Question
QUESTION: I have had my nepenthes for about 6 months and it has been growing like crazy, each of the leaves are bigger than the next and the pitchers as well.... until recently that is. I noticed it about 2 pitchers ago, they are 1/10th the pitcher size as before but the leaves its producing are still getting bigger and bigger, glossy, hardy, green and beautiful. I moved to a new apt almost 2 months ago but it has grown large pitchers since i moved so i don't think its the new location. I use a diluted orchid fertilizer every 4th watering to avoid over fertilizing. It has sent up 2 new plants so i now have 4 in total in the same pot all growing well. Since the small pitchers are from leaf growth prior to it living with me i thought it could be due to the conditions at the store from when those leaves were produced. Is it possible that the conditions at the store were bad enough that when those leaves and pitchers were just underdeveloped? Could it be crowded now that it has 4 shoots in 1 pot? Its sitting in a NW window but the window is MASSIVE (9'3"x 8'). Do you think its getting enough light?

ANSWER: Hello Jessica,

Nepenthes pitchers are affected by a number of things. From my understanding of your situation, you have bought a Nepenthes that had small pitchers and now the plant is growing large pitchers in your new location.

Light: Too little light will keep the plant from expending energy pitchering. If the window you have the plant in is getting good bright light all day, with some direct window sun for about 4-6 hours in the morning, it should be fine. A NW window only gets indirect sun most of the day except in the evening according to location... so it would be up to you to judge your own light source. I have mine in rather small south windows where they get several hours of morning to noon sun and ambient light for most of the day, but that is not enough, so I supplement with 12000 lumens of florescent lights 4-8 inches over the plants. If the plant is making larger pitchers than before in that NW window, leave it there and let it grow even bigger.

Humidity: If a Nepenthes is placed in low humidity after having been in high humidity it will stop pitchering for several weeks.

Fertilizer: A Nepenthes that gets little nutrients from catching insects will stop pitchering. Similarly, carnivorous plants that get too much artificial fertilizer can suffer from leaf and root damage, even causing damage to their pitchers or causing the plant to give up pitchering. Best bet is to let the plant fertilize itself by catching insects the safe way. I never fertilize mine; that way I know when they have received enough light and nitrogen from captured prey. If in doubt, I just drop a small insect in a well developed pitcher every few weeks and let the plant handle the rest. It is fine to artificially fertilize them, just with extremely dilute solutions down to 1/4 or even 1/8 strength foliar feed every 2-4 weeks. It sounds like you are doing that, so it should not be too much fertilizer unless something is amiss. Only lightly spray or wipe each leaf top and bottom when you fertilize.

Copper: Sarracenia Northwest indicated that copper, found in some fungicides, is harmful to most carnivorous plants. Nepenthes exposed to copper produce smaller pitchers and even stop pitchering.

It sounds to me like your Nepenthes is producing new shoots from its vine base. Those are not really new plants by themselves unless they produce roots seperate from the parent vine. A single Nepenthes vine can produce many shoots in its lifetime in all directions. Those new vines will make small pitchers at first and progressively grow bigger ones as the shoots get to adult size in a few months to a year. I have a Nepenthes producing 9 inch pitchers that has two new shoots that started tiny pitchers only an inch tall. They are now producing pitchers up to 4 inches tall and getting bigger each time only 6 months later. Are those tiny pitchers your seeing on the new vines or on the parent vine?

You might be correct if the parent vine had tiny pitchers in the store and is now growing large pitchers in your new apartment. Stores generally do not know how to care for carnivorous plants and tend to give them too little light and expose them to tap water and chemicals they do not like. I tend to buy from specialist growers so that I get healthy plants from the start though saving plants from the store is a noble goal.

I hope this information helps you out,

Christopher

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

QUESTION: Thank you. I am going to try supplemental lighting and have been planning on doing that with a few of my plants. Should i be getting a UVA light or a light that offers both UVA and UVB? The small pitchers are coming from the 2 main shoots not the new ones. I feed the pitchers once a month with chopped up crickets (i have a couple lizards so large crickets are always available) The plant still has some of the larger pitchers on it and has not stopped pitchering all together just the last 3 have been much much smaller. I'll keep my eye out and make sure the leaves it has grown since being at the new place don't produce small pitchers.

Answer
Hello Jessica,

I misunderstood your first query about smaller pitchers then. If the newest pitchers are getting smaller on the parent vines then I would suggest getting more light, especially since you are giving the plant more than enough nitrogen. I would just stop fertilizing the plant and continue giving it crickets every couple weeks. A 12000 lumens set of 40 watt florescent shop light tubes of the cool white variety is the correct type since plants need a full spectrum of light for proper development. UVA and UVB would be the least concern if you have a window and florescent lights. Nothing special is needed, just more white, all spectrum light from plain florescent tubes... the cheap stuff really. I set up two twin tube 40 watt shop lights side by side with a light timer on 16 hours a day over my Nepenthes for less than 30 dollars. Florescent lighting is very efficient so you will not see much of a difference even on your power bill.

Christopher