FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

A few months ago I bought a Nepenthes miralata (mirabilis x alata) from Lee's. It is doing okay but not great. The leaves are a beautiful green, but it seems to be growing in slow motion (even for a plant).

The planting medium is moist and drains immediately when I water it. It is in a room with bright morning sun (not directly on it) with day temperature in the mid-80s and humidity of about 70-80%.

Would anyone be able to suggest ideal conditions for this plant?
Do you think the temperature is too hot?

I am in central Florida; the daytime high is high-80s - low-90s (with the usual afternoon rain shower to cool things off a bit), and the low at night is about mid-70s. Would I be able to grow this outside, say on a covered porch?

Also, I have heard the natural hybrid of these species referred to as mirabilata - Is that name reserved for just the natural hybrid?

Thanks for any advice,
John

Can you show us some pictures. Are your condition staying consistent?

Sent from my LG-LS993 using Tapatalk

Maybe the day temps are too high as this is more of an intermediate type from looking around online and the elevation on which the parents plant are found.

Sent from my LG-LS993 using Tapatalk

This picture was when I first got the plant. I have since repotted it into coco coir (had to wash the coir a few times) because I think the medium it was in wasn't as airy as I thought. It seemed to be smothering the roots. I think I'm going to like the coir - I hope the plant does too.

Hey how's it goin?

I don't grow this particular plant so take this with a grain of salt but I think it would likely do quite well outside in Florida. According to this chart both parents are classified as lowland plants though both plants range extends into the lower reaches of what may be considered intermediate and even highland for the alata I would think that unless there was location/elevation information for the parents it is pretty safe to assume the plant is a lowland hybrid.

http://www.michaelkevinsmith.com/nepent ... Chart.html

Just my 2 cents. FYI - my lowland species and hybrids are all grown in the same area with day temps as high as 95F with no ill effects - in fact they seem to enjoy the warmer days. Note this is under artificial light, so baking sun may be a little different. As far as I know many folks grow Nepenthes from a wide range of elevations right outside in Florida with great success.

Happy growing,
-@.

I got my first nepenthes yesterday so take this with salt. Anywhere that is warm and humid can grow a nepenthes nicely, beginner nepenthes and the one you have should grow nicely outside with exposure to morning light and shade(with bright and indirect light) the rest of the day. If what jack said is correct that the two plants are low land but their reach can be in the intermediate and highland your plant should be able to take the temperature in your area. As long as it doesn’t get lower than.. let’s say 50 degrees at night it should do fine outside.

UPDATE! The plant has been outside on a bright porch (picture was taken in the evening) for a few weeks now and had started growing again!! The top leaf which had been stalled has now unfurled and is getting bigger. It seems to be happy outside per your advice - Thanks guys!!!

I also recommend you repot perhaps next year? They don’t really like peat, even with perlite to add aeration. Peat tends to pack down a lot over time and nepenthes roots don’t like that. Once the plant sheds all of its old leaves and has grown a lot, I would consider repotting into sphagnum with bark and perlite.

Kenneth: That was exactly the case with my rafflesiana - it had been in old peat/perlite for a few years and the roots had begun to rot away. Now they are both in coir/sphagnum/perlite and have gotten over their transplant shock and seem to be growing again nicely.

Thanks!