Question
I am not sure what nepenthes I have, but I only got it to grow 1 pitcher. And that was in the summer so I'm trying to find some way to get it to grow pitchers in the house. If anyone could help I'd appreciate it.

Answer
Hello Joshua,

There are many potential circumstances that could make your Nepenthes fail to pitcher.

Since it is a tropical plant, so long as it gets enough light, it should continue pitchering all times of the year. Nepenthes, like all carnivorous plants, need a tremendous amount of light, much more than your typical houseplant... like an ivy. My first inclination is to think that the plant is getting too little light since it has produced pitchers, or a pitcher, before and is simply not doing so anymore. Make sure the plant is in a sunny window where it gets plenty of morning sun and plenty of strong light the rest of the day. Alternatively, you can place it in a south facing window where it will get strong sun most of the day. I also supplement my south window light with 12000 lumens of florescent light at least 5-8 inches from the leaves since my south window is a bit narrow. Such lighting is cheap and energy efficient. I typically use two twin mount shop lights that utilize the 40 watt T-12 tubes. I use cool white or true daylight types of lighting. Nepenthes are listed as partial sun plants. They would mostly suffer a bit of leaf burn in direct sun all day outside, however; they do like a few hours of direct sun in the morning and evening and some slight shading in the noon like they get in the wild where they grow under trees. Window light is not direct sun since the window glass refracts some of the light and the plant cannot get light from all sides like it could outside.

Other possible problems would be moving a plant from one climate to another quickly. If the Nepenthes were moved from one place where it received a higher level of humidity to a place where it suddenly received a much lower humidity, it would allow all its pitchers to die off and fail to produce more for several weeks or even months until the plant adapted to lower humidity. Most Nepenthes can adapt readily to low humidity if given a slow period of adjustment in stages over several weeks under a clear plastic bag that is removed gradually.

Nepenthes need a lot of Nitrogen to generate pitchers. That nitrogen is derived from insects that they catch. When Nepenthes fail to pitcher for too long they are unable to get enough nitrogen to pitcher... creating a vicious cycle of fertilizer starvation. Since fertilizing the roots of carnivorous plants is generally a bad idea, you can use a weak water soluble foliar orchid feed in about 1/4 strength once every couple weeks to once a month at most by spraying or wiping the top and bottom sides of the leaves lightly. Too much will burn the leaves, so moderation is the watchword. That fertilizing will help kick start the pitcher making process if all other considerations, like good lighting and humidity adaptation, have been met. Once the plant makes more pitchers you can stop fertilizing it artificially and just let it catch insects.

Check to ensure that there are no pests chewing up the tendrils and young pitcher buds before they develop. Aphids love new leaf materials as they are tender. Make sure no chemicals or strong fertilizers have been used on or near the plant as they could have gotten on the leaves and damaged the tendrils, halting pitcher production. Pyrethrines, Neem oil, sulfur products and weak fertilizers are fine. Copper based products and strong fertilizers can harm the leaves and I would be wary of some household chemicals in general.

In all, it sounds like light starvation for now unless you find pests or some other problem. Give the plant more light and fertilize it a little as I directed above until it makes new pitchers. In general, Nepenthes do not need artificial fertilizing unless they simply have no pitchers for many months. They usually capture at least few insects and we humans typically love to feed them the odd fly or ant every once in a while that they get plenty of fetilizer the natural way.

Christopher