Question
QUESTION: Hi, my nepenthes ventricosa has created a little plantlet from under the soil. This plantlet is  making pitchers, but the bigger plant that it came from is not. I there a reason why the bigger plant wont produce pitchers? The plantlet is making 3 so far and is showing signs that it will continue to make more while the bigger plant is not showing any signs of pitchers forming.

ANSWER: Hello Jared,

As they age, Nepenthes need more light. A small Nepenthes can do just fine in a window with morning sunlight, but as it grows larger than a couple of feet in size, it tends to require greater light coverage and/or intensity.

What kind of light is the plant getting now?

Christopher

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


nepenthes   QUESTION: Currently the plant recieves between 5-6 hours of morning sunlight. It was probably recieving 4 hours of light during the winter. I was going to move it to a south-west facing window so it could recieve the more intense light that you said. Is that a good idea?

Answer
Hello Jared,

Yes, the plant definitely needs more light. I had my N. sanguinea in a window that looks similar to yours and it stopped pitchering due to insufficient light for its size. I placed it under a set of 3 twin mount 40 watt cool white florescent shop lights (6 tubes of 3000 lumens each for 16 hours a day) and it never stops pitchering even when I reduce the hours of light to 12 in winter. You may need to add a shop light or two above the plant and in the window to provide more coverage area from above and behind if the south-west window still proves inadequate. Give it a few weeks and see what happens.

Christopher