Expert: Sarracenia Northwest - 4/4/2010

Question
Hi Jeff,
       I had a question regarding humidity. I have an aquarium that I use to acclimate newly acquired nepenthes and keep my helimephora in. The relative humidity ranges from about 50 to 68 percent approximately. Do you think a small N.hamata could adapt to such low humidity? Also i have a h. minor I bought from you not to long ago and I noticed it has no nectar spoons. Is this due to the lower humidity? It gets 16 hours of light from four 54 watt florescent lights and is about 8 inches from the bulbs. Last but not least I'd love to try a N. Caesar but its a low lander and during the winter my house drops into the high 50 degree range during the night. I don't think it could take this but I don't know. Always appreciate the help and am a big fan of your nursery thanx Pete
P.S. Any chance the nursery is going to get some hamatas in any time soon?

Answer
Hi Peter,

The issue of constant high humidity with hamata is mostly untrue.  This species will acclimate to the humidity that you've indicated.  Reallly, that range isn't at all low.  Our plants pitcher beautifully in 30% humidity in summer.

Heliamphora prefers constant growing conditions.  In our greenhouse, the conditions fluctuates a lot, which can impair the development of nectar spoons.  We don't view this as a problem, however.  That's sometimes expected when growing these plants in cultivation.  While these plants prefer a narrow range of growing conditions, we prefer not to get too hung up on minutia.  The primary goal is to have a plant that is growing and producing healthy pitchers.

Lowland Nepenthes prefer temperatures above 70 at night.  At lower night temperatures, your plant will still grow, just not as vigorous.

No hamata in the near future.

Good growing!
Jacob Farin