Having trouble with nepenthes.

[Ordphien]

So last year I told myself I sold finally give carnivores a try.
I said I would get one of each of the basic plants that comes in those little plastic cubes in the big box stores.
And if I could keep them alive for a whole year, I was allowed to buy more offline.
My VTF thrived, as did my sundew (best gnat and fruit fly catcher ever), and purple pitcher plant.
Dormancy was a breeze and I feel confident in my ability to keep these plants alive and thriving.
My nepenthes is another story.
I also bought a basic nepenthes locally, a rather healthy ventrata. I made the same promise as before. If it was thriving in a year I could venture into the more exotic species and hybrids.
Pitcher production has come to a standstill, and when I do get a pitcher they are very small and fade quickly...
I really need help and tips.
It's made maybe one pitcher in the last 8 months.
A strict care regime would be super helpful.

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[WhiteRabbit]

[SlipperGirl]

Here is a link to some care info on nepenthes. Hope it helps

http://www.cobraplant.com/caresheets/nepenthes

[31drew31]

Good link above, here's another: Nepenthes University

Is this growing in a windowsill? Its quite common for them to stop pitcher production during the winter months with less light and less humidity.

Depending on how the media looks, it may benefit from new media. A mix of LFS, bark and perlite will do it nicely. If you're growing in lower humidity, go a little heavier on the moss. If you have an extra light around (CFL's work well for this) it would definitely benefit and help with pitcher production.

Temperatures in the range of 60-85F do it good, humidity around 70% is preferred but N. 'Ventrata' is about as hardy as they come and will pitcher in lower humidity once acclimatized. Of course, mineral free water is best.

If you have any specific questions, fire away! Hard to say much more with the info provided; aka none

[Andre]

I grow Nep. mikei it is a highland plant. So it likes cool end of intermediate. Here in Vancouver I put it in full west sun on my breezy patio from late April until October.

I grow it in live moss in and keep it very moist/boggy and never fertilize the plant. Right now it is in a west window and just starting to wake up from our dark cloudy winter. I'm sure it would be better in a south window, in areas that are not as cloudy as here in the winter. Once in a while I half fill the pitchers with RO water. Lots of the pitchers dry up and die during the winter. Soon as the days get longer and the plant goes outside in full sun it will grow like a weed.

So high light!
High Humidity
Clean water
I would not fertilize
Perhaps intermediate temperatures for this natural hybrid.

[Ray]

Zero fertilizer.

I had a N. alata that flourished for years, then I got lazy about giving it only RO water and started using my standard irrigation solution using fertilizer, and it died within 6 months.

[Ordphien]

Sorry...
Ok... it's on the kitchen in a mounted pot.
The kitchen is south facing and the Sith wall is essentially one big window.
How much light should it be getting?
It gets strong dappled light all day and an hour at light at sunset.
I changed the medium when I bought it.
It's LFSM, orchid bark, perlite, and some pine needles.
The humidity is around 40%. Too low?
No fertilizers... ever...
Watered with RODI water.

What's intermediate temps?
How does house temp work?


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[Andre]

I grow my highland Nepenthes with high temperatures between 17-28c and lows to about 15c and it seems to be fine and happy. One thing is that hey love sun! Living in your area that should not be a problem. Lowland species need Phal temps or a bit lower to thrive.

[Wireman]

I grow all of my Nepenthes with humidity at least at 60%. Some species, like sibuyanensis, require much higher. I'd get a CFL grow light at least for the winter. Temps don't really matter with x ventrata, since both parent plants are very forgiving.

Little known cultivation fact, Nepenthes benefit from trace amounts of calcium, which RO water doesn't not have.

[gardengirl13]

I do everything wrong with mine. Almost. I got the same plant. From a local place and told myself if he does well I'll get more. I have him hanging in an east window, and on the sunnier winter days I move him to the south facing orchid rack I have. I keep him pretty damp and mist daily to keep the humidity up. Which I hear can be bad for most carnivores. I also only use rain (well snow here right now) water. But I also use a tiny bit of fert since the bug population is low right now. None of the darn gnats will go to him! I do catch a few things and toss them in when we get them. I use a very light orchid type fert and then use straight water the next feeding to flush it. The plant was at a stand still in about Dec and slightly wilting, at that point it was rain water only. I thought well it may die any way and saw online that someone says to feed a little like an orchid. Weakly. So I tried it and it went nuts! Since Dec it has about 10 new leaves with little nubs at the ends. No new pitchers yet, but it's still only march I assume they won't really form until summer.

Our house is about 64-65 at night and 68-70 during the day. humidity is about 45-60% depending on how hard the furnace is working. Once the sun moves a bit more he'll get more am sun which will help him.

I've only had him since Oct or so, so I'm not sure how he'll like our summers. We'll see.

But as I said I don't really follow what others say with fert and stuff. And would hesitate to recommend since others say not to.