Nepenthes Natural Hybrid, Pitcher Plant

This is an extrememly easy plant to grow. Bright, indirect Sun. Keep moist at all times but not soggy. In the spring you can mist every ...Read More2-3 weeks with 1/4 strength orchid food to initiate pitchering if it's not making pitchers.

Propagates easily by taking cuttings with 3-4 leaf node.

Nepenthes 'Pitcher Plants' are natives of the tropical forests between Madagascar and Australia. The pitchers are the modified leaves of ...Read Morethe plant. Nectar on the lid above the pitcher attracts insects that crawl further into the pitcher, and end up getting trapped in there. The struggling activity activates glands in the pitcher which secretes a strong acid. Only the husk of a house fly remains after a couple of days. Nepenthes survive best in high air humidity indoors, in light away from direct sunlight. They need to be kept constantly moist with good drainage. These exotic and interesting looking plants are always a wonderful talking point.

Essentially the most vigorous of the nepenthes, N. x Ventrata is a cross between N. Alata and N. Ventricosa, both known to be prolific in...Read More pitcher production.

Pitchers begin green/cream and turn bright red as they age. This vine can attain lengths of 3 feet in one growing season.

Cuttings are highly viable, especially from the growing tip.

Recommended for the novice nepenthes grower, I cut the vines to the base in the fall and every year the plant flourishes in the spring with an abundance of lower pitchers.

Grown in pure living sphagnum, this plant likes to be consistently wet and prefers humid (60%+) conditions, although it has survived in somewhat less humidity with a reduction of pitcher production.

Can be grown indoors over the kitchen sink, in the bathroom, or below a skylight.

For me this has turned out to be a super-easy Nepenthes. It has withstood the summer heat of North Carolina without a problem (even flour...Read Moreishing), and I've even left it hanging outside on a 2nd-story balcony, fairly unprotected, on nights in the upper 30s. During most of the winter I keep it inside, where light and humidity are far from ideal. It stops pitchering, but in the summer it resumes pretty quickly. It may not be the showiest of Nepenthes hybrids, but it's hard to beat when it comes to hardiness.