Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2000 14:45:29 +0930 From: Kevin Cook <K.Cook@bom.gov.au> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg2975$foo@default> Subject: Re: Tree climbing Nepenthes
At 19:14 12/10/2000 -0700, you wrote:
>Has anyone out there ever grown N. veitchii in such a way as to allow it
>to climb up a tree like it can in nature? I've got a small N. veitchii
>which is just now producing mature pitchers and I thought it might be fun
>to try to encourage this sort of growth. Any opinions on an appropriate
>tree diameter, bark texture etc.?
>
>Rich
I haven't seen Nepenthes growing in the wild, but I have two plants which
are well and truly in "climb mode". They are a N. maxima x ventricosa and
N. ventricosa x (alata x mirablis). Both are growing on a North facing
balcony and have reached across and grabbed hold of a fish tail palm. Also
they have grabbed hold of each other at various points and to some extent
support each other.
My (limited) experience is that the tendrils will only wrap around
something the diameter of a Nep stem or smaller.
A word of warning. Don't wait until your plant is over 6 foot tall and has
tendrils wrapped around a number of supports, before deciding the pot is
too small. I'm in this situation with my N. ventricosa x (alata x
mirablis). I have to water this plant twice a day due to the heavy
transpiration, otherwise it starts to droop. I wish I had transplanted it
to a larger pot to begin with.
Happy Growing,
Kevin Cook
Darwin
Australia
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Jan 02 2001 - 17:35:13 PST