Another Nepenthes Question

[pitbulllady]

By pure chance last week I went into a Bi-Lo supermarket in Columbia, SC, and they had several really nice specimens of Nepenthes, possibly N. alata. I picked out a nice plant with several well-developed pitchers and several more new pitchers in development and have it hanging in a window in my classroom that receives bright afternoon sunlight. I have been misting it daily, except on weekends. Now, here is the question: Am I supposed to put water in the pitchers, or not? Just about everything I've read online says to do this, but on here, I read that I should NOT do this. Which is correct? I really want to finally be able to keep one of these, and the chance to get a nice adult specimen at a reasonable price($16.00) does not come along every day.

Pitbulllady

 

[nepenthes]

You can do what ever you want! The pitchers will most likely die away anyways. The change in environment will cause enough stress to kill them off but don't worry they will grow back in a few months. I never realy misted mine. They get colorful with lots of sunlight. You can find N. ventricosa and alta and even ventricosa x alta aren't at big box stores. Make sure you use water with a low ppm. And no nutrience added. Make sure you keep their feet wet but drained. I would just flush it with pure water till it flows out the holes on the botom. Wait for it to get damp but not bone dry. Less is better.
I have a couple questions for you though.
What kind of substrate? How many hours of sunlight? Would you say its a south facing window? A picture might be helpfull for a positive ID!

 

[pitbulllady]

You can do what ever you want! The pitchers will most likely die away anyways. The change in environment will cause enough stress to kill them off but don't worry they will grow back in a few months. I never realy misted mine. They get colorful with lots of sunlight. You can find N. ventricosa and alta and even ventricosa x alta aren't at big box stores. Make sure you use water with a low ppm. And no nutrience added. Make sure you keep their feet wet but drained. I would just flush it with pure water till it flows out the holes on the botom. Wait for it to get damp but not bone dry. Less is better.
I have a couple questions for you though.
What kind of substrate? How many hours of sunlight? Would you say its a south facing window? A picture might be helpfull for a positive ID!

The window faces more or less southwest, so once the sun moves over the center/noon position, it shines in that window pretty much until it goes down. I don't know for certain what substrate the plant is in, since it was already potted when I got it, but it seems well-established and the substrate looks and feels a lot like the "Eco-Earth" that I put my younger N. miranda in, which basically is coconut fiber. I know that is recommended for orchids. I am using rain water for both watering and misting. I am expecting the pitchers to die off due to transplant shock, and already one small one is looking bad, but the larger ones are still holding their own. It was a big surprise to find these at Bi-Lo, since the local store here only carries a few plants, "normal" things like Pothos and Peace Lilies. This store had several really nice Nepenthes in six-inch hanging pots. The pitchers are actually quite large on this one, probably a good 8 inches counting the "lid". Here are some pics I took today, using in-camera adjustments for strong back-lighting:

pitbulllady

 

[nepenthes]

Personally I would change the soil that or flush it real good with lots of rain water cause the soil could contain left over salts and crap from tap water the store could have used tap water. Other than that you should be fine. Good luck!

 

[pitbulllady]

Personally I would change the soil that or flush it real good with lots of rain water cause the soil could contain left over salts and crap from tap water the store could have used tap water. Other than that you should be fine. Good luck!

The substrate was almost dry when I got the plant, and if this store is like most, they don't bother watering at all. Plants that don't sell quickly just die and are thrown out. The Neps probably had not been there for very long, given that anything unusual usually sells quickly around here. More than likely, the last watering it had gotten before I bought it was at the nursery where it was grown, and I have no idea where that is because there is no label to indicate that, unlike the "Exotic Angel Plants" that most garden centers sell(mislabeled though they might be).

pitbulllady

 

[nepenthes]

That said Id still flush it real good just in case, you can't be too careful with any water with nasies in it. These plants developed methods to obtain nutrience in nutrient deprived soils. I don't know if you plan on feeding it but a cricket once and a while won't hurt it. Id wait fo fres pitchers though. I never fed mine and they were big and fat pitchers! It does look like an alta, ventricosa tend to have squater rounder pitchers. Its been a while since I've played with CP's ad it could very well be a ventricosa x alta cross.

 

[mdkelty]

Hello,

I was browsing the categories and Nepenthes caught my eye. I just got into carnivorous plants a couple of years ago and have over thirty different plants. Fifteen of them are Nepenthes.

