Monkey Cup Reload.

Been a while. Another batch of monkey cups. Since Fauzi no longer operates his business at Subang Parade, went all the way to his orchard at Lembah Ampang. An eye opening experience at his orchard fills with all types of monkey cups of all sizes and species.

Monkey Cups Update - Ground Pitchers.

What was thought a new basal sprout previous turned out to be a false alarm...turned out to be one of those pesky weeds instead. However, ever since I lost concentration on my monkey cups (amongst other things) due to running the store, a recent peek at N. Ampullaria ver. Red on Green gave me a surprise...ground pitchers!

Monkey Cups - Nectar.

...just like a snake's fangs dripping with nectar instead of venom. It glistens in the sunlight. Also, noticed a small new plant at the substrate of the N. Ampullaria ver. Red On Green. Could it be a basal plant?

Monkey Cups ~ Pitchers.

I wanna capture the pics of the pitchers before they um..."alter" their appearances. Kinda for record purpose. Not captured are N. Rajah, which is still in the process of "retardation", and Light Red Peristome, which pitchers are comparatively smaller yet growing with such rigor and produces big leaves.

N. x Lady Pauline Update.

Lady Pauline really develops nice pitchers.

N. Rafflesiana, Hookeriana and Bicalcarata Update.

All three gives nice pitchers, especially Hooky, which is extra plump and round.

N. Ampullaria Harlequin Update.

The plant is still small-ish...maybe gotta do with the fact that this one, according to Fauzi who procured it from the famous Borneo Exotic, was cultivated from the basal rossette. But darn, the coloration is great.

N. Ampullaria Green Speckle Update.

Like I mentioned just now, the sunlight helps in bringing out the full character of the pitcher.

N. Ampullaria Hot Lips & Light Red Peristome Update.

Ahh...the two variants do not disappoint and bloom well, with pitchers getting to normal size...except for the mercurial like behaviour of the peristome. What is supposedly hot lips ie full red peristome becomes light red, only around the rim and the light red becomes full red...baffling. Somehow it got to do with the amount of sunlight "hitting" the pitcher directly and for a certain hours of the day, of which I still haven't got time to experiment ie shifting of location/placement and so forth.

N. Rajah update.

The Rajah is...stunted! Argh!

Rack For Monkeys.

I reckon it is time to get my pitcher plants some proper racks, so I got two from Ikea.

Blooming Pitchers.

Well, previously I am kinda lost as to what does the N.Ampullaria ver green speckle pitcher is like and why is it called green speckle. Now, as the second pitcher has bloomed, I finally understand. The larger size helps and with enough sunlight, the color red eventually forms and cover the background, leaving only speckle of green. Lady Pauline also developed a second much bigger pitcher, with full coloration too. N.Ampullaria ver Red Peristome is still way far from what I deem should be red peristome coloration. It continue to develop small pitcher, completely green except for teeny weeny speck of reds and very very light red on the lips. Observed that these colors might disappear as the pitcher gets older! N. Hookeriana's third pitcher is huge but I do not know what happen to the lid...

Monkey Cups New Pitchers.

a) N. Ampullaria ~ Green Speckle variety. True to what Fauzi has mentioned when I bought this version, the more sunlight, the redder the pitcher become. The truth is, I am quite sure that I have forgotten what the exact name for this variety.

b) N. Ampullaria ~ Hot Lips.

c) N. Hookeriana. Thus far the one most fulfilling in terms of expectation. The pitchers are getting bigger.

d) N. Bicalcarata. Curiously has some light red on its pitcher.

N. Bicalcarata & The Ant.

Picture of an ant which has since become very fond of Becky. It keeps visiting the newly developed pitcher and nibble at the "fangs" which secretes nectar. The ant also "shoo" away other ants which might come near Becky. Interestingly, it keeps itself precariously balance in between Becky's fangs and the peristome. I reckon that it is because the pitcher is not large enough yet.

Monkey Cups ~ In Bloom.

