Expert: Sarracenia Northwest - 4/19/2011

Question
QUESTION: Hey can N.rajah grow in puerto rico and if yes can you give me some tips.I think it will, anyway I will have it in a 40% shade house it gets in the low 60s at night.

ANSWER: I'm not sure how high your mountains are, but you need to be fairly high up to grow rajah successfully in the tropics.  This plant actually prefers nearly full sun, but cold temperatures.  A hot day for rajah is 80°F.  At night, they like it in the 50s to upper 40s.  If the day temperature goes above 80°, you'll definitely need chilly nights.  Otherwise, it is possible to get good growth out of this plant if the temperature is consistently in the 60s.  Even with proper temperatures and lighting, this plant still grows very, very slowly, so you might not know if you're doing things correctly for at least several months.  Even at our nursery in Oregon, this plant doesn't always respond well to our conditions.

Given your climate, you should consider growing some of the intermediate and lowland plants instead.  There are a wide variety that you can choose from, and most are much easier to grow than rajah.  Bicalcarata, ampullaria, sanguinea, thorelli and many hybrids grow very well in your climate.  

For more information about selecting plants for your environment, watch Volume 3 of the Grow Carnivorous Plants DVD series:
http://www.cobraplant.com/DVD

Good growing!
Jacob Farin

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: how about N.lowii? If not how about any tipe of heliamphora? on a side note lovely truncata you sent me it arrived about 2 weeks ago and has put 1 new leaf opened a pitcher and is working on another pitcher. Will you have any lowland nepenthes like N.bicalcarata or N.ampullaria and will you have any more drosophyllum.I have just built a greenhouse so I am very excited filling it up.

Answer
You will have the same issues with N. lowii as you would with N. rajah, and worse.  This plant grows even slower than rajah.  It may be possible that Heliamphora (all forms) will grow successfully in your climate.  This plant is more tolerant of slightly warm nights (low 60s).  

You really should get Volume 3 of the DVD series.  You will learn what it takes to successfully grow these plants.  At the very least, go online and read about the natural habitats of these plants.  This will give you an idea about what type of growing conditions these plants prefer to really flourish.  You can always give these plants a try, but you'll simply need to be exceedingly patient because they tend to grow slower in warmer conditions.

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Good growing!
Jacob Farin