Ventrata question.

[Nflytrap]

The ventrata I received from Capslock is doing great! However, I'm a little curious/stupified by the actions of its first pitcher(still unopened).

The pitcher is about as tall as a kidney bean, and while it used to stand up straight, its now leaning forward. I thought it was because of the light, so I turned the plant around. Still the same.


Is this normal, any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[nepenthes gracilis]

May be a broken tendril or wilting (which would be normal, if you just got it or the soil became slightly dryish)

 

[Nflytrap]

Nope, its not wilting, no is the tendril broken. In fact, today I set it semi upright by placing the tendril over another leaf, and it decided to bend downward again! Still fat and green...too Another tendril of the same plant did a whole loop without my notice. Perhaps I should leave it and see?

This is acutally the 3rd "pitcher" but the first to didn't grow any bigger than how they started.

 

[nepenthes gracilis]

Hmm, thats wierd....might just be a glitch in the pitcher forming process for some reason. I had my N. inermis make a pitcher with a white stripe in the peristome a while back. N. maxima once made an incomplete pitcher opening...the peristome had a notch in it...wasn't broken or ripped when forming, sometimes Neps just seem to go through phases.

 

[Spectabilis73]

my maxima pitchers/tendrils loop around several times before opening. its quite normal

 

[superimposedhope]

I don't know about the particular plant you speak of but, many times if a plant is an epiphyte or just plain climber it will loop some kind of "arms" around in an effort to grab something. Maybe this "arm" happens to be a pitcher. Just a guess though.

Joe

 

[AaronJ]

I thought the same as Spec and Super.

Is the plant a cutting with upper pitchers? If so this may be even more of a case that it is trying to find something to grab hold off.

I see this behaviour with my N. mirabilis and N. fusca x reinwardtian (both cuttings with uppers) until the pitchers reach a certain size, at which time they turn bold upright and start to swell.

The only other time I have seen this is in response to the shock of shipping where the pitchers/plants may have dried out a bit too much (as already suggested).

AJ

 

[Nflytrap]

Perhaps I confused it by continually repositioning it. It has now leaned back upright. Its now sitting on the moss. It still has the bend doward though...Very odd.


You'd have to ask Capslock on where this cutting came from. If I remember correctly, though, he isn't sure which one he sent.

 

[Capslock]

The cutting came from a viny plant that nearly died in transit from Hawaii. I therefore got it at an extremely low price.

However, the plant was itself from a cutting that produced normal N. x ventrata pitchers. I don't know why it's curling the tendril, unless it's still trying to make upper pitchers, in which case it's normal. Is the pitcher open yet? If not, I bet it's straight up and down by the time it does.

Capslock

 

[Nflytrap]

Nope. You can see the lines down it though. It decided to lean over again...