Repotting nepenthes

[lee1dew]

Hello,

I have an N. ventricosa and N. sanguinea I'd like to repot. They are currently in the soil mix I purchased them in, which I believe is peat/perlite/vermiculite, and would like to switch to pure LFS for simplicity. Would switching media have any adverse effects on the plant? I've heard that the roots are very delicate and that any disturbance could put the plants into distress, so any tips on minimizing the damage? I've repotted VFTs and Sarracenia before without any problems, but Nepenthes worry me a bit.

Thanks!

 

[Goofzilla]

I recently got a N. saguinea from a local nursery, & I immediatly repotted it into pure LFS. It's been almost a week, and it seems to be doing fine!

 

[jimscott]

Unless the plants are in trouble, the mix they are in is a good one and I see no urgent reason to repot them. Neps are in a strong growth mode right now and the potential of shocking them or at least slowing them down is possible. They could easily stop pitchering. Worst case scenario is that they will react for several weeks.

 

[fc3srx713b]

i repot quite often with no ill effect...

 

[LLeopardGGecko]

Quote[/b] (fc3srx713b @ May 17 2006,9:30)]i repot quite often with no ill effect...

Yeah, me too. I think it really depends on the particular plant. Most of my Neps go on growing like nothing happened, but I have repotted a few that hate me for it. They'll go into what I like to call "Freeze Mode" for a few weeks to a few months, where they literally freeze and stop growing.

This happened to one of my N. hamatas. I accidently uprooted it when I was unpacking it from the mail but I didn't damage any roots. I quickly potted it back up, but it hasn't grown any since I received it. That was on 4/28/06!

Compare this to when I repotted my giant Home Depot Nep. I put it in completely new soil and even changed its conditions. That thing didn't skip a beat! Pitcher after pitcher after pitcher after pitcher...

 

[glider14]

geeze i wish my 3 were like that! Ventrata(no pitcher since November!) Ventricosa(small)(was pitchering at a nursery with low humidity so i thot it would do ok....still hasnt) but my TC mutant is coming up with about 3 new ones!! cant wait even if they are mutants...
alex

 

[chloroplast]

It's a judgement call.  If the plants are from a good grower and are already potted in a decent mix, there's no need to repot immediately unless you feel the mix is not appropriate for the conditions you will be offering the plant.

If the mix is inappropriate, I would repot soon.  If the mix is decent but you feel another mix would be better, I'd wait a few weeks before repotting to give the plant time to adjust to it's new home.

When unpotting the plant, if the mix is easily removed from the roots, you can remove most of it then put the plant into its new mix--I wouldn't try washing all the old mix off with water because this can damage the small feeder roots which are responsible for satisfying most of the plant's water/nutrient needs.  (Many of the large roots you see are simply "pipes" that transport the water collected by tiny feeder roots to the plant.)

If the roots are not easily separated from the old mix, just remove a bit and stick the plant into a slightly larger (~2" larger diameter) pot. The roots will soon grow into the new mix.

That said, everyone has their own philosophy/methodology for dealing with the issue of repotting.  What I've said has worked well for me.

Good luck.

PS: Be aware that different plants react differently to being repotted. For example, many utrics can be repotted several times in a year with absolutely no harm, but repotting a drosophyllum is much riskier. The same holds true for different species within a genus.

 

[lee1dew]

Thanks for the replies. I've had the plants for a few months and they're growing fairly quickly, so maybe I'll leave the repotting for later. I've been thinking that making a peat/perlite/vermiculite mix is not hard, so maybe it's better to just take out the entire potted ball and put it in a bigger pot with the same media. How many years do you think the original soil will last before I need to remove it and disturb the roots?