Looks like Miranda. I leave my pitchers until the "stem" holding them to the "leaf" is dry enough to snap. Just a personal preference, but as long as you leave the leaf, to perform photosynthesis, which it looks like you did, you should be set. Wait till the pitchers mature. All the hairs etxend and in bright light exude honeydew and make a ladder of death leading right up to the slippery lip!

I agree... Miranda.

Here is a link that might be useful: Aracknight's Deadly Delights

Your plant is likely suffering from a bit of shipping shock and Nepenthes can remain in a funk for weeks, until it adjust. Hopefully yours will exhibit new growth soon. With carnivorous plants in a collection it is best to remove dead material. Anything green or red has life in it and is photosynthesizing. Just find a sunny place for it and let it be. Water once or twice a week.

Thank you all for the quick responses. Compared to the ventricosa, I had originally decided to get, how difficult is a Miranda to grow?
Thank you again for ID'ing my Nep:-)

I purchased mine from a nurcery and I love it it need some prunning done (thats why i'm here) i'm going to try and put a pic up of mine. (not sure how) I do know mine does not like it outdoors on my porch he gets all droppy and stuff, He'd mush rather be indoors with the air and fan blowing around him.I only water him every 2 to 3 days with distaiiled water(let it flow threw) and I feed him freeze dried blood worms (found in pet store) and I make sure that all pictures are alittle filled up with distilled water (just a little) Exspeacialy if there dried. I love my little guy (well not so little!)

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:552077}}

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m298/turtle394/111647.jpg
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m298/turtle394/111615.jpg
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m298/turtle394/111554.jpg
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m298/turtle394/111343.jpg

I'm going to try and post some more pics.

Here is a link that might be useful: garden web

reed394,

You really do not have to put distilled water in the pitchers. The plant makes it's own digestive fluid and water just messes up it's ability to digest it's meal. The pitchers do have lids on them to keep water out when it rains, so why put water inside the pitchers? The only pitcher plants that allow rain water inside are the Purple Pitchers and the Heliamphora along with only a couple of Nepenthes species. Any pitcher with a lid over it does not need water poured inside it. If your worried about humidity, just mist the plant on occasion and place it near other plants that have large open trays of water to increase ambient humidity.

I was told by the nurcery people to make sure they had water in them . I asumed that they know what there talking about. So I have been putting a little bit of water when there dry in side the pictures. They told me that it Helps replemish liquid in the picture and would help digest the food. It doesn't seem to be hurting mine at all.

reed394,

That is odd, there is nobody in the mountains of Kinabalu or Borneo putting water in the pitchers of Nepenthes that grow naturally out there. Which nursery told you that? Hardware store nurseries often come up with all kinds of weird ideas that are not necessary to do for carnivorous plants (like fertilizing them) if that is the nursery you got it from.

Putting water in the pitchers of Nepenthes does not help the plant do anything except maybe keep it's pitchers from drying out in a low humidity environment. If the Nepenthes is healthy, adapted to your environment, and given adequate light, it will make plenty of nectar and fluid in it's pitchers. No amount of distilled water in it's pitchers will help it make more fluid, it just is not part of the way Nepenthes pitchers work. If you will notice, when the pitchers are still closed and beginning to swell, they produce drops of fluid along the sides that can be seen in backlighting. Eventually this fluid should collect in the bottom 1/4 to 1/3 of the pitcher before it even opens. If it does not do this, the plant needs something in it's environment, probably more light, to help it make more fluid.

You can barely see the darker area in these pitchers where the fluid and insects have built up in the bottom.

{{gwi:552085}}

I also have Nepenthes. I have never placed water in their pitchers and never have fertilized them. They are growing like crazy, catching insects like crazy, and producing too much nectar and enough fluid in their pitchers to digest insects with. It's pitchers last for over 5 months with only one misting of water per morning. If I put water in their pitchers, all that would happen is that the insects would rot rather than digest since the pitchers produce their own preservatives, Benzoic acid, to keep bacterial action down while the endopeptidase and chitinase enzymes break down the insect.

This fly is contemplating suicide.

{{gwi:552087}}

This closeup shows how insects recently caught do not float in Nepenthes fluid as they would in water. They sink within minutes or seconds, drowning faster.

{{gwi:552089}}

You can do as you like but it seems like an awful lot more work than is necessary to just slow down the plants ability to digest insects.

