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.
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.
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.
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.
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. There are probably
a whole lot of literary works out there that I've never
even heard of, which might answer a lot of my questions
about CP's.
Thanks!
Perry Malouf