when can a pitcher no longer function?

[Flip_Side_the_Pint]

I was wondering when a pitcher can no longer function. I have a gubler nep that has a few pitchers, on one of them the hood is brown and wilted along with the peristome. but the rest of the bottom pitcher is nice and green. Can the picther still digest insects with the top half seemingly dead?

Thanks for any help...

 

[Spectabilis73]

the pitcher will funcion long as the bottom half isn't black. i wait untill the whole pitcher is black to cut it off, that way it can absorb the nutrients and water from the pitcher before i cut it off. but it won't be able to catch insects on its own once the top half is black, then it is no longer slippery lol

 

[jon]

I generally wait until 75-90% black. But you can cut it when it's turning partually black, it is a plant after all and it will force further growth of a new leaf.::

 

[Tony Paroubek]

Removing half dead pitchers does not 'force' the plant to produce more. Pitchers currently on the plant have no bearing on the plant producing new ones except that they provide nutrition for the plant to produce new tissue. Removing them before the entire pitcher has dried up if anything will also remove any possible nutrients still in the pitcher fluid and green tissue that the plant could absorb for new growth.

If you don't like the look of the brown top section then just remove the browned portion. Some Nepenthes will hold onto old pitchers for a year or longer.. The oldest pitchers may start turning brown after a few months and slowly progress over a period of many many months to totally dry up. As long as there is some green portion on the lower section it is capable of catching food and benefiting the plant.

Tony

 

[endparenthesis]

I have a question related to this topic. I have some pitchers (ventrata) where the tops have dried up but the bottoms are still intact. However, if you look at the leaf itself, you can tell that there's a small segment in the stem of the leaf that's broken and brown. I have a few pitchers like this, and honestly I don't know which came first... the drying or the stem damage. Since the path from the pitcher to the plant has been damaged, does that mean that pitcher is no longer useful?

Otherwise the leaves are fine. I'm not sure if I should trim them off or just leave them. Think there's any benefit to either option?