Nepenthes Attenboroughii

N. Attenboroughii is arguably the most famous Nepenthes discovery of the 21st century. This species produces large beautiful pitchers that rival the previous contender, N. Rajah. 

A bit of backstory on the species cultivation:

This species was discovered in 2007. In the late 90s, anecdotal accounts from christian missionaries described a giant pitcher plant on Mt. Victoria, Palawan. Like N. Rajah, this species has been known to consume and digest mountain rats found inside the pitchers. Early publications wrongly assorted this was a new "rat eating" plant, but the less interesting truth is that mountain rats likely seek out the pitchers for a source of water during times of drought and are not intended to be a source of prey for the plant. 

In order to prevent poaching, seeds were sent to as many nurseries as possible. This went against the wish of some individuals, who wanted exclusivity rights to the new discovery; despite this, I think the effort to widely share seeds has had a positive impact. I could not find any signs of poaching on Mt. Victoria. The plant population easily numbers in the thousands. 

What makes N. Attenboroughii unique amongst most Nepenthes is that the species has a large genetic diversity. Every plant produces pitchers that vary widely in color, shape and size. 

I suspect the population is further protected by the inaccessibility of the trail. Unless you've been up the mountain, finding the trail start would be extremely challenging. This hasn't stopped illegal prospectors from heading up the mountain to sample the mountain's minerals. Mt. Victoria contains a number of rare minerals such as nickel. One of the largest nickel mines in the world, Rio Tuba, is only a few hours south of Mt. Victoria. For now, the protected status of the mountain has prevented mining permits from being granted. 

 

Soil

A great deal of early research of N. Attenboroughii cultivation comes from the late Andy Smith. Andy was an incredibly kind grower who was on some of the original expeditions to Mt. Victoria. Andy made the discovery that N. Attenboroughii only seems to grow best in a mineral substrate. All of my attempts at growing N. Attenboroughii soil consisting of majority organic (coco chips,coir, sphagnum moss...etc) have generally not performed well. When I deflasked about 100 attenboroughii, I ran an experiment by placing 50 of the clones in 100% organic substrate, and the other 50 in an equal mix of pumice and akadama. None of the 50 clones in organic substrate developed roots, and I observed a high mortality rate. On the contrary, nearly all of the clones placed on an inorganic substrate grew roots very quickly and there was a noticably lower mortality rate. N. Attenboroughii has a massive root system and can get root-bound quite easily. To avoid this from happening, I try to keep each seedling in a pot that matches the diameter of the plant. 

Temperatures 

Although N. Attenboroughii is a highland Nepenthes, the species can tolerate slightly higher temperature levels. I've camped at 1400m on palawan (the lower elevation of N. Attenboroughii habitat) several times, and from my observations temperatures at night don't get as cold as strictly "highland" conditions. While I haven't tested this myself, I suspect the species would be fine if nighttime temperatures were in the low 60s. Daytime temperatures are usually in the high 70s-low 80s.

Light

This species thrives in full sunlight. Most of the mountain from 1400m and above has a dense level of shrubbery which rarely exceeds 4 feet in height. However, most if not all of the seedlings I found germinated below this dense shrubbery in the shade. 

N. Attenboroughii seedling growing underneath the dense shrubbery on Mt. Victoria. Note the presense of ultramafic rocks on the right; there isn't much of an organic soil layer.


Most of these seedlings I found will spend their early years growing in this shade until they grow large enough to out-compete the vaccinium and dwarf oak. Likewise, I've grown seedlings just fine in shady conditions, but I've noticed that once the species approaches one foot in diameter, it tends to stop pitchering until the plant is placed in higher light levels. 


Fertilizer

Like most Nepenthes, N. Attenboroughii responds well to fertilizer. While I prefer nutricote, the reality of this species is that it will take years before pitchers become large enough to handle nutricote pellets. To account for this, I use a syringe to give small pitchers a diluted concentration of Maxsea (usually about 500ppm) once a month. Once the pitchers are about 3 inches in height, they can handle nutricote pellets without dying. Some growers swear by adding nutricote pellets to the top of soil. I have not tried this yet so I cannot comment on its effectiveness. Andy Smith had recommended I place a single nutricote pellet deep in the soil of each seedling. While I've only tried this once, the results are quite promising.