Hello again

Christopher Creel (ctcreel@top.cis.syr.edu)
Wed, 11 Jan 1995 01:09:20 -0500 (EST)

Hello All,
I have been quite busy and havn't had time to follow the immense amount
of new mail from this newsgroup. But I am very happy to see all of the new
activity.
If all of you will remember, I have been running an on-going experiment
for several years to find Nenepthes that could handle a household environment.
I define a houshold environment as

humidity levels between 10 and 40 percent
tempretures between 60 and 80 degrees (with radical shifts in tempreture)
window with a southern exposure

I had a few suggestions from several members. Those suggestions were:

N.mirabilis
N.maxima

Not surprisingly, the N.mirabilis (average Thai variety) grew like a weed. In
fact, it was difficult to find a setting in which it would not thrive. the
one drawback to this plant is that it needed to be constantly wet. If it
was at all dry, it tended to wilt.

The N.maxima is also doing quite well. It is not growing as quickly as the
N.mirabilis, but I think that may simply be in the genes. I am not ready
to claim that this plant was a success, but it is faring well.

Another plant which I have tried is N.fusca. I have found this to be most
suited to being a housplant. It takes severe drying out without wilting
or even complaining much. It has been pitchering nicely for me under
extreme duress. It has turned out to be the most graceful of all my
experiments.

A few failures are:

N.gracillis
edwardsiana

My next victim will be a N.rafflesiana. I am simply waiting for one of
my plants to get get big enough for a cutting.

All of the plants were planted in

2 part long fiber sphagnum 2 part silica sand 2 part peat moss 1 part
chunk charcoal 1 part orchid bark

I used a meter to determine if they were dry. the needle on this meter went
from 1 to 8, 8 meaning being able to squeeze a significant amount of water
out. I watered when the needle hit 4.

I did use Superthrive, but probably should not have.

Finally, I know there has been some bizarre discussion about not discussing
plant material for sale. I would like to put my 2 cents in by saying:
"Phooey!" It is my opion that one of the goals of this group should be
spreading around as much material as possible.
These plants are disapearing quickly in the wild. We, being
conscientious collectors, should make it our responsibility to keep the
population of plants in captivity as genetically healthy and as plentiful
as possible.

With that in mind, I am getting ready to whack back my plants. I plan on
keeping a few cutting for my experiments, but I don't have room for them all.
So if you want cuttings of the following plants and are willing to pay for
postage, they can be yours. The cuttings will be from:

N.mirabilis (Thai variety)
N.ventricosa (a very nice specimen)
N.alata (also, a nice specimen)

I plan on doing the deed in February or March, depending on the weather.
So if you want some of the cuttings, respond between now and then.

Chris