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Nepenthes robcantleyi x hamata

LOVE the wicked black toothy peristome and the dark mottled green of this monster!
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Beautiful color and form on this Nepenthes! Thick truncata leaves! August 2020
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I love how hairy the immature pitchers are! To be honest this little guy sold me on the entire specimen haha! August 2020
From Borneo Exotics: "The female parent is a giant N. robcantleyi, which although one of the original six plants we raised from seeds, has no cultivar name at the time of writing (Feb 2020). The male parent is a selected clone of the Gng Tambusisi form of N. hamata, selected from among those sold under BE-3280. This is the reverse cross to the items sold under BE-3621 and BE-3746 which are from two different grexes of seed-grown N. hamata x robcantleyi. We believe we are seeing a considerable difference between this cross and the reverse cross. Although the pitchers are not yet mature enough to be definitive, it does appear that this cross may have a broader peristome than N. hamata x robcantleyi, which would be the influence of N. robcantleyi on the often more dominant (!) maternal side."
This was definitely one of my dream plants that I didn't think I would be able to afford for a long time! I was lucky enough to purchase an incredible seed grown specimen from Ivan LaCroix in August 2020. It is one of the largest plants I have purchased to date, complete with a beautiful basal shoot! I was very nervous about spending so much on a single plant and I insisted that the plant be sent potted so the transplant shock might be avoided. I did not take into account the fact that Ivan was growing the plant in completely inorganic media, which is very loose and bounces around a lot in transit! My poor plant arrived with half of its roots uncovered and most of the media in one of the pitchers! I then forgot to bag it so the plant would have high humidity during the acclimation process - double whammy!

Despite my horrible mishandling of the situation, the only negative things that happened were a few lost pitchers and a much longer acclimation time than it should have been. Two months later the plant is much happier and starting to grow again. I definitely learned a couple lessons with this one! I'm very glad that it is a really tough plant that can withstand such ignorant treatment and rebound relatively quickly!
Update December 2020
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Wicked teeth!!!
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Now that's a leaf jump! Previous pitcher just to the left of the newest pitcher on the basal!
At long last, this poor Nepenthes finally acclimated and started producing new growth with a vengeance! I suspect that shipping with loose inorganic media really beat up the roots and it took this long to recover. However, the leaf jump on this new pitcher is insane! The teeth are gorgeous and I particularly love the hairy wings and dark coloration! 

I am wondering if maybe I should pull off the basal or perhaps root the main stem separately. The leaves are SO tough and rigid that they are practically impossible to bend. This makes it difficult to reposition the leaves when things get crowded. I generally love the look of multiple growth points because then the plant can hold more pitchers, but this particular plant may benefit from more space for each of its growing points. I am going to leave them together for now and let it keep recovering for at least a couple of months.
Amazing Color Changing Pitchers!
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Immediately after opening - peristome is half bright green, half reddish brown! Teeth are flexible and pitcher body has a light green base
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Next day, the reddish brown starts taking over the peristome. This will spread to the edges over the next 3-7 days.
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It's like looking into the Eye of Sauron lol, I can't look away!!
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Comparing new and old pitchers! I love them both!
Current Growing Conditions: Warm Intermediate Terrarium
Light: ~170 PPFD or 9730 Lux under 4000K LED shoplights 
Humidity: ~90% night and 67% day​
Temperature: ~68F night and 85F day
Water: Moist but not wet
Potting Mix: Arrived in 100% inorganic media (kedama & clay balls). Added 50% long fibered sphagnum moss 50% perlite top layer

Fertilizer: MaxSea (1/4 tsp/gallon) every other week into pitchers
Additional Notes: Despite poor acclimation, starting to grow well again! Updates soon!
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  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Species/Hybrids Cultivation
  • Growing Nepenthes
    • Growing Nepenthes Indoors
    • Growing Nepenthes on Windowsills
    • Growing Nepenthes Under Artificial Lights
    • Rapid Bag Acclimation for New Nepenthes
  • Links