Date: Wed, 03 Mar 1999 08:16:02 -0500 From: "Marc I. Burack" <mb.cfg@mindspring.com> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg647$foo@default> Subject: Re: More~ SCARE~ ~~stories
At 07:37 PM 3/2/99 -0800, you wrote:
>Dear Bobavore,
>
>> I'm now just getting into Nepenthes cultivation since I built my
>> greenhouse, but keep hearing all these scare stories that if you do this
>> or that your plant will die. N. bicalcarata is said to be very easy to
>> grow and is a good beginner Nepenthes... BUT:
>
> Guess what? All of these statements are true! How can this be?
>Well, I'll tell you. Firstly, N.b. is easy: you get the conditions
>it likes, place the plant in these conditions and keep the conditions
>the same for a about a decade and you will have no trouble at all.
>In that time your plant will get huge, not very tall for a Nepenthes
>but the leaves can reach four or five feet long. If you live in a
>temperate climate with strong winters the heating bill will kill you,
>N.b. just loves the heat. Most of the species of Nepenthes are somewhat
>intermediate in their needs, some are not. _N.ampullaria_, _N.bicalcarata_
>and (less so, but not by much) _N.rafflesiana_ need warm conditions all
>the time. I've shocked my N.rafflesiana by running with it from my
>house with it to the preheated car, inclosed in plastic, when the weather
>was in the forties (F). It dropped all it pitchers and turned pale.
>Took months to fully recover. Still, I think it is one of the easiest
>species, but you will not see me try that one (taking it out in the
>cold) again.
>
> BTW, there was probably something wrong with the plants that died
>from repotting, or they were mishandled. Any changes can shock Nepenthes,
>it's not something you change, but you can do lots of little things to
>help your plants become or stay strong so any shocks are just that,
>shocks - not dead plants.
>
>Dave Evans
Well I have not gotten in a good argument in a while and I know Dave Evans
just loves it when I pipe in.
I really don't know what people are talking about with all of this
Nepenthes stuff. I recently had N. bicalc, N. raffl, and 40 others
outside in 45 degree (F) weather for 3 days! and guess
what.......surprise, they didn't die....not even close...as a matter of
fact the raffs all brushed it off like nothing. The bicalc showed some
cold damage, but has been trucking on ever since. My truncata species
plants started to grow faster.....
As far as root disturbance...come on folks...lets get real....Nepenthes
roots are like metal cable. I once took a plant out of a pot and tried to
pull on the roots....they were as tough as any plant roots. As well as the
fact that I personally grow a N. hookeriana plant that the original owner
seriously ripped out of a pot and handed to me (the plant didn't miss a
beat). Moreover this past summer I was rooting a raff cutting in a glass
of water outdoors, and after a wind came through the glass fell over....the
semi-rooted cutting sat on 90 degree concrete in the sunlight for close to
36 hours before I realized what happened.....hey guess what , it is now 2
feet taller and has 6 traps on it.....what a surprise!
Bobavore....just try and ignore all of the general cp scare talk....its
just talk.
(P.S. I also grow Heliamphora plants in a terrarium that never gets under
75 degrees.....I remember everyone saying that couldn't be done....)
Honestly Dave, why do you pass on information that is plainly inaccurate?
Marc I. Burack
marcb@companionfinancial.com
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