Question

Nepenthes Jamban   QUESTION: Allexerts,

I put the Nepenthes Jamban outside for the summer.  The plant has been suffering from shock from being outside from May to August.  I have a picture attached to this email.  I did repot the plant in July.  I moved the plant inside when I noticed that the plant was doing poorly outside.  I have also given the plant 1/4 per teaspoon of Orchid fertilizer.   Thank you for your time.  Please let me know if there is something I'm not doing that would allow the plant to transition easier.  I'm kinda worried that the plant might be on the way out.

Sincerely,

Weylin Callery

Other care Info:
water: Distilled/rain water
Lighting: Sunlight/ 40 watts CFL
Obtained from: Sarracenia Northwest

ANSWER: Hi Weylin,

The older leaves look like they got a bit of burn, but the newest leaf looks fine.  Nepenthes jamban is not a fast grower, so I think you may just need to be patient with it.  Now that you have it back indoors the conditions will be more stable.

Since you have it back under lights, here's something to try.  I recently talked with one of our local customers that tried using coffee on some of his slower growing Nepenthes, and he said he had very good luck with this.  What he did is watered the plants with normal strength cold coffee once every two weeks.  Be sure to generously top water the plants starting the next day to flush the soil.  He said this gave results that were far better than fertilizer alone.  I had tried the coffee fertilization once but it was in the winter in the greenhouse, so it wasn't a fair trial, and my results weren't that great.

Let me know how it goes.

Good Growing!

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

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Allexperts,

Does it matter what type of coffee I use?  I would be using French Roast from Starbucks.  Would that do something to the PH of the soil?  Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Weylin

Answer
Hi Weylin,

All coffee is acidic, and that is probably part of the benefit.  Any coffee is going to be ok, but if I were to choose, I would go with a medium to light roast.  You would get more tannins and less burnt product that way.  Light roast coffees are also less expensive since you can use regular canned coffee.  However, I don't know if anyone has really tested which roast works best.  The customer that talked to me about his results was using a good quality locally roasted coffee at a medium roast.  It was essentially leftovers from making a pot of coffee.

Good Growing!

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