Nepenthes Macrophylla Cultivation

Nepenthes macrophylla is an ultrahighland mountain plant. It has proved easy to grow, and survives being grown as an intermediate for 6 months or more. A few years ago it was elevated to species rank, as it was once though to be a form and subspecies of N. edwardsiana. The pitchers and leaves can be enormous, and the spiked peristome is stunning.

Cultivating Ease - Easy / Medium

Type - This plant is an ultrahighland, being confined to a narrow elevation high upon Mt Trus Madi.

Temperature - Keeping the temperatures in the mid 80's with a night time drop into thelow 60's seems to work very well, although nighttime drops into the 50's is more what it is accustomed to. It can grow as an intermediate for a time, but growth is slower. Keeping the daytime temps out of the 90's is necessary, and if grown in a greenhouse, it should be placed next to the swamp cooler. I have had an N. macrophylla which continued to grow larger and pitcher while in an intermediate environment for 6 months, but grew even faster and larger when moved to a highland setup. It is one of the most unforgiving ultra-highlanders.

Humidity - As an ultra- highlander, it will naturally see a drop in humidity during the day as the temperature reaches into the 80's. Average daytime relative humidity should be around 70% at a minimum. The nighttime humdity should be a saturated 100%. (Moisture should condense on the leaves.)

Light - I keep my plants in bright light, but shaded from indirect sun.

Moisture - Keep the plant moist. Do not let the soil dry out, nor keep the soil overly wet for an extended amount of time.

Soil - Long Fiber Sphagnum

Size - This plant will eventually become a giant. Small tissue culture plants can be grown for a year or two in a small chamber, but the plant will eventually outgrow the space. 

Details: Although macrophylla grows in  higher elevations than rajah, it is much easier to grow.  It is very forgiving of night time temperatures not reaching into the low 60's for at least a few months, so growers in hot climates in the summers may be able to have success with it as long as the winters are cool. Watering the plant in the early morning hours before sunrise can also help to cool the plant down. This plant was once combined with N. edwardsiana, being designated as a subspecies of that plant. N. edwardsiana was also combined into N. villosa by Danser, but has been since separated. Charles Clarke points out that differences between macrophylla and edwardsiana are much more distinctive than villosa and edwardsiana, and that if edwardsiana is retained as a species, macrophylla should be reatined as well. The differences in teeth of the peristome is noticable. Also, macrophylla only grows on Mt. Trusmadi, separated from villosa and edwardsiana. It is reported that some of the plants in cultivation may be a hybrid (N. x Tusmadiensis (N. macrophylla x N. lowii)) since there have been reports of hairs on the underside of the lids. This is possible if seed was collected, since N. x trusmadiensis is a naturally occurring hybrid. It was once reported that N. x trusmadiensis was somewhat abundant on Mt. Trusmadi, but later reports stated that it is very rare, and that all plants may be connected to the main mother plant. It could be that seed was collected from a macrophylla plant, in which some of the flowers of the racemae was fertilized with pollen from N. lowii.  Whereas my plant was fairly fast growing, plants which are in question of being a hybrid are reported to grow rather slowly (a trait of lowii.) I have noticed that the pitchers of one of the plants in question matches closely that of N. trusmadiensis, and is much more red in coloration than my macrophylla plant, which had yellow orange pitchers and no hairs under the lid. (It has now been confirmed that some plants which were bought as macrophylla were in fact xTrusmadiensis. They are both in cultivation now in decent numbers.)

Propagation -  I have not attempted to propagate this plant yet.

Forms - Only the typical form has been mentioned.