[EvilLost]

Just a curiosity...

I was researching a few "exotic" plants to showcase my build as it nears completion and I originally went to orchids but I'm not a huge fan of them....I bought a bunch from Andy's, and having had them for a week now, I'm nowhere near satisfied the price I paid for most of them, esp in comparison to some other plants i've found.

In particular, I was curious about pitcher plants. I am particularly interested in NEPENTHES. I know these are not typically grown in pdf setups but search did hit up a few mentions of them. given my setup i can afford to house 1 highland nep and 3-5 lowland....so I just wanted to see what others had on this? It seems they are safe.....and in my quick searching I may have misread, but is there a species of frogs that voluntary lives in the pitchers?!

I'm using this for an open air panther chameleon setup, not frogs/etc. If anyone knows of a nice plant for my centerpiece, I'm open to ALL suggestions I don't know plants. I have a LOT OF ROOM, 6' height to grow and 2' diameter (if I need that much).....gimme what ya got! My temps at the top will be ~85, and ~70 near the ground with full light and shade available....i can obviously also control the water exposure etc

all my stuff is green and my house is decorated with a fair bit of red so ideally i'd like something with some strong reds ....looking at something like these :
Nepenthes bicalcarata 'SARAWAK GIANT RED' - NEW LOWER PRICE!

anyone know how long they take to get to "full size" from 3" plants? I'm guessing 1+ year?

 

[frogparty]

Haha! Full size is a 30 foot vine!!!! They never stop growing. That being said I think it would work fine for a Cham set up as long as you have the conditions it likes. With charms in there you won't be able to give it the cold nights highland Nepenthes like, so you will need intermediate climate plants.

 

[frogparty]

It will take several years for a 3" plant in rosette form to become a vining plant

 

[Brotherly Monkey]

Haha! Full size is a 30 foot vine!!!! They never stop growing. That being said I think it would work fine for a Cham set up as long as you have the conditions it likes. With charms in there you won't be able to give it the cold nights highland Nepenthes like, so you will need intermediate climate plants.

Maxima can be a pretty temp tolerant highlander, and have had them pitcher under normal flourecents.

Personally, I think the whole "highlander, low lander, ultra, etc" designations are way overly broad and that there is huge variations within these groups

 

[gardennub]

I like cephalotus follicularis.

 

[EvilLost]

@gadennub: how big is that though? I need something *BIG* otherwise it will just disappear in the enclosure...


to give some perspective, the ground area of the enclosure has a 4 stalk 6' DRACAENA (species i dont know, straight stalk with palmy leaves at top) and 2 5' elephant ear palms and a 4' australian fern

 

[gardennub]

Yea it would be way to small for that. Hmmm....

 

[brinkerh420]

I dont know where they can be found, but I have seen very large hanging nepenthes plants in garden stores in Ann Arbor. They were around 30$ there. Too late, they were bought by someone else before I had the chance to come back again

 

[frogparty]

There were big Nepenthes at home depot last time I was there

 

[skanderson]

you could also look into getting some nice vines that flower like passifloras. good color, fast vigorous growth, and tolerant of the temps and humidity you are listing going to have. also consider some nice bromeliads. browse the tropiflora site. my order from them went well and they have a huge selection. you may also want to look through the logees catalog online. think about small citrus, look for something without spines. another thing to consider would be vireya rhododendrons. they may like the temp ranges you will have and would be good for the chams to climb on as well. lots of different varieties for temp tolerance and colors and sizes. hope you get some ideas from these sites.

 

[erik s]

There were big Nepenthes at home depot last time I was there

Yea..Saw the same thing..I was just amazed on just how nice they were...Was going to get one but I had to reconsider...I just can't get nepenthes to grow good here at my house....

 

[EvilLost]

i've tried looking around but seeing the closeup picture of 1 tiny flower makes it really hard to tell when teh entire thing will look like.



anything with a "sea green" red or black color would be best


Neps at HD? I always check both my local stores and have never seen

I did find a decent place with decent pricing (after comparing the prices and selection of literally every online US store I could find....for just Neps this place is pretty solid petflytrap.com Home Page I am tempted to order but I'm trying to find a local nursery or another hobbyist as I always prefer that route...esp if 6 plants is going to set me back $150

@Skanderson: I looked at tropiflora but I didn't really see anything...then again I scanned their stuff at a relative fast pace; never heard of logees i'll google that

I was actually considering a Madagscar Palm; i was surprised its actually from there and it looks pretty good...it is thorny but the thorns seem pretty big so i figured they'd work like a jungle gym? I'm going to go see some in person today ro tomorrow hopefully

 

[Brotherly Monkey]

mountain orchids offers rather large nep maxima cuttings for cheap (i think 6-8 dollars), already rooted. But they are offered sporadically (I think when he needs to cut his back

 

[frogparty]

Maxima is a really good choice and definitely a crowd pleaser. I really like spectabilis as well.

 

[brinkerh420]

Just to give you a heads up, The pitcher plants you buy might not be what you expect. I have never ordered from that website, but I found that most places that you buy Nepenthes from come to you as very small rosettes, only a year or two in age.

That website does look like it has a great selection of nice nepenthes, but don't be expecting a huge plant or super large pitcher

 

[frogparty]

eBay is the best place to get good cuttings for cheap

 

[brinkerh420]

As long as the person/ vendor is a reliable source (maybe look at some feedback?)

 

[Brotherly Monkey]

PFT does offer larger plants, but they tend to be pricey. The cutting I got from mountain orchids was about 18 inches tall, 12 wide on the largest growth, and had 3 active growths

I was really impressed

 

[dendrothusiast]

lycopodiums.....birdnest ferns.....

 

[frogparty]

A lot of Lycopodiums have been reclassified as Huperzia if you're looking for them online