FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi everyone! Ive always been thinking about growing a highland nepenthes, but I am not sure if they are suitable to the climate in where I live, as i probably won't be allowed to invest in a highland chamber for a while. I live in New South Wales in Sydney (Australia) and summer temps can get quite hot. I am wondering which highland nepenthes will be a good starter plant for me, preferably one that can take a wider range of temperature (especially summer heat) that'll be hard to go wrong with. The main difficulty for highlander care is the summer heat, and I've also heard that nepenthes will stop pitchering if they're moved into different spots and need time to adapt to their new surroundings. Having highlands in winter is no problem as I can leave it outside for most of the time in my greenhouse. My greenhouse is just a cheap walk in one but it has 50 shade cross hatching and a UV resistant covering. I've apparently heard that Diatas and Singalana are the easiest highlanders to grow, but no highlander can really be called easy.

I will admit that I do not have such a big nepenthes collection and therefore do not have a great amount of experience. I still consider myself a beginner. I currently grow only a ventrata, which has been doing fairly well. If highlands are not suitable for where I live, do recommend some beginner nepenthes species that'll be good for me to slowly expand my collection with (preferably ones that can take a wide temperature range like ventrata). Im looking for more beginner friendly nepenthes that are quite toothy on the peristome and wings if there are even lowland versions of hamate looking pitchers existing.

Let me know what you think, Thanks!

How cold does it get their in Australia? Is it always very warm there? You probably want a highland/intermediate hybrid for sure. Highlanders need cooler temps at night and low landers need it warm constantly or they will suffer.

It has never hit zero but it has hit three degrees Celsius this year, which is already considered a record breaker. And summers do hit high thirties, sometimes 40.

Your best bet is probably the Ventricosa, Ventrata, or any common hybrid with one of the two in it. These two are easily the easiest to grow and a very hardy plant that can take many temperatures and a wide variety of conditions. These should be kept in highland and intermediate temperatures with a drop of temperatures at night. I’m very new with nepenthes so take my information with salt.

I would recommend N. burki x hamata hands down. Super toothy, the most hamata looking of the crosses in my opinion and it does fantastic in a windowsill for me. The only special treatment I give my windowsill plants is nights as far into the 60s as the little window ac unit can manage. On super hot days (regularly 100F + here) it only gets down to 68F or so but usually somewhere in the mid 60s. Days don't get much over 80F with the sheer curtains for the blistering days. Most of the plants don't care for the light reduction but the burki x hamata just keeps on pitchering. I'm pretty confident this cross could handle mid to high 80s without too much fuss if any as long as it got nice cool nights, i.e. below 70 for sure mid to low 60s would be a good target.

Of course plenty of hybrids preform well as described above however this is the "toothiest" of such crosses that I'm aware of. I am not aware of any lowland plants with what I would consider toothy peristomes. Some have pronounced ridges that can be impressive but nothing that comes close to the claw like teeth of hamata and the various crosses.

I hope this helps. Good luck and happy growing,
-@.

Echoing a few others above me, I have a burkei x hamata, ventricosa x hamata, venticosa and ventricosa x dubia all in an eastern window in Wisconsin USA. Nothing special for humidity just cooler night temps (even then most nights only a few degrees drop).