Good evening meat eaters! (Maybe it's good morning...) Anyway... hello to all! I am an avid gardener living in an apartment, so I have to stick to containers, tropicals, and indoor plants. I have recently aquired two Nepenthes. I found them to be fascinating, and wanted to give them a try.
One is supposed to be N. ventricosa, and the other is supposed to be N. alata. As far as care, I know they like alot of humidity, and need to be kept evenly moist. I was told by a friend that I needed to keep the pitchers half-full of distilled water. I plan to hang them where they will get bright light filtered by a shade cloth/umbrella.
Am I doing OK so far??? Any changes? Any suggestions? Do I need to "feed" them, or will that occur pretty naturally? Do they need to be fertilized?
Thank you in advance for any suggestions and advice.
Karen
New to Nepenthes...
You do NOT have to put any water in the pitchers, the plant will do that itself. Bright filtered light, a little morning or late afternoon sun only is o.k. Do not feed them and a light 1/4 mix of fertilzer sprayed on the LEAVES only every 2-3 weeks will help induce pitchering. Water with rain or distilled water ONLY.
You may also want to try a tropical Sundew or 2! These plants form sticky globs on their leaves to catch insects and grow great in a window too.
Tom
Sorry it took so long to come back and say thanks...
I appreciate the info. I'll post photos soon!
Karen
No problem and please do!
Tom
Two schools of thought on foliar fertilizers for Neps. I'm sort of in the school where you don't do it because they were designed to trap their prey for nutrients. I do add rain water to my Nep pitchers (about a quarter of a pitcher full) because I grow them inside and Ma Nature isn't able to add rain water to them via my ceilings. I also give some of my Neps pin head crickets as well as other treats. I've found that a supplementation of cool and warm fluorescents can help my plants pitcher. You do have to experiment a lot to see what works best for you.
Hello, Nep-lovers. My Nep has been hanging in a fig tree all summer, and looking great. Fig trees attract flies, ants, and any other insect it seems. So, the Nep was fat, green, and happy.
It is Fall now in my Virginia home. The leaves are falling off the fig tree - and the Nep is dying.
Any ideas? How do you do artificial respiration on a dying Nep?
BrightStar
Bring in indoors and put in a bright window. Keep soil moist, no tap water or bottled water! Distilled or rain water only.
Thank you for the follow-up and advice. Glad to know about the tap water.
Should I mist regularly?
Karen
Say BrightStar, which species of Nep do you have? A bright window is good advice but some do need higher light than that or they won't pitcher. Also too, chances are your medium is spent. Lots of times they grow those out in a medium that isn't the best for a mature plant. Depending on which Nep you have and what it is currently potted in, you may want to change out the medium. Other than that, you may do everything right and still lose the plant. These things happen so don't get too discouraged.
As a rule of thumb, tap water is a big no no however... I've known people who have been lugging distilled and/or rain water in for their plants only to have their tap water tested to learn that the ppm is well under 100. You might want to have your water tested just for the heck of it. A water test is probably cheap enough and would save your back lugging in bottles of distilled water were you to find that you had good water. The other thing I am told from a girlfriend is that her grocery store sells RO water. She brings her own container and fills it up in the back of the store for around 50 cents a gallon. RO water is perfectly acceptable and has a lower ppm than rain water.
Hey VA_Wild_Rose, Depending on the Nep, I see you have ventricosa and alata, I don't mist mine and don't even provide them with a humidity tray. Mine hang over my kitchen sink and they pitcher fine.
Karen,
Misting does nothing unless you're going to stand there 24/7 and spray every 5 minutes. If your humidity level is REALLY low, get a humidifier.
Hello, everyone, and thank you for responding. I've been watering my nep with well water. One thing I realized, though, is that it is just the pitchers that are dying. The leaves are OK. Maybe it has something to do with less flies being around in autumn. Insects in general are dying down (except bees).
Not sure of the variety of my nep. I have two, and they are different. Both have dying pitchers on them. One is still hanging in the fig tree and one is stuck on the side of a pot and hanging down.
I have a regular pitcher plant (small, red veined at the top), a smaller, shorter, fatter pitcher plant, and a flytrap in my "fake swamp" (a shallow dish, with water in the bottom to keep their toes damp but not their shoulders).
Ahhh, just the pitchers are dying back. That's probably a natural process. Sounds as if you'll be ok. Pitchers don't last forever. You are going to have to bring those plants in real soon though. They're not going to be able to make it outside much longer. Since you don't know which ones you have, follow tommyr's advice and get them inside and in front of a bright window. An eastern exposure would probably be best until you know what you've got there.
Your well water may be ok, it may not. Why don't you take a water sample in somewhere and have it tested just for the heck of it?
I don't know what kind of a shorter fatter plant you have but probably a Sarracenia of some sort. A flytrap is a flytrap is a flytrap... both the Sarracenia and the Dionaea are temperate species. They need a dormancy. You might want to start cutting back on the water at this time of year. These plants will cease active growth and if you keep their tootsies wet, they're at a considerable risk for fungal infections. Right now you'd want damp shoulders and toes not moist or wet.
Thank you, Equilibrium.
;)
Well... hello again, more than a year later!
Sorry to say, I lost both of those plants when they came in for the winter... but alas, those are some of the trials and tribulations of gardening.
I did recently purchase some N. Ventricosa seeds. They are so fine and hair-like!
Calling all experts as to the proper way to soe and germinate them!
And thank you in advance!!!
:o)
Karen
Karen, where did you buy the nep seeds? D-mail me...
You may want to try a site called cobraplant.com. They sell healthy plants and they are a great source of info in their newsletters and on their site. They also have a CD they sell that is great for beginners and experts. I bought a nepenthes truncata from them last spring and it is doing well. I have it sitting under my LED lights next to the Synsepalum Dulcificum and it is doing great.
Thanks for the info...
I just thought that someone here would know how to sow the seeds properly.
Hi all,
These were useful tips for me too, especially not to use tap water. I just bought a nep.
Any advice on propagation?
Thanks,
Nick
When it starts getting too vine like and long take a cutting 3-5 leaf nodes from the top down, cut off the lower 1/3 of leaves and plant in a 50/50 peat moss/perlite mix. Place in a bright but sunless window.
They root rather easily!
Thanks for the info.
Nick