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Lowii or not lowii, that's the question...


Kiwano

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Hi everyone, 

 

I currently have in my collection a young plant grown from wild Nepenthes lowii seeds harvested on the Kinabalu. It grows pretty well with my other highlanders, maybe too quickly for a N. lowii, but... Do you think it looks like a pure N. lowii ? I find it very hairy, looks quite similar to something like N. lowii x veitchii or else. What's your opinion ?

 

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It is hard to tell at this early stage. The shape of the pitcher looks similar to my N lowii (Gunung Murud, Borneo) which is also a very young plant.

 

I got this one from Andreas Wistuba.

 

DSCF3332_zpsplmcn1e4.jpg

 

I hope one day it will form a nice upper pitcher. But it seems to be growing incredibly slowly.

 

Does anyone know whether these are slow growers or perhaps my light levels are too high or temperatures sub-optimal (24C during the day and then dropping to 18C at night)?

 

Mark

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Your nighttime temperatures are way too high for a highlander, you need to almost half that. Low to mid 20's is about right for daylight hours though. Maybe someone more knowledgeable than me can give you more specific location temps for Gunung Murud, but a general rule for highlanders is 10c at night. They can slow right down or even stop pitchering if the temperature drop differential isn't big enough.

Edited by Welshy
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Your nighttime temperatures are way too high for a highlander, you need to almost half that. Low to mid 20's is about right for daylight hours though. Maybe someone more knowledgeable than me can give you more specific location temps for Gunung Murud, but a general rule for highlanders is 10c at night. They can slow right down or even stop pitchering if the temperature drop differential isn't big enough.

Thanks for the suggestion Welshy, my house used to be a perfect highland climate. It was a very cold house with draughty single glazed windows and crap central heating. With the heating on I could just about maintain a temperature of 20C and when the heating went off at night the temperature would quickly drop below 15C.

 

But then my girlfriend (now wife) moved in. We soon got double glazing and external wall insulation. Now our house is more like a lowland climate. The central heating maintains a steady temperature of 24C during the day and it drops really slowly to only 18C during the night when the heating is switched off (damn double glazing!!).

 

I've just sneakily tweeked the central heating settings. I've dropped the daytime temperature to 20C and reduced the time the heating is on by a couple of hours. Let's see how long I can get away with this before my wife begins to complain.

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I've got an N. lowii (from Borneo Exotics) producing upper pitchers and the night time temperatures never drop below 16 oC. Works fine for me and we usually get a decent temperature drop from daytime to night in the greenhouses which may help.

 

N. lowii are pretty slow growing (took me 8 years from a small plant to see uppers!) but they produce beautiful traps all the way through their development, so well worth the wait.

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I've just sneakily tweeked the central heating settings. I've dropped the daytime temperature to 20C and reduced the time the heating is on by a couple of hours. Let's see how long I can get away with this before my wife begins to complain.

 

A man that likes to live on the edge - I like that.

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Hi everyone, 

 

I currently have in my collection a young plant grown from wild Nepenthes lowii seeds harvested on the Kinabalu. It grows pretty well with my other highlanders, maybe too quickly for a N. lowii, but... Do you think it looks like a pure N. lowii ? I find it very hairy, looks quite similar to something like N. lowii x veitchii or else. What's your opinion ?

 

It does look very much like lowii x veitcheii as you suspect, time will tell...

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If the origin of this seedling is correct (that is Mt Kinabalu) then I very much doubt N. veitchii is the other parent. As far as I know it has yet to be found there.

 

Regards,

 

Christer

Good point christer, but definately something quite hairy. I wonder where the seeds where actually from.

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The seeds came from the Kinabalu, that's sure. I know the grower who has sown them well, he is trust worthy.

But if the second parent is not N. veitchii, I would like to know what species it is. Could be interesting in admitting that the plant is not a pure N. lowii of course.

Edited by Kiwano
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Just a guess, but N. villosa and N. burbidgeae are both quite hairy and found on Kinabalu. I certainly wouldn't be disappointed with a cross from one of those, but too soon to tell I suppose. Could still be straight N. lowii.

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