It probably does not have enough light or humidity. It needs a lot of both. Also, try spraying it with a foliar feeding of a weakened solution of superthrive. It takes a lot of energy for them to produce the pichers. If there is any pitchers at all you can feed it a bug. If you have a bathroom window, maybe, that is facing a direction that gets a lot of sunlight, that would be good until you get a light. When you get a light, and someone can correct me if I am wrong, but get a flourescent light. good luck with the plant!

Kristi

These plants love it warm & wet, also a large pot size helps ( at least 6 inch).

Is it planted in the marbles or in a pot sitting on the marbles? An occasional feeding every two to three weeks can help (Koi pellets, crickets, other bugs), or a weak foliar feeding. I use a pinch of soluble orchid fertilizer in a spray mist bottle.

Take a look over in the orchid forums and search for the post, Orchardariums Anyone? I posted about my setup and uploaded a couple of pics there with my large bical.

Bill

Thanks for the help, guys. The plant arrived with one pitcher about 3/4 of an inch long. It has fallen off a long time ago. I did buy orchid fertilizer already & spray it on the leaves (it is on top of the marbles, not sitting in the water), but I can't tell it's helped except for the new leaf. Hmmmmm. I'm thinking about one of those 5 gallon fishtank setups with the light already attatched to the lid, don't know....don't these guys want to get pretty big? I'm going to order some superthrive for sure. :0)

Whenever I have a house fly buzzing around I will swat it and then drop it over into a pitcher of my plant. Of course if I have guests I will refrain, they probably already think I'm weird enough! I am having problems getting three baby seedling nepenthes to thrive. They are ventricosa, rallfesiana, and truncata. They arrived bare root, dry, and they are so tiny. They are just a few tiny leaves, no pitchers. I have them in pots sitting over in my terrarium right now so they can take advantage of the temp and humidity and grow light, but I'm not sure they are going to make it. :(

Fertilizer isn't really neccessary. It just seems that you're not giving the plant enough light. If you want to with artificial lights, you can pick up some compact flourescent bulbs at your local Home Depot or Lowe's. Make sure they're equivalent to 100 watts (they'll usually use about 23 total watts a piece). A couple of those placed over your plant will do wonders for it. If you need something to screw the lights into, you can pick up a couple cheap clamp-on lights at Home Depot or Lowe's. They'll run you about 5 bucks a piece.

don't these guys want to get pretty big?

Yes, Nepenthes bicalcarata is one of the largest Nepenthes species. A nice mature plant can have leaves about two feet long.

Better have a hot house ready or a Very big custom Tank! and keeping it trimmed will promote bushy growth wich allways looks cool! Bicalacrata is the one with the two fangs up on the top of the pitcher?

Well, I got an aquarium for Christmas with a built-in light on top....but it's incandescent (sp?)...now I'm wondering if there's a fluorescent bulb that will fit in the same spot. Hmmmmmmmm :0) It's 5 inches long & screws in......um, that sounded bad.....haha, you know what I mean. :0)

The only thing I found so far was a "broad-spectrum" reptile light with the highest wattage of 40. I don't think that will cut it.

I'm with LLeopardGGecko on this one too. Fertilizing isn't necessary, and it is even more the case for you at this time. I'd worry about getting the growing conditions right first, and then think about fertizlizer. I never fertilize my neps though...lots of silly little bugs seem to work very hard at falling in the pitchers for me! ;)

Akheadbanger is alos correct, this plant will get huge when it is big enough. I've attached a link to a picture of my large nep chamber which can be made (complete with airpump and airstones for humidity) for around $60. This would work for your plant for a little while.

