New to Nepenthes
Hello - I just received this plant & I’m trying to figure out what to do with it, as this is my first Nepenthes. I’m already annoyed because I ordered/paid for a large plant bare root and they sent me a 2.5” plant but WHATEVER. Anyways, this is the only pitcher plant I’ve seen with a long stalk & I don’t like it. I don’t want to cut the stalk & risk the cutting not rooting & the pitchers dying off, so what can I do with this? Can I repot & bury most of the stalk in sphagnum or just get over my aesthetic preference & leave it alone?
Also I’ve read that you should fill the pitchers so I used a little dropper to put some distilled water in each. How full should they be & is it legal to be touching them?! Any tips are appreciated!
#TropicalPitcherPlant #Nepenthes #CarnivorousPlants
Also I’ve read that you should fill the pitchers so I used a little dropper to put some distilled water in each. How full should they be & is it legal to be touching them?! Any tips are appreciated!
#TropicalPitcherPlant #Nepenthes #CarnivorousPlants
2ft to light, indirect
2” pot with drainage
Last watered 2 weeks ago
7
Best Answer
Your question about the stalk made me remember that I've wondered this about my own nepenthes so I looked it up and apparently they become a vining plant! The lower part becomes brown and woody to support the weight of the plant as it vines so I guess maybe we both need to add support stakes to our plants to help them grow. 😁
As for filling the pitchers up with distilled water, I've read about this and you can fill them halfway. I've not done this with mine but might try topping them up during the upcoming summer since my place gets hot. Since it sounds like your nepenthes was a mail-order, it might be helpful to replenish any liquid the pitchers lost during travel.
Best of luck! ✨️🪴💚
As for filling the pitchers up with distilled water, I've read about this and you can fill them halfway. I've not done this with mine but might try topping them up during the upcoming summer since my place gets hot. Since it sounds like your nepenthes was a mail-order, it might be helpful to replenish any liquid the pitchers lost during travel.
Best of luck! ✨️🪴💚
Yes, most Nepenthes are vining plants so eventually the bottom becomes a bare woody vine. They can grow a new basal plant/s at the base evetually and it will look more full. You can either keep these or separate them to grow on their own. You can also cut 3 nodes down on the mother plant and make a cutting and stick it in substrate. That will also be a new plant.
Be prepared to lose all the pitchers you got on shipping. New ones will grow from new leaves.
Be prepared to lose all the pitchers you got on shipping. New ones will grow from new leaves.
@melaza @Araceae @PetPlants @PetPlants You have received an older plant. Each of the nodes are where a leaf used to be. Mine look like this in the spring after they have made it through the winter. I don’t have much luck with them if they get too cold in the winter. They seem to never recover fully and never look like they did originally. Only water it with distilled water or it will die. They need a lot of humidity and need to stay moist at all times. You can fill the pitchers about 1/4 of the way full but they won’t live like a pitcher that creates its own fluid. You will need to buy some carnivorous plant food and put some of it on a couple of the pitchers a couple times a month. If you live in an area that doesn’t have a lot of humidity naturally, you can mist them but u will need to do it 3-4 times a day. They also require a lot of light but not direct sunlight. I’ve always had the best luck with a 100 watt grow light for my pitcher plants and allow it to stay on them for 10-12 hours a day. If you purchase any more pitcher plants, make sure you buy the babies in the spring, by the end of the summer, if you do everything I mentioned, you will have so many pitchers you won’t know what to do!😃 Good Luck to you! 🪴🌿🌺
Back on the subject regarding you receiving a small " large" plant. Nepenthes can be very slow growing for the first 3 years. To put this into perspective x-small plants are about the diameter of a quarter. It takes about 3 years to grow into a large. This can vary between the species and whether if it's a hybrid. (They grow faster than pure spieces.) Most of the ones in garden centers are sold as XL hybrid plants.
I have 16 year old Nepenthes on my North windowsill that survived root rot and being cut to reroot. It's now a top heavy 4 foot vine with bushy basal growth on the bottom. I all trained it to take NYC tap water.
I have 16 year old Nepenthes on my North windowsill that survived root rot and being cut to reroot. It's now a top heavy 4 foot vine with bushy basal growth on the bottom. I all trained it to take NYC tap water.