N. rajah milestone

[Noa_F]

Although it doesn't currently have any nice pitchers on it, my rajah is now over 4 ft in diameter (50 inches to be exact) and I thought I'd share some pictures. That's my 90 pound German Shepherd in the last picture for scale.








Still anxiously waiting for the day it flowers

Noa

[morbus]

Thats HUGE!!!
Nice one
how big was it when you moved it outside?
has it grown faster or slower since being in the ground?
I like the "milestone" post

how come its not pitchering?

how much sun do they get?
im looking at the anthirium and im guessing not alot?
and is that a clivia in bloom?

[Noa_F]

Haha thanks,
Its grown outside all of its life but its been in the ground since it was a bit more than 3 feet across. It definitely has grown faster since being in the ground. I don't think any pot can compensate for the unbounded ground.

Its been dry here lately so now that its been raining it will probably pitcher. The two newest tendrils have anice lively brown to them.

Rajahs actually like a lot of sun but its easy to tell if they are getting too much because the leaves will develop small red spots. Its growing pff to the side under a single tree fern so it gets shade some of the day. I believe its a rhododendron?

I'll update the thread in a couple of months when it has some nice pitchers on it.

[morbus]

in reading my post - i realised a asked alot of "frantic' questions
sorry man

I dont know what they are called. ive also got a tree fern in my GH - but its not big enough to shade anything yet

your plant looks awesome man
and i look forward to the update later!!
would the "red spots" on their leaves be a good sigh?

[Noa_F]

Haha no problem, I don't mind helping others grow this wonderful species.

I think that the red spots are generally bad. I try to give them as much sunlight as possible without getting the red spots.

[cosmo]

Awesome! That rajah is impresive, can't wait to see it pitchering again!

[vraev]

Awsome N. rajah Noah. I see there is another guy peeking around the corner over there. Congratulations and I hope you have both a male and female and hopefully, you can provide us with the first species seed of N. rajah in cultivation.

[Noa_F]

Wow Vraev, you have a good eye. I was wondering if anyone would catch that There is one more nearby, I'm getting them used to the spot then I'll plant them in the ground too. I'd love to get some species seed made. That's my primary goal.

[agustinfranco]

Hi all:

Nice plant Noah. Well grown. I wanted to ask you whether this plant has ever flowered.
If it hasn't, well keep an eye on it. Technically if the plant is growing very well, it should flower at anytime.

Gus

[morbus]

ha
i thought that was an anthirium leaf
but, upon closer inspection . . .

[rainforest]

I would recommend adding a good mulch of tree fern dried leaves, chopped stems, even roots of the tree fern as a mulch covering under the rajah. If these were chopped/shredded into a mulch, even better. Many montane species of nepenthes greatly benefit from having this fern compost as an underlay.
If you can get MagAmp add this to the composted underlay. While not really important for its ammonium properties, MagAmp has a high magnesium ratio which will benefit rajahs for development into trunkier, thicker stemmed plant with an aid for flowering and pitcher development. One tablespoon sprinkled evenly all around (but not touching the stem) will help a lot! I have a hunch that the magnesium will aid in reducing the red spotting in leaves.

M

[morbus]

Hey Micheal
whats the rationale behind the Magnesium? what i mean is: is it a Rajah specific thing, or plants in general. if its for Rajah in particular - why?
do any other metals fit into that rationale?

[vraev]

Haha Noa!! Lol! I was just admiring your amazing plant leaf-tip to leaf-tip and realized another petiolate leaf nearby.
On the subject of N. rajah cultivation... Its sort of ironic that this plant has been my ultimate prize/favourite nepenthes species and heck, it even persuaded me to start with nepenthes collections. Sadly, they just don't seem to do well with me. The first did great for a while, but disturbance and multiple repottings stressed it too much and I threw it away in frustration. The second was doing amazing forthe longest time until again I repotted from a communal pot to its own pot and thats it, its sulking as well. Any tips you guys have for the typical BE clones? I have it in a bark/LFS/charcoal mix.

[morbus]

I have my two BE clones in lots of Bark and some coco peat, fertilized and in lots of full sun.
they seem to have recovered from transport and are getting along nicely so far (which isnt that long) but time will tell.

what conditions are yours in Vraev?
because i often read that they dont like being moved (though Nao's seems to contridict that) i put mine into relatively big pots.
yours will probably settle again and appreciate its own space

[vraev]

Conditions are stale. It is within a 3' tall, 2' wide tank. Temps are currently pretty low (65F day and 50F at night). I think you are right, they hate being moved and repotted. I have learnt this the hard way as I think I am loosing a wonderful 8" hamata specimen given to me by a friend. I repotted it into a spare pot to get more space, but accidentally lost all the roots which seemed to only form in the top dressing live sphagnum layer. As a result, the plant is now almost hopelessly stalled for the past 5-6 months. Same with the rajah. Clearly I have NO SKILLS with repotting and should stop doing it. lol! And damn!! I also had to repot my 7" villosa. Thats stalled too.