Question
Hello,

Today i just stumbled upon your Carnivorous plant website, i am really impressed on the amazing variety. My question is what are the most important things to do to grow a Judith Hindle i am planning on buying indoors, for I am stuck in a apartment! any suggestions?

Thank you for your time, and keep those beautiful Plants coming.

Answer
The Judith Hindle pitcher plant is really an outdoor plant, so you'll have best results growing it outside in full sun.  The problem with indoor growing is that you just don't get sufficient sunlight to see the full potential of this plant.  As a general guideline, if you can successfully grow a tomato plant indoors, then you have sufficient lighting to grow any of the North American pitcher plants and flytraps.  

We recently did an experiment in which we grew two Judith Hindle plants of the same age.  One we kept in a very sunny south window and the other we kept exclusively outdoors in full sun.  We kept each plant in their respective location for 18 months.  In the end, the one that we grew outdoors had deep red colors and looked very healthy.  The one we grew indoors didn't have any red.  It's leaves were green and slightly lanky.  

We also did the same with a red dragon flytrap and a sweet pitcher plant.  The flytrap was dead in 18 months.  The sweet pitcher had tall green lanky pitchers that showed none of the beautiful subtle colors of the other sweet pitcher we grew outside.  We photographed the plants and will feature them in the second edition of our e-book.

So I really can't provide much advice other than giving your plant as much sunlight as possible.  Ideally it should get 6 or more hours of direct sunlight to bring out its beautiful red colors.  Otherwise the plant will be green, and its pitchers will be tall and thin.  For this reason, we are strong advocates of growing North American plants outdoors.  If we can't make them look beautiful indoors, we certainly can't expect our customers to do so either.

Since you live in an apartment, I strongly suggest growing Asian pitcher plants.  These are tropical plants that grow better in slightly lower light conditions than temperate plants like Judith Hindle.  There are many varieties of Asian pitcher plants, and you can find them in the tropical plant section of our website.

I also recommend to use the "Best Plants For You" feature on our website.  Just answer a few questions about your growing conditions, and you will receive a list of plants best suited for your apartment.

For more information about growing tropical carnivorous plants, read our care sheets online:
http://www.cobraplant.com/caresheets

Good growing!
Jacob Farin