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By sanguinearocks101
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#351117
Hello, I wanted to try growing Heliamphora and I think I could pull it off. I have a cold spot that I am currently using as a highland grow area that I could grow it in. Is high humidity necessary for them? Could the grow in a mix of lfsm and silica sand if so would a 50-50 mix work? I do not have any fertilization pellets available now except for some MIracle Gro pellets which I doubt will work, how beneficial/necessary is it to have fertilization? I will most likely buy a small plant to save money.
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By Nepenthes0260
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#351133
Heliamphora are a difficult, yet highly rewarding group of plants to cultivate. While I do know a grower who can cultivate some helis in 50% humidity, his other conditions are spot-on. I grow all my helis in 80% humidity. My temps range from 55-70, never surpassing 85 because that will cook them in a surprisingly short amount of time. I plant all of mine in a mix of orchiata orchid bark, perlite, and LFSM. I used a mix with peat for a while but I changed them over to the LFSM/orchid bark/perlite mix because the other one with peat was too dense. What makes helis the most difficult is their high-light requirements. I use four 4000 lumen Costco shop lights (16000 lumens) over humidity trays with cold air blowing in between them from an AC outside of my house. Without that cold air rushing between the lights and the humidity domes, the set-up reaches 110 degrees because of the lights! I also have alarms set up that will go off if the setup gets above eighty degrees and if it gets too cold.

For me, the easiest kinds are the hybrids and H. heterodoxa. The tatei hybrids (tatei x folliculata and tatei x pulchella specifically) are super easy, fast growing (for a heli), and look really awesome!

I fertilize my helis by dropping a Osmocote pellet into each freshly opened pitcher on mature plants, and by misting all of them down with Maxsea 16-16-16 (1/4 strength) once every two weeks.

Once again, while helis are difficult to grow, they make great specimen plants and definitely worth the hassle!
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By sanguinearocks101
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#351136
I have recently gotten 2 24-inch 75-watt equivalent LED grow lights, would those be good? I do not know how many lumens they put out. Do you know where I could buy some small Heliamphora that are easy to grow? The only small Heliamphora I could find are on auctions on eBay. I don't want to buy a large plant in case it dies. I have a small 5-gallon fishtank that I am not using, under the lights would it provide enough humidity?
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By Nepenthes0260
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#351137
Yeah, those should work good, but make sure that they don't get too hot. Butch Tincher, who is a very skilled heli grower, made a really good guide on growing this difficult genus-https://cpn.carnivorousplants.org/artic ... 37_144.pdf

IMHO, plants that are already growing small mature pitchers are easier to get started than the ones with little immature pitchers.

Sarracenia Northwest has some larger ones for sale, California Carnivores might get them in stock, and PetFlytrap has some available but I've never ordered plants from them but the book I ordered came in good condition. It might be wise to support some of the commercial greenhouses at this time because I would guess people are spending less. If you can't find them anywhere else I have some for sale, but I'm trying to self-isolate so I don't know when I could ship them. Also, if you were just looking for pitcher plants, try Carnivero. I ordered from them and they treated me really nice. They also have a really good selection of neps. Those H. minor on Ebay are mass-produced through tissue culture, and judging by how green and clumpy they are, they're pretty fresh out of TC and are probably still addicted to humidity and are sensitive to high-light.

A fish tank would probably work, but just make sure it doesn't get too hot. I use ultrasonic humidifiers to humidify my setup. They work really well and help cool, also.
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By sanguinearocks101
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#351150
On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate Heliamphora Minor in terms of hardiness and how well it can take lower humidity? Do any of you know a way I could raise the humidity of a room? I could put some water in a tray but it's a cold room so would it even help much? I don't really want to put a humidifier in the room but I will if I have to.
By Copper2
#351153
A scale from one to ten isn’t gonna give you much help compared to all the info Nepenthes0260 just gave you. It is possible to grow the easy helis with the pot bagged and they will do ok. Can’t say they’ll thrive though since they won’t be getting the super cool temps they need and the air flow
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By Matt
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#351157
Heliamphora minor is a very hardy Heliamphora and very forgiving. In terms of hardiness, I'd give it a 10 on the Heliamphora scale :D

We've grown it here in Oregon without any special concessions for humidity or temperature and it does well. The pitchers are thick and waxy, so they don't give up their moisture easily so they are resilient to low our low (20%) humidity levels. And it seems to be tolerant of very hot temperatures (think nearly 100F here in the summer).

Just be sure to use a very airy soil mixture, whatever you decide to use. They also will take a fair amount of fertilizer or can be fertilized by dropping osmocote pellets into the pitchers and ensuring the pitchers stay full of water.

Keep the soil damp at all times, but preferably never too boggy and, again, be sure that the soil mixture is well-drained. A H. minor is one of the few species of Heliamphora that I'd recommend to most any grower in any climate. They're super easy to grow (for Heliamphora)!
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By Nepenthes0260
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#351181
H. minor is definitely one of the easier ones. I think the hybrid heterodoxa x minor is even easier. I've noticed with mine that they're sensitive to light changes, though. If you grow them in lower light and move them to higher light, all of the older pitchers will get red and splotchy and not look too good.
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By Nepenthes0260
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#351186
sanguinearocks101 wrote:I looked on the internet but I couldn't find much on how tall H.minor gets. I heard 15 cm, is that accurate?
Depends what clone you get. Andreas Wistuba has photographs of some pretty big ones on Auyan Tepui, but I would say the typical H. minor would get 10cm tall. Keep in mind that flowers are taller (up to 30 cm), though. Also, minors tend to grow wider (clump) before they get taller.
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By Coco
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#351439
Maxsea is a great option to consider. I believe the dilution is 1/4 tsp to a gallon of water. You can get a spray bottle and foliar feed it and place a few drops inside the pitcher. If the pitcher is too small you can use something like a syringe.


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