Question

Nepenthes Ventricosa   QUESTION: I have a nepenthes supposedly ventricosa which I bought at a garden show in April. It had two pitchers. I kept it under florescent light and at a south window until late May, when I put it outside, its been hotter than usual in PA. It's grown just one new leaf and no new pitchers. I had it under a rhododendron bush with an opening towards the south where it gets about 6 or 7 hrs. of sunlight a day and normal rainfall. Its in its original pot. Appears to be peat and sand mixture. Does it need more light. Here's a photo. Leaves are starting to turn reddish.

ANSWER: Hello Craig,

The leaves turning red are an indication that the plant is receiving enough light. The change in temperature, humidity, and general location probably shocked the plant. It may take several weeks or months to recover.

In addition, if the light level where the plant is at now is greater than what it experienced indoors, the young tendrils from which pitchers develop could be experiencing leaf burn and be unable to grow new pitchers due to the damage.



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QUESTION: Its now about 95 degrees here. Should this plant be brought indoors?

ANSWER: If the plant was doing fine indoors where you had it before May, it might be best just to leave it indoors in a good window with supplemental florescent light. 95 degree temperatures are right at the limit for even the more adaptable Nepenthes to tolerate. N. ventricosa likes a more moderate temperature range of around room temperature.

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QUESTION: It hasn't done much since I bought it. One pitcher turned black and I had to cut it off. It doesn't appear to be growing new ones. I'll put it in the south window where most of my carnivorous plants are. My house is surrounded by trees so light is never really good.

Answer
It sounds like you have several issues over time with the plant. The main things to remember are:

If the plant does not pitcher suddenly, or fails to after trying, it is either not receiving enough light, had a drastic drop in humidity, or had a drastic change in temperature.

Keep the plant in one place to keep changes in environment from occurring.

Keep adding florescent light and placing the lights closer to the plant until it begins to develop coloration on its leaves and pitcher again.

Give the plant several weeks or even months at this point to recover as it sounds like it has gone from low light to too much light and changes in humidity and temperature that simply shcoked it time after time. A stable environment is what it needs to recover and begin normal growth again.