millertime

Say hello to my little friend...Nepenthes! Or to be more specific, Nepenthes maxima x northiana 'Miranda', also known as a "pitcher plant". I got this specimen off Ebay, and I'm happy with the price paid considering the size (over $20). Yet another carnivorous lovely to add to my collection! As you can see, this plant is fairly large...which will hopefully assist its survival in my inexperienced hands. (Or it will just become a larger victim...only time will tell :) I say this because my approach to impulsively indulging my interests doesn't necessarily include a large amount of pre-purchase research...heh...you'll have that. But I'm trying not to be a big idiot...

....so more online research is in order. It's then that I discover my first grievous error: I used plain old dirt (not potting soil-dirt from outdoors) when I potted this up! (It arrived bareroot with some spagnum moss). Yikes! That probably accounts for this browning lower leaf, since the poor thing's roots were "suffocating" in the dirt for a couple weeks! Time for some re-potting action... .....as you can see, the news isn't all bad, here's some new growth!
Okay, as for potting medium, it's safe to say I'm not prepared with the "proper" soil mix , but I do have this bag of bonsai potting medium. It's made to hold moisture, so why not? (Okay, there are likely several reasons why not, but anyway...) Obviously, I'll need to soak this stuff first...

...in distilled water of course!

Now my new friend is ready for it's place in my home: as a hanging plant by my bedroom window. Sure, these plants like humid conditions, and so do I in the winter....so here's the habitat...
...south-facing window with lots of light, yet filtered by this woven shade, and the humidifier nearby. I run it at night, so hopefully that's enough...and I'm also concerned about the cool temps in my house this time of year. But there's compelling wisdom that nepenthes can be grown like a regular houseplant, so I'm gonna go for it! (While respecting soil and other cultural needs, of course....well, now anyway! ;-)