Nepenthes care sheet

[boomfiziks1]

Greetings everyone. I'm somewhat new to the world of carnivorous plants. I have successfully grown venus flytraps (Dionaea) and American pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpera.). A student of mine had given me a wide variety of carnivorous plants (I think 6) that I think he purchased from a store. One of them is a tropical pitcher plant (Nepenthes ventricosa). Overall, the plant looks fairly healthy, but small, and has a small little pitcher growing at the end of one of its leaves, but I've also notice a little yellowing in some of its smaller leaves. I am not familiar with Nepenthes. I'm assuming it likes higher humidity (along with the other plants). The plants are still in their little plastic pots (about 2 inches in diameter). For now, I have them all sitting in a tall Rubbermaid container that has a clear lid. In the bottom of the container, I have a little bit of standing water. I also have a fluorescent growing light above them and have been keeping it on for about 7-8 hours a day. I also think it's important to mention that I live in North central Ohio...where it's starting to get dark about 4:00pm and outside temperatures can get below freezing (calling for snow on Thanksgiving). I am not sure what to do with some of these plants. Can anyone give me advice? Do they need to be planted? What type of soil do they prefer? How much light, water, insects, temperature, etc. do they prefer? Are they supposed to go dormant? Any advice would be most greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Dwight

P.S. The other plants I have are a Butterwort (Pinguicula primulaflora), Round leaved sundew (Drosera caperolsis), VFT (D. akai), and a U.Livida (which I have no idea what that is). I apologize for any misspellings, I got them off of the containers and they are not the easiest handwriting for me to read.

 

[Tony Paroubek]

Will direct my answers towards the Nepenthes care here.
These are also general guidelines that will work for many Nepenthes.
They are tropical vines and don't go dormant. They like high humidity (60-80%), fairly strong light, moderate temperatures (65night/80day), potting mix that drains freely but also holds sufficient moisture to keep the roots nice and moist but not soggy wet.

The water in the bottom of your chamber is ok but raise the Nepenthes up so that it is not sitting in water. When it gets some new pitchers you can toss in a small insect or two a few times a month. I would also increase the photoperiod to 12-14hrs.

Tony

 

[NepenthesMaster]

I grow some Nepenthes on my windowsill, and some (ventricosa, khasiana, alata etc.) do not need misting at all, and survive in lower humidity, but they love it humid. Room temps are okay, as long as it's around room temp in the daytime, and cooler at night.

They don't go dormant. When plantiing, i use 1/2 sphagnum, and 1/2 fern fiber. A longer photoperiod would be appreciated very much by the plants.