Question
Hi! I've just rescued a sad looking n. ventrata from a grocery store. Unfortunately, I have no acceptable windows. I do have a nice spot over the kitchen sink that has a flourescent light fixture. I rigged the hanging basket to sit 6in from the light. What would be the appropriate watts for optimum growth? Would the plant be happy in this spot if it received 14hrs of light a day? I moved him to a larger pot and just potted him in long fiber sphagnum moss around the existing soil. Thanx for your help!:) emily

Answer
Hello Emily,

Thank you for rescuing that poor plant. If you are looking to use artificial light I would suggest placing it in whatever window you have for the added boost of real light the window provides. As the Nepenthes gets larger it will need that added light. They will not need full sun, but they like a lot of light as compared to an ivy for instance.

As for artificial light, I use four 40 watt florescent shop light tubes of the cool white variety. The four foot long tubes that mount in the twin shop light fixtures gives the best bang for the buck and burn cooler than the small compact florescent bulbs. Four would give you 12000 lumens of light. 4-8 inches distance from the plant at 14-16 hours a day would be just right. My four foot N. sanguinea appreciates that light and sits in a south facing window where it receives partial sun for 4-6 hours a day. I use those shop lights with a Christmas tree light timer so I really do not have to remember anything except the watering every couple days. So long as your plant is producing pitchers with lids and coloration it is getting enough light. If the pitchering stalls despite older pitchers remaining for several months or if the coloration pales on the new pitchers you have insufficient light.

Christopher