Re: Observations, and Resulting Questions

Robert Allen (Robert.Allen@Eng.Sun.COM)
Tue, 8 Jun 93 09:51:54 PDT

>> I'd like to post some observations about the growth of
>>my N. Alata and N. Khasiana in the past year, and then ask some
>>questions.
>>
>> Over the summer these plants were placed outside in dappled
>>sunlight. Daytime temps (Fahrenheit) were in the low 90's and
>>night time temps were in the mid 70's, with relative humidity
>>above 70% most of the time. The plants were in 6" pots and had
>>single vines about one foot long, with two or three decent
>>sized base pitchers each. That's the way they stayed mosdt of
>>the summer.
>>
>> With the arrival of Fall, I brought the plants indoors.
>>The N. Alata was transplanted to a taller pot with fresh
>>sphagnum (not live) planting media. The N. Khasiana remained
>>in the original pot. Both plants were placed inside a large,
>>clear plastic trash bag (both plants in the same bag), under
>>a 4-tube fluorescent fixture. The fixture is 48" long and
>>holds two grow-light tubes, and two regular tubes. The
>>distance between the plants and the tubes was about 6". The
>>fixture was on a timer which provided 12 hours of light.
>>Temperatures were maintained at around 70.
>>
>> The N. Alata sprouted shoots near its base and grew
>>like there was no tomorrow. Two new shoots grew 2' long
>>by the time I brought the plants outside last month. There
>>were also quite a few pitchers, both large base pitchers and
>>smaller upper-plant pitchers.

Isn't N. alata a highland plant? If so it should
do better in cooler temps.
>>
>> The N. Khasiana had almost no vine growth. New
>>leaves did develop in the base rosette, and beautiful new
>>pitchers formed and achieved their peach coloration.

Khasiana is I think a lowland plant. If you got lower
growth it may have just mean the plant was happy enough
to start a new vine rather than use the old one. My
N. x boissiense did this, and the new vine is much thicker
than the longer, older, woodier, one.
>>
>> Here are some questions. 1) Do these species have
>>a dormant period followed by an active growth period?
>>2) If they do follow such a pattern, is it timed such that
>>the growth period is in the apparent winter, when temps
>>are cooler and days are shorter? 3) Is it likely that
>>repotting the N. Alata spurred the active vine growth
>>(which was not noticed in the N. Khasiana that was not
>>repotted)? I point out that, when the N. Alata was
>>repotted, it was NOT root bound, i.e. the repotting
>>was not urgent.

It could be that the media you had the N. alata in
was exhausted, or the plant didn't like it for some
reason. I've seen plants sit there for months, then
take off when they were repotted.
>>
>> In the context of recent postings on halogen lights,
>>I'd like to know if they offer an advantage over fluorescent
>>grow-lights for smaller collections. My plants seem to
>>do very well with the fluorescents. My collection is small
>>enough to be covered by eight 48" long tubes.

My primary interest in halide lamps is due to two
reasons:

1) I don't like throwing out 4' bulbs. they pollute
too much. Good grow lamps are also not cheap, and
all flourescent lamps drop to something like 1/2 their
stated output in 6 months or less.

2) I didn't want to be constrained in building my growth
chamber/wardian case to the sizes of easily available
lamps (i.e. 2' or 4').
>>
>> Finally, can anyone offer a listing of books which
>>are on the subject of CP's? I have only two books, and
>>several books unknown to me have been mentioned in
>>previous postings. I'd like to know titles, authors,
>>and (if available) the publishers.

If these aren't already available in the listserver
then we should probably create a book file. I'll try
to remember to enumerate my small CP library tonight.

R.