Category Archives: Nepenthes

The Red Queen Glows Blue

New Nepenthes

Recently my fellow carnie-homie Kinjie Coe contacted me saying that he was sending some stuff my way. Shoot – I was surprised to come home to not one, but *two* boxes full of some very rad Nepenthes. (Dude!! Thanks so much, Kinjie!) One of the plants that he sent my was a Nepenthes tiveyi “Red Queen” – such an amazing beauty. Since I was at home and it had a nice pitcher attached to it, I decided to photograph her majesty – in regular light AND short wave UV light. Check out this post for some more photos Nepenthes under short wave 254nm UV light, as well as this Vine video. By the way, for those asking, *yes* I’ve tried Sarracenia under the light, but there really wasn’t much “glow” to those babies. I haven’t had time for a proper UV light shoot at the greenhouse (I actually shot the Nepenthes in my bathroom), but will still try to shoot the lack of glowing from Sarracenia sooner or later. Perhaps I need another lamp to make the Sarracenia glow blue, but I don’t feel compelled to drop a few hundred for a new UV lamp at the moment. Anyway, I captured the below photos using a long exposure – 30 seconds at f2.8, 50 mm. Mouse over the photo to see the photo under regular light.

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Nepenthes tiveyi “Red Queen”


Nepenthes tiveyi “Red Queen”

Nepenthes tiveyi “Red Queen”

Nepenthes: In Different Light

Ever since this article on glowing carnivorous plants was written, I’ve always wanted to try photographing the plants under UV light. I’ve tried various types of black lights, but most of those lights didn’t really produce that visible glowing reaction that I was looking for in the plants. Turns out I needed a short wave UV light. Scroll down a bit in this wiki to see what I’m talking about when I talk UV wavelength in nanometers, or “nm” for short.

At first I tried out a black light LED flashlight, as well as a common fluorescent black lights bulb; both of which I found at my local hardware store. Those mostly bathed the plant in this purple ambient light and did not create the visible glow I was looking for. I would guess that those lights were emitting in the 380-390 nm range. Next I bought a light off eBay that said it was 365 nm. Ehhh… that was a little better than the previous lights that I had, but didn’t quite have that glowing “oomph.” After doing more research and digging, I ran across this post on the International Carnivorous Plant Society forum and from there I started looking for a 254 nm UV lamp of sorts. I found one that was relatively inexpensive in comparison to some of the other laboratory grade UV lights out there. ($50 vs. $300+ lights.)

I took two photos of each of the photographed plants below. One under regular light and the other under 254 nm UV light, both of which you can see below. Mouse over the photographs below to see the photo in regular light. And yes, I also noticed that some Nepenthes were “brighter” than the others under this light. (By the way, check out my Vine video. The Vine link might not work in Firefox, but you can view in Chrome and IE browsers…)

I haven’t had much time at night to work with the Sarracenia just yet, but from what I’ve noticed there hasn’t been much fluorescence that is visible to the human eye with this particular lamp that I have. I’ll try to get some photos next time with the Sarracenia.

Photos below are 20 – 25 second exposures of the plants under the 254nm uv light. Mouse over the images to see the plant in regular light.


Nepenthes “Benevolence”


Nepenthes ventricosa x tiveyi


Nepenthes “Song of Melancholy”


Nepenthes “Enigma”


Nepenthes “Troth”

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Special thanks to Paul Barden and Kinjie Coe for being my “mentors” in Nepenthes growing! Thank you both so much for your patience and generosity … y’all got me HOOKED!

Nepenthes izumiae x ramispina

Nepenthes izumiae x ramispinaNepenthes izumiae x ramispina

Nepenthes Maxima Hybrid

Nepenthes maxima hybrid
Nepenthes maxima hybrid, unknown parentage
Once again, special thanks to Paul Barden for this gem.

Nepenthes Update

The Nepenthes are adjusting the the higher light levels quite nicely on this end. I moved the Nepenthes not too long ago, and since then I’m seeing a lot of new growth on foliage, and more pitchers will soon follow. With some tinkering and moving plants about, I’m getting the hang of growing Nepenthes in this greenhouse. For now, here are a some photos of recent pitchers.

Nepenthes Poi Dog
Nepenthes Poi Dog, new pitcher opening up

Nepenthes ventricosa x talangensis
Nepenthes ventricosa x talangensis

Nepenthes ventricosa x talangensis
Nepenthes ventricosa x talangensis

Nepenthes ventricosa x talangensis
Nepenthes ventricosa x talangensis, new pitcher opening up

Nepenthes eglantine
Nepenthes eglantine

Nepenthes eglantine
Nepenthes eglantine

Nepenthes Update

It’s been some time since I’ve moved the Nepenthes into a brighter area and so far they are reacting pretty well. Some of the older foliage is burning out (to be expected),  but the new growth is coming in quite nicely and I can see the difference in the pitchers. I’m pretty excited to see them react positively to their brighter environment.

nepenthes thorelii x aristolochioidesNepenthes thorelii x aristolochioides
New pitcher on the left formed after moving it into the brighter area.

Nepenthes singalana X (sibuyanensis X ventricosa)
Nepenthes singalana x (sibuyanensis x ventricosa)

Nepenthes spectabilis
Nepenthes spectabilis

Nepenthes ventricosa x spectabilis
Nepenthes ventricosa x spectabilis

Nepenthes ventricosa x spectabilis
Nepenthes ventricosa x spectabilis

Nepenthes eglantine
Nepenthes elgantine

Nepenthes hybrid
Nepenthes hybrid

Nepenthes Poi Dog - maxima hybrid
Nepenthes maxima hybrid

New Nepenthes and the Nepenthes Reloaction

New Nepenthes!When I came home just this recent Friday, I was excited to see a big ol’ box waiting for me. A box full of NEPENTHES! Yay! A HUGE thank you to Kinjie Coe for sending all of these wonderful gems. The plants arrived in great condition and I took the them to the greenhouse the next day.  I spent my Saturday moving some plants around and potting up the new babies! Now, I’m still doing a lot of tinkering and experimenting with them and seeing how they’ll grow best in my area. I used to grow them under the dome, but there wasn’t enough light getting through because of the shade cloth. The shade cloth was important as it would keep the heat down in the dome, and I thought that it would be bright enough. Well, the plants were still growing, but I was noticing a lack of pitcher production, as well as a slight lack of color. After doing some reading here and there and getting input from a phenomenal Nepenthes grower, I decided to move the plants out from under the dome and into the main growing area. I temporarily placed them at the shadier end of the greenhouse for a couple of weeks just to acclimate them to stronger light. I could tell that some plants were already reacting positively to that shift. Even in the shady spot of the main greenhouse, it was just a bit brighter than the under the shade cloth. Today I was working on setting up an area for them to grow where the light is bright yet not too direct. It’s under a side of the greenhouse that has some light whitewash, as well as by a window so it’s a little cooler than the rest of the greenhouse. I moved some Sarracenia around and made some room behind the anthocyanin free Sarracenia section. I put some crates on top of the water table so the Nepenthes wouldn’t be sitting in the water, yet they’d have the humidity from the water evaporating. Now that I had a larger Nepenthes space set up, it was time to get everything potted and moved!


Above left: Potting up Nepenthes “Pandora”
Above Right: Potting up Nepenthes “Song of Melancholy”

Above are two Nepenthes from the bunch that Kinjie sent over that I was quite fond of. In actuality, I really like them all! Thanks again Kinjie! Nepenthes are so fascinating. I’ll post updates periodically now that they are in their new spot. For now, I hope that the plants enjoy their new location.

Nepenthes relocatedNepenthes, relocated