Question
Hi guys,
I recently recieved a small (3" leaf span) nepenthes bicalcarata in the mail and it was in pretty bad shape when I got it with torn leaves and only one new leaf growing that was undamaged and as of right now I have it in a terrium with a humidifier, an undertank heater which brought the temp in the terrium up to 75 degrees F and a reptile basking light on top that has an incadescent bulb that claims to have the high UV rays that reptiles need and it also brought the temp in the terrium up to 85 which is ideal for bical so I've heard, but I was wondering if the high temp or the proper light spectrum is more important because I know that I grow all my other Neps as houseplants under a flourescent full-spectrum shoplight and so I was wondering if the current setup with the reptile light is good or if I should swith to a compact flourescent grow light and sacrifice some of the high temp that the basking light provided.  I noticed that the cooler temp of 75 also allowed for higher humidity climbing near 90 percent when the incadescent is off and about 80 percent when the light is on.  The plant is in pretty poor shape and I was wondering if you have any suggestions on how to get it growing good again. Also it came potted in a tiny 3" pot and I know that bicals need alot of root space so I was wondering if I should repot it and if so what kind of soil mix should I use.  Thanks guys, your plants from your nursery have always been in great shape when I receive them, so I thought I would ask the experts and I would greatly appreciate the information.  
-Carl

Answer
Hi Carl,

If you live in a cool climate, such as zone 8 or colder, you'll need to grow this plant in a terrarium.  There's just no way around.  This plant likes it warm and humid, and it doesn't do well if the temperatures are constantly cool.

Now the first thing you need to do is replace your light bulb.  Even those incandescent UV light bulbs are insufficient for carnivorous plants.  They're good for reptiles but not plants.  The spectrum is completely wrong.

Use a compact fluorescent bulb. The basic cool white bulbs will do just fine.  We use only cool white lights at our nursery since we haven't seen any significant benefit with full spectrum lights to justify its higher cost.

You're right that the humidity drops increases as temperature decreases.  It's OK to have the temperature at 75癋.  Your plant will grow just fine.  Besides, if you attempt to keep the temperature at 85癋, your plant will grow faster and you'll have a dilemma on hand.  What do you do with a bicalcarata that has outgrown its terrarium?

At the slightly cooler temperature, your plant will grow a bit slower, but you can keep it in the terrarium longer.

Next, repot your plant in the standard mix of peat moss and perlite (1 part of each).  We've found that this species grows best in a peat-based mix.  Naturalists who have examined the natural habitat of the bicalcarata also confirms that this species grows in a peat type of soil.  
Also repot your plant in a larger pot, such as a 4- or 5-inch pot.

Incidentally, I have one in my terrarium in my living room. It's under 80 watts of cool white fluorescent lights.  Lately, the temperature has rarely gone above 75癋 during the day.  At night, the temperature drops down to about 65癋.  So far it's been acclimating very well to these conditions.  But the keyword is acclimating.  This species takes much longer to acclimate to this type of conditions. It doesn't like large sudden changes.  So it may be possible that next summer you could remove it from your terrarium and simply grow it as a houseplant with your other Nepenthes. I'll be doing that next summer as an experiment.

Good growing!
Jacob Farin