Question
QUESTION: Hi I need some help with my small nepenthes plant. I have had this plant for over a month now and it should be nicely acclimated to the sunny windowsill you guys recommended I put it in.. You guys also told me it might be an n. sanguinea or a type of ventricosa.

I was just wondering if I should now place it in a terrarium? Maybe I am a little impatient with my plant's growth rate.

Will my plant grow and develop pitchers faster, if I leave it where it is in the sunny windowsill where it receives bright light through the day and also 4 hours of direct sunlight from 3 - 7 pm.

or


Will it do better if I now place it in an old fish tank outside in my apartment balcony since it might be too big to keep the terrarium inside by the windowill. If I did this my plant would receive very bright light through out the day plus 4 hours or more of direct morning sunlight starting around 7 - 12 am.

With either situation I am curently fertilizing my nepenthes every 2 weeks with some Grow More orchid fertilizer 20-10-20.

The reason this came up is on the Gubler's orchid plastic cup that was covering the plant there were some growing instructions they gave on the back.

it says exactly this

location: high humidity (to form pitchers), bright indirect light, temps between 60 - 85 degrees f.

and the rest was about watering and feeding which I am good with.

Do you guys think my plant would grow pitchers faster inside or outside of a terrarium with higher humidity?

And I know the instructions said "bright indirect light" , but from what you guys have told me nepenthes need some direct sunlight throughout the day..

My plant does have 3 different growth points of pitchers so far so I know being out of a terrarium is not effecting it that much.

I just want to know if a terrarium will speed the growth process?

please help

thanks so much - matt

ANSWER: If you're the impatient type, growing carnivorous plants might not be for you.  They grow slower than other types of plants.  Sometimes it can take 6-12 months for a Nepenthes to acclimate to a particular growing condition.  This is particularly true if the growing conditions are significantly different than how it was originally grown.  Even for us, we've received Nepenthes from other growers that took a full year to produce their first pitcher.  That's just the nature of these plants.

Time and patience are key to being a successful grower.  You can put the plant in a terrarium for faster growth, but faster is relative.  Don't expect the type of rapid growth you see in vegetables, sunflowers and regular garden plants.  Nepenthes in general grow slowly.  Terrariums also have their own set of issues, and in time, your plant will outgrow the terrarium.  You'll then be faced with either spending lots of money to upgrade your terrarium or moving it to a windowsill where it will need time to acclimate.  In general, we're not at all advocate of terrariums because they pose too many problems than solutions.  You can use a terrarium, but do so because you want to and not because you think it's required.  It's not at all required.

Visit our care sheet page on our main website and read the section about Nepenthes.  You'll see a photo of a large Nepenthes sanguinea growing in a windowsill with a cat sitting next to it.  I didn't use any terrarium to grow that plant, but I was also patient in allowing it to acclimate to those particular conditions.  That plant was about 5 years old when I took that photo.
http://www.cobraplant.com/caresheets

So if you're the impatient type, growing carnivorous plants will be a frustrating experience for you.  If you're patient and willing to give your plants all the time they need to acclimate, you will be greatly rewarded in the long run.

Good growing!
Jacob Farin

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

QUESTION: Thanks so much for the quick response.

As far as the sunlight goes, for my nepenthes plant will it be better off where it is in the windowsill where it receives almost 4 hours of direct afternoon sunlight which seems kind of strong here in southern california.

or

Would it be better in my balcony outside where it receives more than 4 hours of morning sun.

Also, when I keep my plant inside I do not think it receives that much of a drop in temps at night. I think in the past you guys told me that nepenthes need a drop in temp at night.

If I move my plant ouside it would get this drop in temperature.

What do you recommend ?

I fI move my plant to the outside location it would receive

Answer
Without actually seeing your grow space, it's difficult to make a recommendation.  You can grow the plant outdoors, but you will have to accept the fact that it will take longer to acclimate.  Indoors is usually my first recommendation because it's a more stable environment.  The photo of my sanguinea in the window was in a west window.  I've grown many Nepenthes in my west windows, and they tolerated the strong afternoon sun pretty well.