Growing (highland) Nepenthes in the windowsill

[Tropicat]

In response to a different topic I decided to share a bit more about the Nepenthes i grow in my windowsill. I believe the 10C drop in the night is the most important condition to grow healthy plants in the windowsill. I achieve the 10C drop by keeping my winddow open at night. I close it during the day in the winter. My winter temps are 5-10C at night to 15-20 C during the day. In the summer it gets a bit tricky. We have had 30C during the day, so I leave the window open day and night. This way I can get 15-20 C in the night and 25-30 C during the day. Officially this is too hot for N. hamata and N. rajah. I planted my rajah in a very tall pot, and it seems to be doing fine in that. the hamata i planted in a big basket. This way it takes way longer for the soil to warm up, so this should keep the roots cool. I have done this with Louisa and ventrata as well, which seems to have had a good effect. If it really gets too hot, i put rainwater in plastic bags in the freezer, creating ice cubes. I then put these in the soil (not touching the plants). (I also have done this for my darlingtonia). I don't know if this makes a big difference, but it hasn't harmed them either. 

I try to keep humidity at a minimum of 50%, preferrably higher, but this is quite a challenge. I rarely get the humidity above 70%. Because my humidity is lower, I have difficulty getting my neps to pitcher. It takes them at least a year to acclimatize. After that they do actually pitcher in the lower humidity. My hamata and rajah are still too small, so we will see how they will do after a year. 

These are the neps i'm growing: 

N. hamata
N. Louisa (I have taken some cuttings, which i put outside per experiment. N. Louisa is a lowland / intermediate. I noticed it is more difficult for me to grow lowland or intermediate. I had a N. hookeriana, but it was just too cold for it, so it died unfortunately.)
N. rajah
N. sanguinea (It was labeled sanguinea in the shop where I bought it, but I have some doubts about this)
N. sibuyanensis
N. spectabilis
N. ventrata

I see leaf jumps on all of them, so they are growing fine. However, they dont all pitcher. N. Louisa, N. spectabilis and N. ventrata are producing plenty of pitchers. N. sanguinea is producing pitchers, but not very impressive ones. The rest im hoping will start to produce pitchers later in the year for me. I do notice they produce their pitchers in the summer, so I suspect extra lighting will stimulate this as well. Unfortunately the growing light i used broke. I may buy a new one for the winter, or I'll just see how they do without. Not sure yet. I don't like to be too fussy about my plants or  their care. I also don't mind experimenting with them and find their limits.

I'm curious if other people grow (highland) neps in the windowsill and if you guys have tips? 

N. rajah

N. hamata. I put microfiber around it to keep the humidity high. I put a lid from a yoghurt pot on the soil. I use that as a tray to poor water in. The microfiber soaks up the water, so that it's evendly distributed around the plant. It kind of is an experiment, we will see if it works in time. 

For some reason my N. ventrata decidedd to make 3 basal shoots. I just noticed this

 My N. 'sanguinea' also made a basal a few months ago. 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 4, 2018 by Tropicat

[Tropicat]

N. spectabilis

I accidently left my N. Louisa out in the sun too long 

 

[Zerbirus]

10c nights are a little on the low for those, 12-13c might perk up pitcher production. I had a ventricosa x sibuyanensis on the windowsill over winter, I had to move it as it didnt seem to like it. x rebecca soper did fine with 10c nights and x miranda.. well it killed the vine but it continued the sideshoot fine (huge leaves now) and has 2 more sideshoots next to it.

[Tropicat]

yeah my plants do pitcher more in the summer. I don't know if thats bcs of temperature or amount of light

[Tropicat]

toothy!

 

[NewToNepzCam]

Beautiful! Toothy and that lovely hairy lid! I will eventually get one of those, I must sort out my Lighting/Humidity first in my make -make shift tiny walk-in greenhouse! Once I have the conditions just right, will make the plunge and never go back :) Happy growing!