Anyway, I wanted to give you a website link to check out. The name of the nursery is California Carnivoures. They are one the best carnivorous nurseries in the country. Their site will give you all the info you need to grow these plants the right way. They also put out a fantastic book. Here is the link:

http://www.californiacarnivores.com/index.aspx

I hope this helps!

Michael

 

[Travis K]

http://weirdbio.blogspot.com/2010/09/plants-that-eat-mice.html Interesting read.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j-qJ_0qroc&feature=player_embedded

 

[pitbulllady]

That second video, of dissecting the pitcher that had digested a mouse, was definitely not for the squeamish, lol! Still, given the phenomenal growth of the plant following its rodent meal, it's tempting to drop a f/t pinkie into one of the pitchers on mine, if the smell wouldn't run everyone out of the room! It's doing a great job nabbing flies, though, and the pitchers are still in good shape, though a couple of the larger ones are starting to experience some drying and shriveling of the "lids". There are a lot of new pitchers forming, though, and the leaves still look great, with several new leaves having appeared, too. The plant really seems to like its location. I went back to the same store where I'd bought it last weekend, and alas, they still have four plants left, but they're in bad shape. The pitchers have all died back, and someone cut away the top part of the pitchers, since that part dies first, as if that would save the pitchers or make the plant look less sickly. No doubt they've been watered with tap water, as you suspected, but I apparently bought mine right after they arrived in store, before they received any water.

NOW, another question, this one concerning my young N. miranda. It's planted in Eco-Earth, receiving distilled and rain water, in a similar location to the one at school, kept moist, but not soaking wet, has shown some leaf growth and development, but still no sign of pitcher development. Should I use any type of fertilizer, given that it's not receiving any nutrients at all with no pitchers, or just wait? The plant is a little over a year old.

pitbulllady

 

[Tarac]

These plants developed methods to obtain nutrience in nutrient deprived soils.

It's because Nepenthes, in general with only a few rare exceptions that you would be unlikely to encounter without intentionally searching for them, evolved not to live in soil at all. Roots are primarily for stability, not for drinking. They are epiphytes. Humidity, humidity, humidity. Brighter light than you might think for a tropical epiphyte. That's usually the flaw in the set up if you aren't getting good pitchers.

 

[pitbulllady]

It's because Nepenthes, in general with only a few rare exceptions that you would be unlikely to encounter without intentionally searching for them, evolved not to live in soil at all. Roots are primarily for stability, not for drinking. They are epiphytes. Humidity, humidity, humidity. Brighter light than you might think for a tropical epiphyte. That's usually the flaw in the set up if you aren't getting good pitchers.

I moved the little N. miranda to a south-facing window; it has been in a east-facing window since I got it, in the kitchen, since that's where the humidity is generally highest except for the bathroom, with people cooking and washing dishes. The second video, the one in Travis K's link, said that these plants should receive either southern or western light, because the sun isn't in the eastern or northern sky long enough for it to provide enough light, and that could cause them to either lose pitchers or not develop them in the first place. The N. alata at school is in a western-facing window, and it is doing fine, although I'm anticipating a gradual loss of pitchers and slow-down of new pitcher growth as the days get shorter and shorter, so hopefully both will be back up and "running" once the light period lengthens in the spring. It's easier to maintain humidity at school, with so many sets of lungs exhaling all that water vapor, but it's doing to be tough maintaining humidity in our den(where I moved the N. miranda) during the winter, with the heat running. It has been very dry-no sign of rain in a little over a month-and unusually cold, so the ambient humidity is low, and there's nowhere to plug in a humidifier in the den. I will have to spray mist the plant daily, or would it be better to put it back in the eastern-facing kitchen window( big fluorescent overhead light kept on in there 24/7, too), where it would be directly over the sink, and not worry about pitcher development until spring?

pitbulllady

 

[Tarac]

Hard to say, how intense is that light? Even if you don't get pitchers over the winter they should survive until spring when you can give them better light. If it comes down to a choice of better maintenance vs. better light for the winter period I would default on better maintenance personally. Keeping them misted is more important than keeping them very bright. They will just start to get lanky, very dark and large leaves without pitchers if the light is too low but all other conditions are met. On the other hand they can die if they are too dry for long. You could change the bulb out to something for aquatic plants or something similar if you wanted to try to achieve both. Might help. Be aware that those lights might bleach the stuff in your kitchen though- the wall behind both of my fishtanks has bleached wall paint from the constant exposure. They've been there for years mind you, but I'm not sure how long it actually took before the bleaching was noticeable so keep an eye out.