FlyTrapCare Forums

Here is an update on some of my coffee fed Nepenthes. These plants were purchased from CZ Plants in May of 2008. They were all potted up into five inch diameter plastic pots, and were initially grown together in a 16" x 8.25" terrarium. Once the N. rajah outgrew the terrarium it was moved into a terra of its own.

Just to show a progression of these plant's growth since February 2009 up until today, here are some previous shots.

From February 5, 2009. From left to right, N. macrophylla, N. villosa, N. rajah.


May 2, 2009


August 3, 2009 The rajah was moved out and replaced with a smaller villosa in this pic.


Today I decided to squeeze the rajah back into the terra with the original villosa and macrophylla, just to show how the plants have grown since the last update. All of these plants have been given two or three coffee feedings since I first began the coffee treatments in Feb, 2009.

Today, April 16, 2010 From left to right, N. villosa, N. rajah, N. macrophylla.


And because the rajah covered up some of the villosa and macrophylla in the terra shot, here are the plants spread out together on our sidewalk. Left to right, N. macrophylla, N. rajah, N. villosa.


Although a commercial fertilizing program might very well have sped up the growth of these plants, i am happy with their overall health, and general appearance. Coffee does seem to be quite safe for use as a starter fertilizer. And it looks like I'll be repotting these plants in the next couple months or so.

dvg

whoa those plants are huge! congrats

Wow, impressive growth dvg!

Awesome DVG! You are now worthy to be called "The Grand Master D!".

hb

Wow man that's very awesome!

wow i fed mine coffee a few weeks ago and if they do half as well as yours i will be over the moon

It amazes me that in that time the Rajah never fully pitchered.

I have noticed with my Rajah that it is a faster grower then labeled as ,I got mine in Dec 09 it was about 2" now it is pushing 6".

As always Great stuff DVG


Daren

CN they are crazy stats my rajah grows at a snails pace like one inch in six months,but it does grow tiny pitchers,it is about two inch in diameter,i must be doing something wrong,if i give it more light the leaves would burn any help off CN or dvg would be appreciated as you both seem to be doing something i am not cheers

corky wrote:CN they are crazy stats my rajah grows at a snails pace like one inch in six months,but it does grow tiny pitchers,it is about two inch in diameter,i must be doing something wrong,if i give it more light the leaves would burn any help off CN or dvg would be appreciated as you both seem to be doing something i am not cheers

I have mine in a terra with soft shop lights , no special bulb just your average T12 bulb . The lights are on for 16 hrs a day with very high humidity mine is around 90% to 100% . I have a seed mat placed under the plant which brings the inside temp no higher then 80º (day) and at night i unplug the mat to cool the roots ,and the inside temp is about 60º at night
I also use A LOT of perlite in my mix for it which is a ratio of
peat ½:
perlite 3:
cedar mulch 2:
LFS ½:
this allows the plants roots to breath because Rajah is prone too root rot .


Daren

thanks for sharing daren you have pointed me in the right direction ,mine is in a terra but temps are low 70's in day low 60's at night with humidity 60 or 70 and in spagnum,have to rethink the terra i do not suppose it will harm the other plants as they are not exactly growing rapidly

Thanks for the kind words guys,

If any of you want to do any further reading on coffee feeding, here are some of the links that got me started on coffeed Neps:

I first learned about the coffee feeding idea from this thread:

http://pitcherplants.proboards.com/inde ... hread=6288

Here are a couple of more links dealing with this same topic:

http://lhnn.proboards.com/index.cgi?boa ... hread=2366

http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~dpevans/Nep ... _rajah.htm


dvg

DVG ,
How long have you had your Rajah ?