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Cutting Pitchers vs Feeding Pitchers?

Nepenthesis

Formerly known as Pineapple
So I guess what I want to ask is... Is feeding pitchers going to provide more energy for plant growth than cutting the pitchers so the plant doesn't have to focus on putting out pitchers?

There's a few neps that I don't enjoy as much as I could and I think I would really enjoy the larger adult pitchers. For example, N. singalana. If I feed the pitchers a big meal, will it help them more than if I just cut the pitchers off? You know, because they're growing in nutrient poor soil and aren't getting any minerals other than bi-weekly fertilizing... So it would make sense that they would need the pitchers for extra nutrients to grow faster. However, if they didn't need the pitchers, why would they have them? We're growing them in nutrient poor soil like they live in in the wild. It makes sense both ways to me.

Thanks in advance! :)
 
Feed em, small pitchers are better than no pitchers...
 
Peat, no I'd leave them on, they are intended to make pitchers so let them alone if they are making them. If they don't or they are small and misshapen or juvenile shaped/sized when they should be larger and more colorful it will help you identify cultural problems like too low of humidity , too low of light, improper temps for the specific variety of the plant you have, etc.

If you want to move your plants forward by forcing them to grow bigger faster you can use a gentle orchid fertilizer on them, it should be Urea Free, if the label says "Nitrogen derived from Urea" (which most are) don't buy it, these are often too strong for use on Nepenthes. I use Grow More brand Urea Free Orchid Fertilizer green formula which is 20-10-20 and has all the micro nutrients as well you can order 1 pound cans of the powder (mix 1/2 teaspoon to 1 gallon of R/O water).

After begining a regimen of bi weekely fertilizing (followed by flushing a day afterwards to was away any excess nutrients) your Nepenthes will put on size much much faster than allowing for just carnivory alone. Then you will get to see your adult pitchers (and flowers) far sooner. At first the leaf size will increase in a very dramatic fashion, sometimes the first leaf after fertilizing will be twice or three times as large as the previous leaf, but the growth doesn't continue like that, it levels off. Be warned if you over fertilize your plant or the soil becomes too nutrient heavy the plant will not pitcher until it gets repotted and spends time in a "sterile" soil. So you don't want to go overboard, once or twice a month is a good target to shoot for if you want to speed up growth and overall plant health. I even use fertilizer in the pitchers instead of insects, just turn my mister to "stream" and target shoot at the open pitchers with a jet of fertilizer, more fun than playing with dead bugs! :D
 
Thanks guys!

The ones I was thinking about cutting off were really small plants, like 2" leaves and such. My signalana produces massive pictures for its small size and is continuing to pitcher through the move out to the greenhouse. It's just too small to hold anything significant to growth.

I have an ant problem in my greenhouse and about 75% of the pitchers on all of my Nepenthes have at least 20 ants in them. My spath x spath x bosch has at least a few hundred sunked in the bottom of the pitcher. So they're getting tons of ants, or at least the larger pitchers are. Things like singalana aren't getting anything to feed on more than an ant or two they they catch on their own.

I fertilize with Maxsea on a regimen that is even safe for sphagnum. It is dosed as high and it can go without drosera leaves curling I have been told. I spray them foliarly once every two weeks or so. I never fertilize roots so that I don't have to deal with flushing.

Anyone else have opinions on cutting pitchers off smaller plants? Anyone that does this that can vouch for its usefulness? Anyone that has done it that didn't like it?
 
Large pitchers on small plants means health. If you want fast growth on it as well, like everyone else is saying, fertilize it somehow (I have always found insects betterfor the plant though).
 
Don't over feed....otherwise the poor pitcher will go through post traumatic disorder syndrome (PTDS) and shortly thereafter, become an 'ex-pitcher'. ;)

Here, I have tons of ants that fill up every pitcher in my plants without pause. Must be a few dozen in every old pitchers at least. They love all the nutrients from it. I find that adding fertiliser in pitcher (a small amount) works best compared to foliage spray or direct soil application.

I never cut my pitcher till it completely dries as I believe it's always absorbing some nutrients in the green parts. After all, they've evolved to suck the life out of prey and gorge it up in their pitchers. Cutting it off would be tantamount to sadism :D
 
I used to use maxsea as a "pour through" soil feeding. It left a nasty mess in my trays after a week or two. I have since gone to feeding each pitcher with betta-bites. The growth is more rapid and the plants are much healthier with clean water at their feet and full bellies.
 
Nepenthes produce pitchers for a reason. Cutting them off, regardless of their size, defeats that purpose. Don't!!!
 
Won't cut them off then. I remember reading somewhere that people were cutting the pitchers off so the plant could focus on leaf growth.

