Highlanders, air movement, and humidity

[Clint]

How important is night time humidity? My humidity ranges from 69 in the day at the lowest and 83 in the night at the highest. It's usually around 79 at night though. Does the night time humidity have to be really high? I'm growing with my terrarium only 50% covered and the night temp is about 65, sometimes dropping to 63, day temp about 72-75.

Should I mist everything really well at night before the lights go off? I'm new to highlanders, sorry I have one fan in there blowing across the water so that cools and humidifies a tiny bit. Should I add a second fan since it's only like a 6 inch fan and the terrarium is 75 gallons? I'm afraid to put it in any direction other than blowing across the water. I'm afraid I'll blow all of the humidified air out since the tank is only half way covered. Or is this enough air movement since the tank is partially open? My lighting is metal halide by the way.

Growing plants in a cold terrarium that's only half covered is SO counter-intuitive from what I'm used to - lowlanders in a sauna. It's surreal that anything can grow down in the basement at all! Now that I've had highlanders how can I go without them again?

I got N. copelandii- Apo, N. gymnamphora, N. fusca, N. muluensis x lowii , and N. spectabilis today from a friend, and hopefully should soon get N. ramispina , lowii and inermis. I never though I could grow any of these

[Michael Catalani]

Your humidity is decent. You can place a bed of wet long fiber sphagnum on the bottom of the tank and this would help increase/maintain a higher humidity.

One 6" fan should be fine in this tank, especially if it is partially open. I had an orchidarium that was about twice this size and it ran two fans in the 4"-6" range.

N. coplandii, N. ramispina, N. fusca, and N. spectabilis should do well in this temp range. You may be hit or miss with the others. The day temps are fine (they could probably stand to be a bit warmer, into the low 80's) but your night temp for N. lowii and N. inermis may not quite be cool enough.

[Clint]

I should be getting N. lowii, N. inermis, and N. ramispina, too. I'm not worried about the later, and i figure if the lowii and inermis start to decline I'll just give them away to someone who can take care of them.

I added a second fan and the RH is 70-71 so I guess It's adding extra circulation without dropping the RH. BUT we'll see what it does over the coarse of a few days.

[rsivertsen]

If you have a basement, (below grade) you should be ok, even air-conditioned temps in a terrarium should suffice until the N. lowii gets too big, but N. ramispina and N. inermis should be able to be contained. I have a few seedlings outside, near my driveway, at or slightly below grade, as I dug up a trench for rain water run-off. The plants seem to be doing well out there, in early morning full sun, and then filtered light by around 10 AM, and for the rest of the day.

[stevestewart]

Instead of adding the second fan you could use an aquarium air pump with a diffuser stone in a water reservoir to add humidity.
Just a thought.

Take care,
Steven Stewart

[brokken]

My own setup (and I only JUST set it up, so I don't know if it'll work or not) involves using a diffuser like the one seen here:

www.rittenhouse.ca/asp/product.asp?PG=1888

It creates a cool mist that keeps things moist but doesn't raise the temperature. The membranes on these things go bad after about 6 months of use, but they can be replaced.

[Clint]

Well so far it's raised the RH to 71 and dropped the temperature by a degree or two.

[rsivertsen]

Sonic humidifiers are very efficient at pumping water into the atmosphere without making your plants soaking wet; but realize, that if you use tap water with dissolved mineral salts, it will also deposit those things onto your plants and leave a white dust on everything, possibly killing the sensitive plants, also, be careful of algae, fungal and bacterial accumulations, which could cause health problems! I've used them for years, but switch units about twice a month, and clean them with a chlorinated disinfectant, rinse it well, and let it dry out, ready for next use. I also prefer to use either distilled, or DI/RO water when I can. If you can't get DI/RO or distilled water, the warm water vaporizers work well, as the boil the water by putting an electrical charge into the water, causing it to boil, and releasing pure water, but the electrical draw is very high, expect to see a significant increase on your electric bill.

