FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hoping someone can help me make a decision here. I bought this Hamata x Veitchii back in October. I did not expect it to enjoy the shipping process, but it looked REAL bad when I unpacked it. It came potted, and about half of the mostly decomposed and mushy LFSM had fallen out of the pot at some point prior to being boxed up, or maybe it was never there to begin with? Dunno. I definitely didn’t want to repot it right away for all the reasons, so I backfilled/top dressed it with live sphagnum and tried to let it recover. Unfortunately I gave it a really rough acclimation after that, but lessons were learned and it didn’t die. After several months of careful tending, my plant has come back around and is getting ready to pitcher for me for the first time! Very exciting.
So here’s the problem:
I had 100% fully planned on doing a hard repot as soon as the weather warmed up. Now that it has, I’m hesitant. It’s currently in a 4 inch pot of 50/50 completely decomposed dead LFS and the live stuff. Generally I subscribe to the school of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” but I’m afraid that tiny pot is going to roast (I live in West Central Florida), plus the medium being old as time can’t be good for it. This is a really long winded way of asking: should I risk shocking the poor thing AGAIN to slip pot it into something bigger, deeper, *white insulated plastic* and more appropriate, or wing it and let that first pitcher come uninterrupted? Should I let it ride one more season?

Conditions:
I live just off the gulf coast of Florida. Plant is kept in my shade house, which gets around 3 hours of direct morning sun, with extremely bright dappled sunlight the rest of the day. Nighttime temps are in the mid 60’s(F), and days don’t get much over 85 (F), but it happens occasionally.

I always knew keeping this particular plant cool would be a struggle, but was hoping the Veitchii parentage and a big enough pot would help it survive the Florida summer. Lord knows I’ve been wrong before though. I really really appreciate any advice, and thanks for reading if you made it this far. Happy Spring![/img]

Now that it has recovered from shipping, I would go ahead and repot, not slip pot, and hang in front of a sunny window. Toss the old moss on your lawn and mow it in. The Nep will pout again, likely for a few months, but it seems healthy enough to suffer through it. Keeping it inside will give it stable conditions that may help it recover faster.

just curious if you have thought about net pots at all? I do like the sound of your white insulated pot, but can you point me to a URL of one you intend to use? I am at the other side of the state, but probably not too much different conditions here.

ChefDean wrote:Now that it has recovered from shipping, I would go ahead and repot, not slip pot, and hang in front of a sunny window. Toss the old moss on your lawn and mow it in. The Nep will pout again, likely for a few months, but it seems healthy enough to suffer through it. Keeping it inside will give it stable conditions that may help it recover faster.

I never thought to mow the old moss into the yard, that’s smart. For a while I was tossing it in a raised bed I was trying to compost. Threw what I thought was a piece of dead Tradescantia that was once a houseplant in there with it… now I have an overgrown bush of Tradescantia. It’s wild. I digress, but check it out. It was totally accidental but it rooted like a weed in the moist sphagnum and it’s pretty cool.
And thank you. What’s your opinion on the importance of a temperature drop at night? I brought the nep outside because my house has wicked good AC and the temperature stays a pretty constant 72 degrees with 50% humidity. I was worried it wouldn’t get the nighttime drops. For example, Cephalotus grows like crazy inside the house under lights, but I can’t get a monstera to thrive in there. It’s an old home, if the very modern AC isn’t pumping constantly it becomes an oven. It’s either a brisk and constant 72, or a sweltering 80. Over “winter” I kept all of my nepenthes in the garage with a humidifier running and it was a real struggle to keep up with. I suppose Hamata would love the cool air, would a big window provide enough draft to change the night temp? Does it matter? This has actually been on my mind for a while.

Supercazzola wrote: ↑Fri Mar 31, 2023 2:08 am just curious if you have thought about net pots at all? I do like the sound of your white insulated pot, but can you point me to a URL of one you intend to use? I am at the other side of the state, but probably not too much different conditions here.

Okay, I would love to talk net pots. I’ve been really curious, but I’ve been unable to find any that are a good size? I purchased some of the square white 6x6 Hydrofarm pots, after reading about how much people love them. Unfortunately, I apparently had no concept of what 6x6 meant . They are DEEP. If you need some, let me know, lol. I had planned to fill the bottom with pumice, or nest another pot inside to fill space for now. My Ventratas fit in there, but I much prefer to hang them. I’ve been using these thick white hanging pots that I got on
Amazon for most my nepenthes for a couple of years and they work okay (photo below, I can link them if you like, pretty generic) but I’ve been reading a lot about net pots. I was worried about the heat, but as I’m sure you are acutely familiar, airflow is my biggest issue outside (yay Florida!). I’ve been experimenting with soil amendments to get more air in there so I don’t fast track to fungustown in a few weeks…but then there’s the issue of water retention. It’s been a really dry spring and I’m spinning my wheels on the moisture situation. I’d love to hear what your experience is with this stuff, and thank you for taking the time.

(Negative): You will wind up going through a lot of rain water or reverse osmosis water
(Positive): you will never really have to worry about rot.

If you want, you can place the net pot in another hanging pot to make it convenient.