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Lowe's Nepenthes

So, rescued one from Lowe's... The cashier felt bad for it, due to the fact that most of it was black and dead, so $5 nepenthes for me!

Was sold as a Bug Biting Plants in a deathcube. Marked Nepenthes Ventricosa, but something tells me that its not a purebreed Ventricosa.

So, I took it home, dressed it up a bit with the scissors, and got it re-potted in a Nepenthes mix in a 5" mesh pot in a fully glazed SK vessel.

Its perked up a LOT in a few days, and judging from the roots and base, it looks like a seed grown and not a cutting.

So experts, any votes as to what it is??

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Ventrata is generally what you'll find sold like that, but it's practically impossible to tell without letting it get bigger and put out more mature pitchers.
 
Ventrata is generally what you'll find sold like that, but it's practically impossible to tell without letting it get bigger and put out more mature pitchers.

I figured as much... Still, I wasn't about to let a nep go to the dumpster for $5 :p

Still, I did check BBP's website, and right now they dont have any Ventrata or Ventricost up for retail, but they do have a neat looking hybrid available, the "Ventricosa x (singalana x aristolochiodes)". Not a bad looking plant in my opinion.

vent-x-sing-x-aristo-large.jpg
 
Ventrata is generally what you'll find sold like that, but it's practically impossible to tell without letting it get bigger and put out more mature pitchers.

I figured as much... Still, I wasn't about to let a nep go to the dumpster for $5 :p

Still, I did check BBP's website, and right now they dont have any Ventrata or Ventricosa up for retail, but they do have a neat looking hybrid available, the "Ventricosa x (singalana x aristolochiodes)". Not a bad looking plant in my opinion.

vent-x-sing-x-aristo-large.jpg
 
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Does that container have a drain hole? Nepenthes do not like to constantly sit it water.
 
Does that container have a drain hole? Nepenthes do not like to constantly sit it water.

Yup! Sorta. The container is the drain hole. The plant is in a net cup, so my watering method is to take it out of its pot, top water completely, then place it back in the vessel on top of a single layer of LECA. Keeps the roots away from water and lets oxygen move freely. I think.
 
So, an update.

I've noticed that a lot of the posts here talk about successes with these delicate plants, but I'm going to take a moment to talk about my failure.

When I picked up this guy at Lowe's, it was a plant that had begun it's decline. Over 25% of the leaves were black and dead, along with a few juvenile pitchers. I tried my hardest: pruning back the dead, and getting it out of the bone-dry solid peat media it was in, into a lfs mix in a humidity controlled environment. The decline continued. The roots stopped functioning, and the pitchers, then the leaves wilted and perished. Slowly, a black ring crept up the stem, killing anything it touched. I researched and tried like hell to save it, finally following every instruction I could find to cut it into a cutting in a rooting setup just to give it any chance. But even with the rot removed, it started back again at the cut end, and consumed more of the plant. Finally, the growing tip turned black, and the little guy was gone.

I've learned a lot from this one... This is the first carnivore I've lost, and with a number of adult plants, and literally hundreds of seedlings growing, it is still sad to watch this one go down.

Thanks to all that gave their input. I think it's important to talk about failures, it helps the collective learn.
 
Thanks for sharing that. Sometimes we can do everything "perfect" and still lose a plant. I know we like to see flashy photos and colorful pitchers but that's not always the everyday reality.
 
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