Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 14:08:13 +0200 From: Catalano Marcello <catalano@internode.it> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg2170$foo@default> Subject: N. northiana
I have my plants since more or less six months. They come from
Andreas Wistuba. They grow slowly, but more or less normally for a
nepenthes. The dimension is increasing, as every time a trap opens,
I put inside a small piece of raw meat (trick that I use with all my
neps). I have it in 50% sand and 50% peat pellets. I think it had
a shock from superthrive and for a period it started to produce
leaves with a burned tip.
I've also seen that usually a compost containg lime is suggested. I
think it's not the right way to follow its natural habitat. It
lives in a dense substratum of peat on these limestone cliffs, so I
think nothing to do with the lime under the peat. I used for some
weeks, when I had just received this plant, a compost with expanded
clay, without knowing that it contained lime. The N. northiana
started to produce smaller, deform, burned leaves as the other
plants that I stupidly putted in this same compost. Then I placed
it in peat pellets/sand and it went on in the right way.
Johannes Marabini wrote in his webpage that this plant require a
really good drainage, and mine has it. And it also requires some
shade. Well, I grew this plant for many months very near my lamps
and it was doing fine, but now I suspect that the fact that it was
producing pitchers only every one or two leaves is due also to the
excessive light, and I moved it in a more shaded place of my
terrarium.
Sometimes my suspect is that the compost is too acid. The lime is
not ok, but also the peat pellets are too "strong". D'amato
suggests vermiculite-pomice-sand-perlite. But now I don't want to
change anymore for a long time. I just would like to know if
usually when a northiana grows like mine (a pitcher yes and two no -
also if always bigger) it's because of the wrong compost.
Opinions from nepenthophiles?
Marcello Catalano
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