I'll spray a bit of the Maxsea in the pitchers and see what happens. Foliar fertilizing is seeming to work too. My N. alata Spotted has just produced a leaf twice as big as the one before it. My N. singalana and my N. jacquelineae are producing noticeably longer leaves as well.

As I said, most of the pitchers (in addition to the big meals I fed them) have tons of ants in them and they just keep coming. They're getting digested, and I don't think its overfeeding. Same amount as a big spider, just more surface area to work on I guess.

Thanks everyone! :)
 
  • #10
I alternate bi-weekly between what Swords mentioned about flushing the soil with Grow More Urea Free and spraying the pitchers and leaves with maxsea. I use 1/4 strength with the Grow More and 1/2 - full strength with the Maxsea. I was also putting some osmocote in the pots, too, but I didn't bother the last time I repotted all the plants.

Anyway, I've found that fertilizing the roots brings about the most dramatic growth, but if your plants aren't draining freely, it can pose some problems.
 
  • #11
I cannot recommend this any more... it has produced bigger pitchers than any fert I've ever tried: Coffee. Some of my plants that were making 2 inch leaves now have 8 inch leaves with even bigger pitchers after 1 month of feeding!! Its simple really... just get some coffee thats not fake (used with real coffee grounds) and pour about a pint into the soil and take the plant out of its water tray. Don't dilute it, just make sure its not boiling hot and it doesn't have creamer in it. After about two days water the plant a lot to get those leftover minerals out. Trust me, this stuff works better than anything Ive ever tried over five years of testing ferts. If you want I can show you some pics of what the plants look like now ;).
 
  • #12
I cannot recommend this any more... it has produced bigger pitchers than any fert I've ever tried: Coffee. Some of my plants that were making 2 inch leaves now have 8 inch leaves with even bigger pitchers after 1 month of feeding!! Its simple really... just get some coffee thats not fake (used with real coffee grounds) and pour about a pint into the soil and take the plant out of its water tray. Don't dilute it, just make sure its not boiling hot and it doesn't have creamer in it. After about two days water the plant a lot to get those leftover minerals out. Trust me, this stuff works better than anything Ive ever tried over five years of testing ferts. If you want I can show you some pics of what the plants look like now ;).

I've been meaning to try that for a while, but I have no coffee machine and I have no clue how to make coffee. I hate the taste of coffee actually... How can I do this without a coffee machine? ???

Can I make mountain coffee? http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060920203835AABa3g2

What kind of coffee is best? Like Kona (only kind I know of) or what? Or Brazilian coffee... I don't know. I'm not a coffee person.
 
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  • #13
I'm pretty sure coffee is only used to reestablish the pH level in the soil, not really for nutrients.
 
  • #14
I'm pretty sure coffee is only used to reestablish the pH level in the soil, not really for nutrients.

Does the pH of the soil help them that much? As to where they would put out huge leaves?
 
  • #15
Well, the solubility of nutrients in the soil is directly related to pH level, and those nutrients are more soluble in acidic soils and less soluble in neutral or alkaline soils. So, with several other factors, your plants will be able to obtain more nutrients from the soil if you maintain the desired pH level.
 
  • #16
Well, the solubility of nutrients in the soil is directly related to pH level, and those nutrients are more soluble in acidic soils and less soluble in neutral or alkaline soils. So, with several other factors, your plants will be able to obtain more nutrients from the soil if you maintain the desired pH level.

Ah, now that makes sense. I'll try coffee then and I'll see how it works. Gotta go buy some first though. :)
 
  • #17
Just remember, you really don't need to do it that often, not like fertilizer. I think once every six months or so would be plenty, but other people may disagree.
 
  • #18
Just remember, you really don't need to do it that often, not like fertilizer. I think once every six months or so would be plenty, but other people may disagree.

How quickly does the pH drop when watered with RO? I think the answer to that would determine the frequency of coffee fertilizing, if it is to only lower pH.
 
  • #19
I doubt it would happen very quickly. But than again, I'm not sure. Sounds like an experiment you could conduct and report back to us?
 
  • #20
I doubt it would happen very quickly. But than again, I'm not sure. Sounds like an experiment you could conduct and report back to us?

Don't have a pH meter for soil. Guess I could borrow my friend's, he like to like grow regular plants and stuff. Bulb plants. Eugh... :nono:

But since you flush the pot after two days, wouldn't that bring the pH back up? And all of the waterings would bring it back up too.

I would think once a month would keep it on the lower end of the spectrum, but maybe once every month and a half would keep it right between acidic and neutral? I'm not good with pH stuff though... :-O
 
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