FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Disclaimer: I posted this on reddit already (with not such a great response), so sorry for having you click this once again.

Hello friends,
Due to limited living conditions, and a burning passion for highland nepenthes, I've decided to invest in a chest freezer, which I am currently in the process of converting into a (ultra) highland chamber, much in the way of Mr. Schafer.
I have ordered an embarrassing amount of highlander plants, which will all be shipping this spring, 4 of which I have already received.
In my pursuit to provide the best possible conditions for these lovely plants, I would greatly appreciate any input on which temperatures and lighting conditions I should aim for, and considering not every one of these species has the exact same requirements: Is it even possible to grow them all in the same freezer?
The species are as follows (pls don't judge )

The ones that have been delivered already:

• Macrophylla
  Lowii
  Inermis
  (intermediate) Ramispina

Expecting delivery in april

• Villosa (I know this one likes it super cold, but will have to keep it reasonable for the sake of the others)
  Edwardsiana
  Jamban
  Tenuis
  Naga
  Hamata (wistuba G. Lumut)
  Pitopangii (also wistuba: ivory, if that matters)
  Veitchii (intermediate?)

Nepnenthes seeds probably fitting:

• Dubia
  Lowii
  Jacquelineae
  Bongso
  Inermis

Also got utricularia seeds coming in soon, maybe they fit in the freezer too:

• Nelumbifolia
  Reniformis

Sorry for the stupidly long list. Edited for formatting.

tl;dr: Which of the listed plants/seeds will do well in a chest freezer highland chamber, and what middle ground nighttime temperature should I aim for? 50-55F?

50-55 is just standard highland night temps. All small Nepenthes do fine in warmer than normal conditions, except you will definitely need temps to be 55 at night at the very least for villosa. Honestly, the main issue is that Neps seem to be more sensitive to too warm of temps as they get large, and villosa is a known perpetrator of being difficult to maintain once big.

Benurmanii wrote:50-55 is just standard highland night temps. All small Nepenthes do fine in warmer than normal conditions, except you will definitely need temps to be 55 at night at the very least for villosa. Honestly, the main issue is that Neps seem to be more sensitive to too warm of temps as they get large, and villosa is a known perpetrator of being difficult to maintain once big.

Ah, all of the plants will be rather small initially, so if I can keep it around 55 at night, and around... say 71-74f at daytime, I should be fine with most of these? Are there any of these that will not like the cold nighttime temps at all?

Thank you very much for the info by the way.

What would cold damage on a baby nep plant look like?

N. jamban, bongso, and ramispina can be grown as houseplants. Several people have succeeded in doing so with N. hamata too though I don't know how tolerant Wistuba clones are. N. veitchii can be either lowland or highland - you'll have to check your source to determine which it is. There is plenty of debate about N. edwardsiana, some people swear it's an intermediate and some say highland - it may depend on exactly where the original seed was collected for your clone.

Out of the rest...I think villosa is really the only species that needs ultra-highland conditions. Standard highland conditions would be warranted for the rest.

nimbulan wrote:N. jamban, bongso, and ramispina can be grown as houseplants. Several people have succeeded in doing so with N. hamata too though I don't know how tolerant Wistuba clones are. N. veitchii can be either lowland or highland - you'll have to check your source to determine which it is. There is plenty of debate about N. edwardsiana, some people swear it's an intermediate and some say highland - it may depend on exactly where the original seed was collected for your clone.

Out of the rest...I think villosa is really the only species that needs ultra-highland conditions. Standard highland conditions would be warranted for the rest.

I see, thank you very much for the detailed answer!
So the jamban, bongso, ramispina will do fine as long as humidity is high I assume? The swedish climate usually means horribly dry air. I think the veitchii is highland, if I were to go by the wistuba categorisation on their website! I am unsure of the origins of the Edwardsiana, but I'll try it highland to start.

Would you hazard a guess at the middle ground highland temperature to aim for, or should I say; the lowest and highest temps to stay within? 50f lowest, 78f highest for instance?

78 highest for villosa may be to much. I'd try to aim for more 70s days 50s nights to match all of those. I have a lot of intermediates by grow them all with those temps during the winter.

ticker wrote:I see, thank you very much for the detailed answer!
So the jamban, bongso, ramispina will do fine as long as humidity is high I assume? The swedish climate usually means horribly dry air. I think the veitchii is highland, if I were to go by the wistuba categorisation on their website! I am unsure of the origins of the Edwardsiana, but I'll try it highland to start.

Would you hazard a guess at the middle ground highland temperature to aim for, or should I say; the lowest and highest temps to stay within? 50f lowest, 78f highest for instance?

Humidity does not need to be high, necessarily. The humidity requirement of Nepenthes is not nearly as high as most people would claim. Out of those three species I grow ramispina and bongso (the bongso is still fairly small) along with quite a few others and they will all produce pitchers through the winter with frequently 30% humidity, albeit with a higher incidence of pitcher lid deformations when the humidity is that low. The plants exhibit very few deformations when the humidity is above 40% most of the time.

It is important to provide enough light for the plants when the humidity is low though or you likely won't be getting any pitchers. Pitcher development seems to be controlled by a combination of humidity and light. Having one of these elements higher can compensate (at least partially) for the other being low, but low light levels will result in smaller and less colorful pitchers while low humidity can cause lid deformations.

Benurmanii wrote:78 highest for villosa may be to much. I'd try to aim for more 70s days 50s nights to match all of those. I have a lot of intermediates by grow them all with those temps during the winter.

Gotcha, thanks a bunch for the tip!

nimbulan wrote:Humidity does not need to be high, necessarily. The humidity requirement of Nepenthes is not nearly as high as most people would claim. Out of those three species I grow ramispina and bongso (the bongso is still fairly small) along with quite a few others and they will all produce pitchers through the winter with frequently 30% humidity, albeit with a higher incidence of pitcher lid deformations when the humidity is that low. The plants exhibit very few deformations when the humidity is above 40% most of the time.

It is important to provide enough light for the plants when the humidity is low though or you likely won't be getting any pitchers. Pitcher development seems to be controlled by a combination of humidity and light. Having one of these elements higher can compensate (at least partially) for the other being low, but low light levels will result in smaller and less colorful pitchers while low humidity can cause lid deformations.

I see, I'll look into better lighting once again then, as well as see if I can repurpose an aquarium too, thank you very much!