Question
Hi Jacob and Jeff,

I purchased an N. Truncata from you guys about 4 yrs. ago (along with a bunch of other CPs). When I recieved the plant it had a scratch on the one pitcher that was on it and a couple weeks after having it on my windowsill the pitcher turned brown (radiating out from the scratch)..also the leaves on the plant had red spots all over them...However, the leaf redness soon went away as new leaves were produced and new pitchers continued to form getting progressivly larger in size with each new one...the only problem is that everytime a new pitcher starts to grow the existing potcher on the plant turns brown (starting at the pitcher hood)...the plant has never been able to have more than one active pitcher on it at a time.
What do you think is causing this to happen?
I live in Philadelphia, PA and grow the plant on a windowsill (which it has sat on for the past 4yrs.) the temp. is approx. 68F (prob. a little colder in the winter)...the leaves don't turn brown on the plant...just the pitchers. the plant gets about 6hrs of light each day and I have it in a 5 inch inch pot.

have you ever heard of anything like this happening?
-it seems to me that it doesn't make sense for the plant to waste that much energy and time making new pitchers if they are only going to last until the next one starts to develop..but then again if I were plant that had a virus/fungus or were in poor temp.,light,humidity conditions  I wouldn't make new pitchers...so i'm really confused.

Thanks for the help,
Justin

Answer
Hi Justin,

Take a deep breath, make a cup of your favorite tea, give your plant a little water, and relax.  This growth pattern is very normal for Nepenthes truncata.  They don't tend to be like many of the other Nepenthes, such as sanguinea for instance, that just produces pitchers left and right.

We have two 10 year old lowland plants in the greenhouse that do almost exactly what you are describing.  Sometimes in the summer we will get two pitchers at a time, but never more than that, and these plants have about a 2 1/2 foot leaf span.

Try feeding the plant more when it has a pitcher.  Don't fertilize, but give it insects.  This may help boost it growth some.

As I recall, many of the giant Nepenthes varieties can grow like this.  Most photos of N. rajah I've seen have only a pitcher or two open for business.  When we visited Sam Estes in Hawaii his monster N. merrilliana only had one big pitcher open.


Good Growing!

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