Heliamphora trainer?

[bluecrabofpain]

Hello again everyone!

Years have gone by since I last wrote here. Since then I've gained some experience keeping reptiles, and now I actually have some rudimentary, conceptual grasp on environmental control in terrariums.

I'm thinking about setting up a highland terrarium for Heliamphora and carnivorous bromeliads. However, before dumping money into a Wistuba and buying one of everything, I'd first like to test out a new terrarium with a more modest, practical "test plant" to ensure that the conditions in the terrarium are good before I potentially lose a ton of money on several Heliamphora and Brocchinia reducta, only to lose all of them at once.


Does anybody have any specific recommendations on particular highland Nepenthes, sundews or butterworts that have similar requirements as Heliamphora? Particular species that can act as a canary in a coal mine to tell me if something is wrong with the terrarium before I go all-in on Heliamphora?


Cheers!
-BCOP.

[hcarlton]

Most of the other plant species that will react negatively in a timely enough manner to bad conditions are going to be expensive plants as well (most uncommon highland Nepenthes, D. ultramafica, spiralis, other Latin American species, etc.). Better would be to start out with a Heliamphora, tweak the conditions as it seems necessary and go from there; there are a lot of hybrids and species out and about now, but most are still not going to be inexpensive.
Also, unless you have a BIG terrarium, don't try and stick a Brocchinia in one. They get very tall, and do just fine in lowland/intermediate conditions, no need to put them with Heliamphora.

[carnigrower]

I grow all my heli's and orchidiodes utrics on se facing windowsills, I find minor and pulchella easy going well the clones I grow anyway, minor ayaun tepui from aw, and pulchella chimanta aw and churi bcp. I've even got u mannii and jamesoniana coming into flower soon on the same windowsills.