Question
QUESTION: Hello. I have a N fusca and it doing fine right it's producing pitchers but the problem is that the pitcher stay on the plant for like a month and they dry up before they even open so what should I do or what shouldn't I do. My Growing conditions are 2 hours of sunlight in a east facing window in the morning and then 5 hours in a southwest facing window in the afternoon. I water the plant with store bought distilled water. I bought the plant from sarracenia northwest back in December. Thank you

ANSWER: Hello Ishan,

Two issues may be causing the problem.

1: The plant might not be getting enough light through the windows of an intensity and daylength required.

You might need to provide artificial lighting from 40 watt florescent shop lights with the twin tube mounts for T-12 cool white tubes. According to need, you may require 1-3 such shop lights depending on the size and configuration of the plant. If it is small, less than 6 inches across, you might be able to get away with a 100 to 150 watt equivalent florescent bulb, but those tend to burn too hot in my opinion. Florescent lighting would need to stay on for at least 12-16 hours a day and would need to be about 6-12 inches from the plant, adjust as needed.

2: Moving the plant around from one place to another is detremental to plant health for several reasons. Plants root themselves in place because they are meant to stay in one spot. Provide the best single place for the plant and leave it there for as long as you can. Moving plants around can shock them if changes in humidity and temperature occur drastically from one place to another. Repeated shocks can kill them eventually.

Failure to pitcher of the type you describe is generally from just too little light. The plant is being given too low of an intensity for too short of a time and it is winter sunlight at that. Place those florescent tubes over the plant and you should have no problem with keeping it pitchering all year round.

Christopher

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

QUESTION: Thank you for the response. I don't think light is a problem because I've had the plant for about 2 months now and since then is it has produced a pitcher 2 new leaves with pitcher growing from them right now it is working on its biggest pitcher yet the problem is that the pitcher don't open up they sit there for a month and dry up. The current pitcher it's working on right now is healthy and it's starting to inflate but the pitcher it had before that inflated all the way it stop growing stayed like that for a month and now it's drying up it didn't even open that the problem I. Thank you

Answer
Hello Ishan,

Yes, that is the problem I indicated to you. If Nepenthes cannot complete the production of pitchers then something, usually light or humidity or temperature, is causing the problem.

To elaborate, based on my personal experiences with my Nepenthes, I have given the plants window and florescent lighting for about four years in different amounts and locations. When I had my Nepenthes in a window with no florescent light, they do rather poorly. I have seen the effects of poor lighting cause Nepenthes to fail to pitcher completely, to begin pitchering and then stop, and to almost complete pitchering and then halt and allow the pitcher to die off. When such a situation occurs, it is because the plant is getting almost enough light, but not quite enough. It tries to pitcher, then stops because it cannot harvest enough sunlight to power the process any further.

Give the plant more light and see what happens.

Christopher