Question

the extremely unhealth   I live in central new york. A friend of mine purchased a nepenthes x Lady Pauline a couple months ago from and put it in the windowsill of her bathroom where it recieved plenty of light, probably 3-4 hours of direct light, and had good humidity. It flowered in the bathroom. She later moved it out to her green house where it got burned. she moved it again to her porch kinda where it wouldnt get sun all day but still got a lot more light than the bathroom. It started looking very unhealthy and the leaves grow in twisted and short, but not too deformed. There were two growing points from the same root mass and she chopped off the top of one of the tops with a couple leaves and she is trying to root it in a bowl of water. She was going to throw away the rest of the plant but i wanted to keep it and attempt to save it... the soil is very wet because it had rained the other day. I'm currently growing it next to my other highland nepenthes in a window that recieves 3-4 hours of light and gets to probably 75-80 during the day and cools off to probably 60 at night, maybe 55 on cold nights. I keep a fan in my window at night to help it cool off. I'm trying to let the soil dry out before i even dare try watering it. Should i keep trying to save it? Is there anything beneficial that i should be trying to do?

Answer
Hi Jared,

Let me start out by saying that this sounds like a case of this poor plant being loved to death.  Nepenthes like things nice and boring.  You want to situate them in a place where conditions are not changing much; stable temperatures, consistent soil moisture, and same amount of light each day.  Moving them around is a no-no.  Here's what the conditions should be:

Light:  The plant should be in a spot that gets 3-4 hours direct sun each day if growing in a windowsill.  "Good light" doesn't count.  It needs to be direct sun.  Glass blocks around 80% UV light as it is, so indoors the exposure needs to be bright.  If a plant is going to be outside, the situation is different, same with a greenhouse.  In nature Nepenthes are partial sun plants, not quite full sun plant such as Sarracenia.  I can't really address the burning this person experienced with a greenhouse since I know nothing about that greenhouse.

Soil:  The plant should be in a mix that drains freely, but holds moisture.  A good general Nepenthes mix is equal parts long-fiber sphagnum moss, orchid bark, perlite, and peat moss.  Many different recipes are out there, and they are tolerant of a range of mixes as long as it drains freely.

Watering:  The soil should be consistently moist, but not waterlogged.  I water them very similar to houseplants, keeping them a bit wetter.  The plant shouldn't be allowed to dry out completely, especially now with it being stressed.  The water should be low mineral, but Nepenthes are the least sensitive to hard water of carnivorous plants, so that is less of an issue.  Don't let the plant sit in water the way you might for Sarracenia.  A little water left over in a tray is fine, as long as it isn't all the time.

Temperatures:  70's - 80's are fine for this plant.  A night cool-down is good, but you don't need to stress about that in the Northwest.  Don't have a fan blowing on the plants.  This will inhibit pitcher formation.

Other stuff:  This plant would benefit from a weak feeding with an orchid fertilizer.  Mix it 1/4 strength, and apply it once every two weeks.

Since you took a cutting, we have detailed information in our volume #3 DVD on taking Nepenthes cuttings.  http://www.cobraplant.com/dvd/volume3  The piece that still has the roots should begin producing a new shoot from a dormant leaf node in about a month.  Keep the conditions stable, and give the plant time.

Good Growing!

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