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cindyinmaine

Etiolated nepenthe (of unknown species)

cindyinmaine
16 years ago

I unfortunately don't know what I have here... it's a pretty big pitcher plant that I got about three years ago. It had large (9" or 10") pitchers at the time but has never grown new ones.

I know I can't make it truly happy since I don't know what it is, but my question now is - it has grown much less 'bushy' than it was, and now overhangs its pot. Does it seem advisable to cut it in any way? It used to have 5 or 6 stems, and now has only two woody ones, a lot of leaves and no pitchers.

It has been living in a small indoor greenhouse, where it gets rather limited light (no direct sun) and I keep it moderately wet with distilled water.

Thanks for any thoughts...

:/

Cindy

Comments (3)

  • hunterkiller03
    16 years ago

    I could advice to post a picture of the leaves, even if it doesn't have its urns, sometime that might help ID the plant. Where did you bought the plants, was it at Lowes, Home Depot, or from a nursery.

    But one mistake I read is that it gets limited light. It suppose to recieve bright filtered light for at minimum of 8 hours. If its in the shade most of the time, that's one reason it nevers develop its urns.

    That's why the plants sold @ Lowes and Home Depot are stringy and dying from lack of light. They keep them in the shade.

    To my experience I don't recommend cutting them becuase when I did that to my 1st nep when it was growing weakly, I killed it.

    For now, I recommend increasing the light by putting your indoor greenhouse next to a window that receives many hours of sunlight... if it's possible. But you have to check that it doesn't overheat you greenhouse by opening any vents if it has any.

  • petiolaris
    16 years ago

    Generally speaking, Neps need a good 12 hours of light per day, since they are essentially equatorial. I would recommend fluorescent light over it.

    How deep is your growing vessel? A plant that old probably needs some room to expand its roots.

    What media are you using? Neps do best in what is referred to as an "airly mix" and many use a combination of Perlite and orchid bark, along with peat, sand, LFS,..

    What temperature is it in. Depending upon the species, it may be too cold for it.

    If you get us a picture, maybe we can determine what you have. If it came from Home Depot or Lowes, it is likely to be an N. ventrata, which is a pretty tolerant cultivar.

  • mutant_hybrid
    16 years ago

    Yeah, I also would advise repotting the plant in new mix, I find coconut husk, peat, and orchid bark in 1/1/1 mix to be good, and get it into a larger pot if needed. Make sure that it gets plenty of drainage and no water tray under the pot to reduce the chance of root rot. They like their soil moist, but never too wet.

    More light, as Hunterkiller advised, and possibly a light foliar feed of orchid fertilizer in a 1/4 or less dilution might perk the plant up. Once it starts making pitchers again, stop fertilizing if you decide to try it... I never fertilize mine. My Nepenthes do best under 12000 lumens of florescent light for 16 hours a day all year long. I have them in a south facing window with a single 100 watt florescent compact on then and they are doing O. K. for now. I expect them to do better once spring photoperiod fully arrives.

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