Question
Hi,
I currently own a pair of n.ventricosa who are currently about three months
old and growing lots of pitchers with large three inch long leaves at the top.
The pitchers are green and reddish.

My question is about the older and smaller leaves near the bottom of the
plant. They are about an inch long and they have begun to turn yellow with
the edges blackening. Is this normal? The newer leaves are green and waxy
with the center a little bit red on the stem.

My other question is concerning the water I give my plant. I've stored up
some rainwater from the past and only used that for the past month or so.
The worrying thing is that there are a small among of hard white deposits on
the topsoil which I interpret as salt deposits. Could this be related to the
leave issue? Should I stop using rainwater? What is appropriate to substitute
it?
Also, as winter is fast approaching, could melted snow be used as a source
of water?  

Answer
Hi Kelvin,

The appearance of your N. ventricosa is very normal.  The older leaves will die like that leaving a woody stem.  From your description, your plants sound very healthy.

I'm not totally sure what the deposits are, but it really couldn't be from the rainwater.  Rainwater only contains tiny traces of anything, and it certainly wouldn't contain calcium or magnesium which is what forms hard water deposits.  It could be something already in the soil.  The rainwater is fine.  Melted snow is essentially the same thing, so it's fine also.

On a side note, Nepenthes are the least sensitive of carnivorous plants to hard water.  Depending on where you live, tap water can be just fine for them.


Good Growing!

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