Nepenthes northiana are so slooooww!

[sockhom]

Hello ;D,


I wish my Nepenthes northiana were faster growers !

Let's make a race between some young Nepenthes northiana and some mushrooms. Who will be the fastest? The race will last about 12 hours, starting in the evening and ending in the morning!















And the winner are... the mushrooms ;D! (They died a few hours later )


François.

[jimmy]

Those are some elegant 'shrooms! Perfect alongside some of the best lowland Nepenthes in existence - and well grown ones at that!

How slow do your N. northiana's grow? And what kind of mix are they in?

Thanks for posting this well-presented (as they always are) thread!

[marka]

How long have you had them? Mine are pretty slow too, had them at least two years and they are 25% bigger

[rainforest]

It's slow because they're competing with mushrooms.
Try growing them individually (and fertilizing) without competition and maybe you'll be singing a different tune.

M

[Robiii]

I was thinking about that thank you Micheal for stating it.

®3

[jgriffin]

Hi Michael,
I thought I heard this species was extra sensitive to fertilizing.
Is that a myth, in your opinion?

Thanks,

Joe

[sockhom]

Dec 31, 2008 11:16:30 GMT -10 rainforest said:

It's slow because they're competing with mushrooms.
Try growing them individually (and fertilizing) without competition and maybe you'll be singing a different tune.

M

Thnaks for the advice Michael. I'll give it a try.
Oddly, I've been growing those two plants for 2 years and the mushrooms only apperared two months ago.
Those tiny northiana were twice smaller when I received them, hence my thread's title.

Happy new Year!


François.

[rainforest]

My experience with northiana is that they are slow, but they do respond favorably to mild fertilizer dilutions on an ongoing regularity. I am of the opinion that they are heavy feeders in their habitats being subjected to regular soluble flushings of water mixed with nutrients, hence their tenacious black roots which produces much side branching from the main root.
They do not grow better in a basic media and I believe they are using the limestone as a nutrient buffer to make specific minerals and vitamins more to their liking. I guess it's like adding that extra spice to some dishes, its still edible, you get nourishment from it, but some like it hotter and N. northiana seems to like that extra spice added.

M

[unclemasa]

They do seem to be pretty slow. In the past they have done well for me only in the mid-summer months. Since moving these out of the shadehouse and into more direct light they seem to be doing better. The pitchers have gotten smaller but more abundant and I'm finally getting some color. I'm hoping that they will start building in size again from here on out.

[Robiii]

Very interesting Sam, are they shaded by the shade cloth?

Looking very nice, even for such small pitchers.

Rob

[Marcello Catalano]

Yeah, nice plant, shame for the small pitchers.

[rainforest]

Sam,
Try adding a generous hand full of coral chips to the media, or better yet when transplanting them, add a crock layer of coral chips and plant their root ball over this. They will make extensive black roots that just cover the coral chips like crazy.

Feed and water as usual. I bet you'll see triple sized pitchers after this.

M

[Robiii]

I believe that Micheal, that's what gave my N. Miranda it's foot tall and quite robust northiana infused maxima pitcher.

®3

[sockhom]

Funny how a small pitcher for you would be a big one for me Sam.
Your northiana is already quite spectacular to me. I really like that peristome, it is such reptilian-like.

I will try to feed my plants on a very regular basis.


François.