Question

Inside the pichter   A few days ago, i notice that two mold-like spots on the pichter's liquid of my brother's Nepenthes Miranda. is a a case of indigestion or jsut the insect's body dissloving? In the evening, alot of ants around the nepenthes' peristome (a daily party maybe), through I don't know if they ended up falling in or escaped drunked. Right now it's hanging on a hawaiian flower tree getting full sun outside, tap water, and a soil mix of peat moss,perlite, and Orchid bark. We live in oahu and had it for about 1 year.

Answer
Hi Edmund,

What you're seeing is pretty normal.  When a pitcher gets lots of insects at once, you will sometimes see a little mold on the bugs like that since they can't digest them fast enough.  Given more time they do catch-up on the digestion.  That looks like a beautiful N. x miranda.

Ants tend to be the most common thing Nepenthes capture, and you'll probably see it do in a few cockroaches and even geckos occasionally.

Looking forward to being on your beautiful island soon.

Good Growing!

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