From seed to 12" wide in less than 2 years!?

[bluesboy]

Hi All,
I thought I'd share some pics; I knew that my N. ventricosa 'Red' X ventricosa 'Black Peristome' seedlings were coming along fast, but when I pulled this guy tonight, I was truly amazed- really, I'm not doing anything unusual in the culture of these, no steroids in the LFS. (The cross was made by a private business, and I haven't asked whether they'd like to be named, so I'll leave it anonymous for now)

I looked in my seed log-book, and I planted this batch of seeds on July 10th, 2006. I figure they probably took a month or two to germinate, but using that date as a baseline, I didn't realize that a seedling could get twelve inches in about 2 years?

This is the rewarding part though, since transplanting all of the seedlings from this cross a year and a half ago, when they were wee sprouts was really less than fun. So now I have about 20 of these guys, all around this size, and they're getting very friendly, putting pitchers into the other's pots, which are ridiculously small now that I look at them. Man, I've got more on my hands than I thought! Anyway, honest, this isn't to show off, I'm just not quite sure how this happened so fast- anyone else have similar experiences??- I know the fact that it's a cross between two ventricosas does certainly help! but still... I'll have to start revising my growing setup(ie; make more space/make bigger), since there are more seedlings constantly being pumped out... another 'less than fun' part. But the fun part:

'cute' has become 'too big' and 'not so cute anymore'- now adolescence has come for sure!


however, I really dig how the pitchers look from the cross! I'll keep an eye out to see is the peristomes continue to look this good- they're globbered in nectar.


another pitcher from same plant, just opened, and not fully colored yet;


one last, holding the big baby;


I look forward to hearing from you all if you've ever grown 'racehorse neps from seed'? Also, I need help on a better name than 'racehorse' for the phenomenon- any ideas? Enjoy! Best, Nick 'bluesboy'

[happygnome]

Damn thats a nice plant...I wish mine had leaves like that! I have no experience in this area, but just had to comment on the plant!

[rsivertsen]

This is yet another example of hybrid vigor in this hybrid population. The true N. ventricosa has long, thin leaves, and is a slow growing highland plant. These hybrid plants have shorter spathulate leaves, and are lowland growing plants. Clearly, they have N. ventricosa in it, but what else got into this gene pool is still unknown, most likely N. alata, but possibly something else as well. Like so many other hybrid swarms, they are a complex mix, with some plants leaning toward one trait or another, with a great deal of variability.

I brought in dozens of these plants from Luzon many years ago, and got them to flower, raised a few hundred seedlings, and they also produced flowers within 3 years. However, they're only about half the size of the true species (below). Note the peristome, and how it just ends below the lid, without any upward rise, like so many of the hybrids do. - Rich

[christerb]

Good growing,

I have experienced something similar with my seedlings, but usually there are few specimens in a batch that performs better than the rest.

I have had one N. mirabilis grow to over 2 feet in less than 1,5 years.

I also had on of my N. reinwardtiana reach more than 14 inches in the same time.

Currently I have a promising N. maxima that is more than 6 inches which will soon be 1 year old.

I can't say that I know why this is happening though, it just seem that some specimens are more vigorous. If it is because the specific growing conditions are near "perfect" for them, or if they are just more tolerant of these growing conditions, I can't say. What I can say is that is has certainly made growing nepenthes from seed more rewarding than I initially thought.

Regards,

Christer

[rsivertsen]

Hey Christer,

I also had a bunch of N. maxima from mid range Lake Poso area of Sulawesi grow to flowering size within 3 years too; and according to other reports, several of the smaller variations of this species seem to be very fast growers. For me, all the low land species always seemed to grow very fast and large. - Rich

[stevestewart]

These are a couple of Nepenthes siblings that I grew from seed in about three years to flowering size. I received the parents as gifts from a grower in Colorado as N. burkei, and was told the original plants came from "an island" where no other species grew, so what ever the plants were determined to be in the future they couldn't be hybrids. I first labeled them as N. burkei, then as N. ventricosa syn. N. burkei, and finally as N. burkeii, because of the diversity of the seed grown siblings. The second thumbnail looks somewhat like the " Porcelain" form highland N. ventricosa photo in F. E. Lloyd's book "The Carnivorous Plants", and pictured in Rich's post. I have no idea if they are hybrids, or just a diverse species. I do know that many of the plants I grew have been hybridized with other species since I grew them.





Sorry for the poor quality of the photos.

Take care,
Steven Stewart