends on the species. Most garden centre hybrids will survive down to 5c at night and actually prefer a night time drop, but again depends on the plant. Can you post a pic?

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Hello Stephen,

Thank you for your response! As this is my second year of growing from seed I don't yet have much in the way of a variety but I am hoping to sow every year from now on so I too hope to reach a point where I have plants of varying levels of maturity. I am satisfying the impatient grower in me with other types of plants at the moment. I shall bring them inside and try them under my light for a while and see if they are any happier. How many hours of simulated daylight would you recommend? This will be the first time I have used a grow light so I don't know whether mimicking our current daylight pattern is enough or if these plants would ideally prefer something different depending on the daylight hours occurring where they originate from... if that makes any sense!

Here are a couple of pictures of my Nepenthes. Thanks again for your advice! As I said, this plant was given to me and as far as I'm aware just came from a normal garden centre. It's a bit battered and the pitchers that were on it when I got it were starting to die off. I have trimmed the dead ones off and now just have these left and two or 3 new ones coming through. If it looks like something that'd be happier going back in my gh then let me know as I'm really not sure what to do with it as I have no idea what sort of hybrid it is! Nepenthes are not currently my strong point :unsure:

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Looking at the last pic, it looks like the pot's been standing in water, which isn't recommended for N. Ventrata. Just keep the compost damp and mist the plant occasionally with rain water.

Regards,

Ian.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ian, you are quite right. It had been. I read up some more on them after posting this and realised my error there! They are now standing in a dry tray and are misted regularly with rainwater and kept damp, as you say. Thank you for confirming that for me!

I'm finding Nepenthes to be far more of a challenge than everything else I am used to keeping which is great! So far they seem to be doing fine and are growing and sending out new leaves and pitchers which is good to see. The plant pictured has some damage to the older leaves which occurred before I got it and these leaves have now started to yellow... is this normal?

Is anyone here able to point me in the direction of accurate information regarding the differences between lowland/highland/intermediate varieties? I have another couple of small plants both of the same variety (presumably) that I am unable to identify (I will post pics here if anyone thinks they may be able to help). Any good info online or book recommendations would be greatly appreciated as, right now, I'm totally winging it with the neps! Haven't really got a clue! Thanks again :)

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