Hot, bright morning, afternoon and cool, crisp air with plenty of evening rains for the past one month...notice the pitchers are starting to develop. Previously thought that N.Ampullaria ver. green speckle and light red peristome have stuck in some permanent stasis. Not so, at least one leaf is starting to show promising sign of having a pitcher in coming weeks. N. x Lady Pauline has completed a new pitcher but interestingly, it is greenish, instead of the wonderful color which the existing lone pitcher has. Lack of sunlight? It is also much smaller. The same goes for N. Bicalcarata. The lone new pitcher is smaller than when I first bought it. The coloration is greener with just a tad of bronze shading. As for N. Rajah, well, I think I am gonna call it the world's smallest largest pitcher plant. The most promising is N. x Hookeriana, the new pitcher is hugh in proportion with the leaf and more are coming.

Monkey Cups ~ Update.

The N. Ampullaria w Red on Green speckle seems to be on suspended animation, with the only lone large pitcher still existing when I got it from Fauzi. There are signs of 2 pitcher formation on the tips of the leaves but it seems to be forever that size and not developing/blooming...the same goes for the N. Rafflesiana...usually it should be not enough light and humidity but the N. Bicalcarata and N. x Hookeriana have been successfully developing a new pitcher each, although the N. Bicalcarata's new pitch is smallll....the N.Ampullaria w Light Red Peristome has came out with a new pitcher as well but man, it is tiny....I assume there is nothing wrong with the plants itself as the leaves are green and looks healthy with no sign of general infection. Could it be the substrate? I uses perlite, peat moss, lava rocks, verticullite, orchid mix and top up with long fibered spagnum...I recently learnt that perlite gave out floride in time...no good for Nepenthes...arrgh...observed Fauzi uses cuts of those green sponges mix with large quantity of coconut shavings...The lighting and humidity level is same across the plants, generally direct morning lights up till the mid afternoon when the shading becomes about 60% bright light and then in total shades from 4pm onwards... I can't comment about humidity...all I know is that it is been quite hot and sweaty these days although it rains in the late afternoon...I have decided to stop watering the plants with tap water too, at least for an interval of couple of days or if there is sign of dry out...still continuing misting though with tap water...could it be because of the water as the tap water generally is hard and causes builtup of minerals...hhmmm again need to observe further...I uses Orchid fertilizer 30-10-10 which is blue in color but very diluted on the foliar twice a day...this practise I stop as well...or maybe extent to twice a month instead...it encourages algae growth on the spagnum instead...I also stop using cockroach as feed...lesson learnt as it destroyed the N.Bicalcarata and N.Rafflesiana's previous pitchers due to overinfestation of bacteria, resulting in them breaking down and turned black within 48 hours...I hope it is not due to shock as well, as I tend to transfer the potting media once I get from Fauzi in the evening...as for the highlanders N. Lady Pauline and N.Rajah, well I expect them not to bloom generously, and possibly even stunted but I am hoping them not to die out and give up on me that's all :P

N.Rajah ~ Reload.

...and finally, the return of the king.

N. Ampullaria Hot Lips

And the Hot Lips version, which is redder peristome than the light red one...although, I could do without the light red one...next up would be Brunei Red and the reddest them of all (well...according to The Man Fauzi), William Red. Also on the lineup include a Hookeriana Harlequin version (!). I previewed the Tricolor version and kinda impressed. I wonder what is the difference between all these Ampullaria...Cantley Red seemed to have some greenish tint at the bottom of the pitcher, Harlequin has a different tone red speckle compare to the red on the pitcher and has red peristome, Brunei Red is all single tone, darker red, including the peristome whereas I have not actually see William Red but Fauzi said it is dark red with burgundy. So many versions!

N. Ampullaria Harlequin.

Finally...the famous Harlequin version which I got from Fauzi today...

N. x Lady Pauline.

Got a new plant from Fauzi today called Nepenthes x Lady Pauline, a hybrid consists of N.maxima x N.talangensis, which turned out to be a highlander (!). Hopefully it will thrive accordingly. Fauzi also appeared in tonight's Majalah Tiga documentary. Whilst having a short conversation with him about the business aspect of this hobby, he said that it took him at least three years to yield some results. Many have exited from this business, and some organisations took at least several decades to thrive. Nevertheless he advised that patience is the most important aspect to succeed. He started from sratch and researched independently on his own most of the time. Right now, he is experimenting with seedlings which is the most difficult steps in the business as it is prone to factors difficult to control. He also shared his inspirations and hope that eventually, people will notice the fact that these wonderful plants are occuring naturally in this country.