You can conduct an experiment is you like. Get a spray bottle full of distilled water and put it on heavy spray. Spray it directly over the plant like rain and see if the water goes in the pitchers or runs off the lid. If the water is channelled into the pitcher by the lid or hood, then the pitcher uses rain water to drown insects and bacterial action to aid in digesting them. If not, the plant uses it's own fluids to drown and digest insects, then a little bacterial action afterward to complete the breakdown of prey without water.

As I say, you can do as you like, but I just like to uncover myths about carnivorous plants wher I recognize them so that people can start growing them more easily.

The water in the pitchers will not harm the plant, but it really is not doing any actual good either. They should not go dry inside the pitchers at all. Maybe you should try to leave one pitcher with no water and see what happens over the course of a week or two. I will bet it will begin replenishing it's own pitcher fluid with no water. Just mist it's leaves and pitchers on the outside to keep humidity up. What is probably happening is that the pitchers go dry because they are trying to get rid of the water so that they can make their own fluid.

Yeah, it looks just like the mirandas I've seen.

Nursery folks are known for having no freakin' idea of what to do, so listen to those on here. Water in the pitchers may be good if you spill the fluid out of them so that they don't dry out, but there's no point in diluting what is in there.

I bought some veggies at a nursery and a VFT and D graminifolia and the guy ringing me up told me that "the carnivors like humidity so make sure that you have a tank or something for them". I don't think so.

O.K. I get it. Thanks for the info. I will pass it along. But I do need to know something. They also told me NOT to cut the dried up picture off, Theres a couple of picture that are brown and died, HOWEVER the bottoms of them and the vine are very much green (maybe about 2 inches) are green and still alive. Do I cut them off? and if so were? They told me (nursery) to cut it were the leaf and vine connect, And to put it in the pot with the roots and soil (if I had to cut them off) ??????? I thought if you cut dead stuff of plants you just throw them away, You don't put it back in the plant. Also what is a good solution for the tops of the pictures drying up, but the picture is not. And is neem oil good for pest eating the leaves? Thanks for all your help.

Hello reed394,

The pitchers will slowly die back until it is brown to the tendril. Just leave it alone so that it can absorb all the nutrients from dead insects and then it will die completely. When it is all brown, you can clip it off at the tendril just before the leaf and the leaf will remain green for months after.

The dead pitcher will just dry up and you should throw it away after it has completely turned brown.

It sounds like the plant needs to be adapted to low humidity. What sounds like is happening is that the pitchers are remaining green only on the bottom because of the water your putting in the pitchers, but dry up at the top due to low humidity. That is the problem with putting water in them, you can't easily tell what the symptoms are for low humidity. You can mist the plant more times each day and maybe try to set up a clear plastic cover to trap some humidity. That will raise the humidity around the plant so that you can slowly adapt it to your home. Just punch about 6-8 1/4 inch holes in the plastic every three days and keep that up until the plastic looks like it does not hold humidity any more, then take it off after 2 weeks or so. Another thing the plant might need is more light. A good morning sun or all day sun window or some strong florescent lights would help. Try 12000 lumens of florescent light 5-6 inches from the top of the plant if you use artificial light. If you go with the window, make sure the plant gets good strong, but indirect, sunlight all day long. It needs light to make pitchers and fluid, but full sun might be too strong outside.

You moved the plant around from outside to inside, so now it will take time to adapt and get used to the change in conditions. Nepenthes do not like to be moved around too much and can stop pitchering when you change it's humidity, temperature, or light levels too much all at once. Once you have it in a good situation, just leave it alone and let it get used to the area.

jabby77: Nepenthes miranda is about as easy to grow as ventricosa. It is a hybrid that does well in most household conditions so long as you give it time to adapt.

Just wanted to add my two cents. I have a miranda and once I spilled out the fluid accidentally when watering. I put some water in the pitcher and then an insect. Checked it a couple of weeks later and there was MOLD! on the surface of the water. Obviously, the pitcher did NOT like that! lol Anyway, I dumped out the water and it did eventually start producing it's own fluids again. It's still hanging in there, too... the pitchers at least 3 months old. Goodluck!

sakmeht:

Yeah, the Nepenthes fluids they naturally produce also kill mold in the pitcher. Water allows the insect to float too long and mold grows on the unsubmerged portions.