[brokken]

rsivertsen said:

Sonic humidifiers are very efficient at pumping water into the atmosphere without making your plants soaking wet; but realize, that if you use tap water with dissolved mineral salts, it will also deposit those things onto your plants and leave a white dust on everything, possibly killing the sensitive plants, also, be careful of algae, fungal and bacterial accumulations, which could cause health problems! I've used them for years, but switch units about twice a month, and clean them with a chlorinated disinfectant, rinse it well, and let it dry out, ready for next use. I also prefer to use either distilled, or DI/RO water when I can. If you can't get DI/RO or distilled water, the warm water vaporizers work well, as the boil the water by putting an electrical charge into the water, causing it to boil, and releasing pure water, but the electrical draw is very high, expect to see a significant increase on your electric bill.

This is what my setup looks like:



There is a pool of RO/DI at the bottom with grate on top of that, so that even when the water splashes all around, it doesn't go anywhere.
So far, I've been running it for about 2 weeks and I see no adverse effect. No deposits, because as I mentioned: I use RO. Still, it's far too little time to judge. As time goes by, success or failure will become self-evident. The plants seem to like it so far. The diffuser runs during the day and I turn it off at night.

[rsivertsen]

That seems like an excellent way to root your cuttings, and raise seedlings, but most Nepenthes will outgrow those fish tank terrariums in a few years!

[brokken]

rsivertsen said:

That seems like an excellent way to root your cuttings, and raise seedlings, but most Nepenthes will outgrow those fish tank terrariums in a few years!

Crossing that bridge when I get there.

[trimen1000]

Looks like you buy from California Carnivores hu?

I can't tell if there's a pool of water at the bottom of the right pan but it kinda looks like there is. If there is make sure all of them are lowlanders, highlanders don't seem to appreciate that much.

[Clint]

Only a few lowlanders appreciate it.

[Dave Evans]

Good evening,

I seem to have discovered the I do not grow Nepenthes like most everyone else... I keep all my plants in trays of water. Yes, the lowland plants can take deeper water levels in the trays than the highlanders, but I have found it is far more complex an issue than just dividing them into highland or lowland groups. I change the texture of the soil, to adjust the amount of water the soil is able to hold around the roots, depending the exact species. When I go on vacation, I'll just over fill the trays and I have never lost a plant to root rot...

I am 'building' a new Nepenthes growing guide for Dangerous Plants, and have divided them into four groups, lowland, intermediate, highland and ultra-highland. Also, each species profile gives a more specific account of how much water and light a particular species likes when it diviates from the "norm" for the group I have assigned it to. This isn't available online yet, but should be within a month or so.

[brokken]

trimen1000 said:

Looks like you buy from California Carnivores hu?

I can't tell if there's a pool of water at the bottom of the right pan but it kinda looks like there is. If there is make sure all of them are lowlanders, highlanders don't seem to appreciate that much.

Admittedly, I am VERY new at growing Nephs. I am much more a fan of the sarracenia genus. And I will admit to bringing with me some bad habits from my sarracenia growing practices: Yes, I do the water tray method because I am lazy. On the plus side, I've been growing my nephs for about 6 months that way and so far they've put forth pitchers and seem to be growing well - except for the N. talangensis which has been very slow to grow. I am hoping that the added humidity will help. I am a total newb when it comes to Nepenthes and a relative new arrival at growing CPs (been killing them for years though!) so it's all a learning experience for me. Some lessons are only learned by trial and error. In my defense, that is as far up as the water gets in those trays. I generally let it go down till the water disappears and the moss is moist before I pour more water in (from the top).

In answer to your statement about buying from California Carnivores, the answer is "Yes. Exclusively!" Peter D'Amato is a great resource and after my initial indoctrination where every question I asked was answered with "Read my book" he has been very informative and kind. If I'm looking for something that's not in the showroom, he will look through the nursery at back until he comes up with a specimen. Paying that little extra for the pleasure of experiencing his collection is well worth every visit to California Carnivores. Every time I go, I try to bring a friend, and they're always fascinated by the place. As for me, I never leave the place without picking something new for myself.
In addition to Peter and his excellent staff, I've also had the pleasure of meeting Barry Rice and his wife there too, so all in all a very positive experience every time I go.