Question

Nepenthes plants   I have a N. jacquelineae (left in photo) and a N. ventricosa (right in photo) you helped me identify a while back.

I grow them both outdoors in your Nepenthes mix, in 8" hanging pots, and water with distilled water.  The N. jacquelinea gets bright indirect sunlight light only while the other one gets bright indirect sunlight with some direct sunlight on its leaves a few hours in the morning.  Otherwise both are receiving about 14 hours of indirect sunlight a day.

I live in zone 9 where average highs are about 80F+ in the summer, 60F+ in the winter, and about 20 degrees less at night for either season.  Will this be a problem down the road for these plants?  Sometimes it can get to 90F+ in the summer with a low of around 70F at night but lately it's been unusually cool the past few seasons.

I noticed the N. jacquelinea has some of its older leaves turning a bit yellow with red spots on them but the newer leaves are bright green.  All leaves are still stiff and healthy looking though.  It even has started to grow new pitchers.  Is this normal?  I read this species of N. doesn't like direct sun too much and its native habitat is a cloud forest with almost constantly diffused sunlight.  On the other hand the N. ventricosa seems to be liking where it's at and has new growth, bright red on leaves, and new pitchers forming.

Also what is the coldest these plants can tolerate?  When it drops to the mid to low 40F (cold by local standards), I bring the plants inside.  Do I have to do this?  I've read on some sites that one should protect these plants from any temperature below 40F while other ones recommend against below 50F?

Thanks.

Answer
The yellow leaves with spots on the N. jacquelinea are very normal.  This species grows very slowly, so it won't have as many young, green leaves to cover up the older leaves.  As long as the new growth is healthy, your plant is healthy.  Clip off the older leaves when you can't stand looking at them anymore.

In regards to cold temperature, you can't just pay attention to the low temperature.  You need to also think about the high temperature.  N. jacquelinea can tolerate temperatures in the 40s as long as the day temperature rises above 70癋.   (N. ventricosa is more of an intermediate plant, so it prefers not going below 50?)  So if the night temperatures are consistently dropping into the low 50s and upper 40s, and the day temperatures are dropping below 70, it's time to bring your plants inside for the season.  When in doubt, bring them in.  You're better off being safe than sorry.

Good growing!
Jacob Farin