Comparison

Ctcreel@top.cis.syr.edu
Sun, 23 Jan 94 20:51:46 EST

I have a question for those Nepenthes growers out there. I am using a
Phototron to grow about 5 Nepenthes. The Phototron realy does improve
the growth of the plants. The traps and leaves are much larger and the
leaves are a darker green. But the plants seem to grow very slow. Of
course, I don't really have a point of reference, as I have never grown
these plants in another environment. I was hoping some of you who grow
these plants could give me a yardstick from which to work. I have a
N.ventricosa, N.mirabilis, N.gracilis, N.cuba and N.alata. In general,
they take about three to five weeks to develop a trap and about three
weeks to grow a leaf to maturity. The plants are under 1,800 foot
candles of light for 12 hours a day. They are currently growing in a
mixture of shredded sphagnum, Cimbidium orchid mix (large chunks of
charcoal, bark and perlite). I fertilize them with Superthrive,
Dynagrow ro-Tekt 0-0-3.7 and Dynagrow K-L-N concentrate. The humidity
is probably rather low as the phototron opts for moving air rather a
closed space with high humidity. The tempreture is "room tempreture."

So, should my plants be growing faster? If so, does anyone have any
suggestions?

Thanks for your advice...

Chris