Question
Hello - I wanted you to know that I have bought plants from you over the last year and that they are doing beautifully in a 10 gal. aquarium - flytraps, sundews and American pitcher - all growing in peat and live sphagnum moss. I put the aquarium outside in the garden during the summer and bring it in next to a really cold window in the winter. Even the flytraps have done well - amazing I think. Just want to tell you this.

My question is this - my wife and daughter just gave me a Nepenthes. It came from a florist in New York City with no tag. I have researched and found it is a Nepenthes ventrata. When you cut the pitchers from the leaves, will that leaf put out another pitcher or will pitchers only come from new leaves - similar to a lot of slipper orchids. Also, we put water in the pitchers and got two crickets from the pet shop and put in two pitchers. I have many orchids, so have two humidifiers on them and they do well in a southern window with filtered light. This is where I have the Nepenthes so I'm hoping it does will. But my main question was about the leaves putting out additional pitchers once they have been cut.

Thanks so much for any help you can give. I love watching your videos online and will definitely be ordering more plants. All the best.

Faser

Answer
Hi Faser,

Glad to hear the North American plants are doing well for you.

On Nepenthes, as strange as it looks, a pitcher is actually part of the leaf.  Once it's fully formed, growth is done.  When a pitcher dies, it's just the first stage of a leaf being on it's way out, so they don't ever grow another one on that leaf.  The main photosynthetic part of the leaf will often live for quite awhile after the demise of a pitcher.  New pitchers are always on a new leaves.  It just looks very different from plants like Sarracenia where the entire leaf is a pitcher, or Cephalotus where they grow distinctly different pitcher and regular leaves.

Happy to hear the videos have been helpful.

Good Growing!

Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.growcarnivorousplants.com