Here is a link that might be useful: Photo of Large Nep Terrarium

With joeb here too
get the conditions right first off.
These plants are not as "easy" as a nep Alata or Ventricosa (which is Highland firstly) but they want higher humidity and dont like sudden drops in this or temp.
Compact fluoresent is a cheap and good way to go, go look for a "soft white" compact fluoresent light, say a 20watt and above would be nice.
If you have a fishtank setup, then 4 foot tubes of soft white fluoresent tubes are good (get the 40 watt tubes, you get them at any store)

Anyhow, like they said, this plant once happy grows quite fast for a Nep and she gets BEEEG very BEEG, so expect to have to upsize your terrarium as the growth progresses.
Once the plant has started growth and all is looking happy, a monthly or biweekly foliar feed is fine, especially if yourplant does not get much inset action and you want to compensate for this.
But just like any CP, they dont ever need insects, they are just like regular plants that make sugars via photosynthesis, all you need to provide for that is water, carbon dioxide and light, the plant will do the rest.
Also be aware that unlike a Sundew or VFT, these plants dont like having their "feet wet", so sitting them in water is not a good idea, they thus also want and enjoy a well draining soil mix.
Something like 2 parts Perlite, 1 Part Sphagnum Peat should be fine for a cheap and easy mix.

Cheers n good luck

Sheldon

I do have a fluorescent light on it! It's 23 watts, I believe. And still no pitchers after all this time? It's always warm in the house, warm enough to wear shorts in the winter. Also, the glass globe is covered, so there's plenty of humid. Whaddaya say now, fellas? I got some Superthrive & I ain't afraid to use it, haha.

I dont think Superthrive is the answer at this point. The plant isn't happy about something. I've never known Neps not to pitcher because of lack of nutrients...in fact; I would say that because of the potential size and growth of your plant, you would do well to never fertizlize it. You will not benefit from a fast growing bilcal given the limited space you currently have available!

Good luck though!

I purchased my Bical as a small cutting back in 2006 from California Carnivores and it came in a small pot and had only one or two small pitchers. I put it on a rack indoors facing a moderate South East sun and she seemed to thrive. I re-potted her last year into an 8-inch pot with a 1:1:1 ratio of peat moss, perlite, and long fibred sphagnum moss and water her every three or four days with reverse osmosis water. I feed her freeze-dried bloodworms, twice a month, mist her two or three times daily and I wish I could send a photo of her. She now has two-foot leaves, several pitchers that would fill a manÂs palm, and when the big drops of nectar glisten off her fangs, sheÂs a frightening sight for anyone who has never seen one before. I donÂt think she would do well in a terrarium for two reasons; first, 40-watt fluorescent lights just cannot do what pure sunlight can for these plants, and she would soon outgrow even a 55-gallon fish-tank-terrarium; I have one and I tried it. Others will disagree, IÂm sure, I am no authority by any stretch of the imagination.

Good luck and good growing;
Gary

It would be best if you could post a pic of the setup you have Hapslappy. Either way, superthrive definitely won't do anything because it isn't even a fertilizer. It's just a bunch of vitamins and for the most part, snake-oil (empty promises). You can gauge its effectiveness by looking at all the promises made on the bottle. Anyway, as a lowlander, Bicalcaratas like it hot and humid... not just warm with raised humidity. Keep in mind also, that as the temperature rises, the humidity has a tendency to drop so it is important that you provide enough moisture for evaporation.

Most fertilizers and superthrive (not a fert.), do not do much of anything when sprayed on the leaves of Nepenthes. This is because Nepenthes have very thick and waxy leaves and do not readily absorb things via a foliar method. It is best to directly feed a pitcher, which is actually the leaf of the plant anyway (a highly evolved modified leaf). Because you do not have pitchers yet, I would not worry about it.

What kind of water do you feed your plant? How long is the light set to go on? Is the fluorescent light supplemented by sunlight? How covered is the tank your growing in? (remember Neps do like air circulation). How wet do you keep the soil, and how often do you water? What kind of soil are you using?

All in all I would suggest reading and posting on a Carnivorous plant specific forum for more detailed answers. Try googling "Terra Forums" as one word (no space in between). There are definitely other more advanced forums, but that is a good one with some solid advice and very newby friendly. Good luck :).

Congrats Gary! It sounds wonderfully terrifying.

I just recently moved one of mine out of the tank and into one of those garden center patio "greenhouses" with the zipped cover. I have it at the east window and it hasn't shown any signs of freaking out in the last 2 weeks. It is used to lower temps since there was no heater in the tank but the humidity is nice and high in there. I don't mind a slower growing plant, as long as it is healthy. It'll eventually have to come out of there but I figure that I can gradually acclimate it to the room temps by unzipping the cover over time.

I'd love to see pics of this beast!

This topic is 2.5 years old, right?