Hello CraneBill, i had the same experience as you had. i've been growing nepenthes since last December(the 1st of 2004) my nepenthes looked a bit sickly, it wouldn't produce pitchers for a while, but then it grew some pitchers; not too big, not too small, but about 2 inches or 3. the reason why the pitchers develop small is due to the lack of light and humidity. when i water my nepenthes, i Mist it with a water sprayer. but i use clean water, not tap water. and the reason why the pitcher lids won't open it's because the pitcher takes a little while to develope it self and to make its own fluid while the pitcher is developing before the lid opens. i have never tried pouring bits of water on dried pitchers. i don't seem the reason why. but anyway, from my experiences, i grow nepenthes under cool light bulbs that give plenty of bright light and no heat. and i mist the nepenthes atleast twice a day to increase humidity. i don't grow my nepenthes in terrariums, just under lights. but it still grows pretty big pitchers. from the fertilizing question, i don't think it's neccesary fertilizing nepenthes nor feeding it. the main food for the nepenthes is bright light and high humidity. Mist the leaves of the plant and the soil/Media, and let the water drain. Don't set these plants on water saucers, the roots tend to rot. Hope this helps you.

Thanks again, Xymox.

Your cultural advice makes sense, and will help me coax my Nepenthes'pitchers to maturity.

By the way, my understanding of the suggestion to wait to fill the pitchers until they begin to brown is that one should only fill them (with clean water) at that point. I suppose this is because that is when the pitchers become canibalistic. I don't think the person who posted this advise meant that the water would keep the pitchers from drying out. Maybe I'm mistaken though.

This leads me to another question. Do Nepenthes pitchers manufacture all of the digesting liquid by themselves such that it's components are in the right solution (balance of digestive enzymes or whatever to water)? or does it naturally get diluted by rainwater? In other words, is it necessary to fill the pitchers at all?

Thanks,

cranebill

Yes Cranebill, Nepenthes do Create their own digestive emzymes(fluid). The fluid is colored somewhat greenish/yellow. when nepenthes begin forming their pitchers, you can notice in the bright light bits or a quart of fluid in their pitchers. they keep producing their own fluid until their pitcher lids open. but don't worry about their pitchers drying up, it's part of a plants' life; Old leaves die, new ones form. but the key to grow nepenthes is very bright light with no heat and high humidity. mist your nepenthes every time you water it, that increases humidity. if you don't have any soft/cool light bulbs you can grow the nepenthes in a bright windowsill that ONLY recieves morning sun(if it's direct sun) atleast 3 hours of morning sun, because late afternoon sun tends to burn the plants leaves and pitchers. that is why i grow them under Soft /cool lights that create bright light and no heat.

In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with fertilizing your pitcher plants, but be sure if your have them on water-dishes then don't pour it in the soil. I use Superthrive on my plants, and the results are great (but there is some fungus growth on the soil). Try misting superthrive, but be sure to water frequently.

I spray mine with a fertilizer about every 1 to 2 weeks. I use an orchid fertilizer that is a 30-10-10 (i think) and I mix it at 1/2 strength. After about a month the results are amazing. I use the same on my cephalotus and heliamphoras with great success.
As the plant gets older it will produce larger leaves and the pitchers will mature and get bigger and have more coloration and distinction.
Also as mine grew they kept their pitchers longer then when young.

Have Fun! -Jeff

Misting neps with 30-10-10 orchid fertilizer every 2 weeks is a good idea. But no carnivorous plant like fertilizer in the soil, so only mist you plants leaves whith fertilizer. Dont try fertilizer in the traps, the traps die. Some carnivorous dont like misting, like some sunduws. And the traps on neps are pitchers, so call them traps if you like. Neps are short for Nepenthes if you didnt know. Ohh and remember that when you mist your neps if you use tap water there are lime in the water and it can make the leafs get lime spots. dont worry nothing at all happens whit the plant but the lime cant be removed at all. so if you dont like the white lime spots use distilled water, or get reverse osmose to clean your tap water. hope that this helps alittle.

From Klaus in Denmark, yes im a danish :-)

I honestly have never tried fertilizing any of my Nepenthes or any other of my CPs(i think it's unneccesary). Does the growth actually maximizes?

It all depeds on if your plants catch any insects, if it doesnt, you'll have to feed them, if you cant find them, use fertiliser, or els your plants will have to wait to sommer for better growth. If you feed your plants, its best to use spiders, its the most nutrient rich insect. Fertiliser is unneccesary, but it gives your plant the nutrients it needs. If you cant find insects in winter, and you dont like the hole fertiliser idea, but you like to give it some nutrients, DONT DO IT, i have read something about people trying chokolade, boiled eegs or humen skin, this isnt good for your plants at all, you can try one very small piece of chokolade on a sundug just for fun, and wait some days to see that your sundug has got a good taste for chokolade, but its to fat, and after a week the leaf will die, and the rest of the plant gets a bit of nutrients, only do this ones, do it to often and the hole plant wil die from fattening.

If you want o fertilize your nepenthes it's very important to use ONLY foliar (very dilute) sprays on the leaves. NEVER into the pitchers and NEVER in the soil. Feed with insects or spiders only when the plants are not able to cacth it's own prey.
I use 10-10-10 foliar npk double dilute each 15 days. Don't forget to keep high humidity.

Good luck.

Hey guys, interesting post, I have 1 S. Flava groing outside here in Salt Lake City in a huge pot, 4 different VFT's which Ive hardened off (no terrarium and they seem to be growing fine), a bunch of Drosera and my new baby, a N. ventricosa.

The plant is still small but looks to be in awsome health, one thing I did notice is that the traps where open upon arrival (although they where dry) but oncee I potted it the traps where tighly shut by the next day.
I put this down to abit of shock, the same kind the VFT's have after repotting.

I tried to lookup info on this plant and came across two growers who stated that if your pichers are dry that you should fill them up 1/3rd full with distilled water.

I e-mailed one of these guys and asked about it, after what I was told I filled the small pitchers 1/3rd full, by the next day they had all opened up.

After reading this, did I do wrong by filling them?, should I have left them to create their own fluids?

Im abit worried now that the distilled water will be bad news in the pitchers.

Whats your advice on this?, I mist the plant often and it gets good light from a windowsill and grow light.

Many thanx

Sheldon

Ok well no worries, I actually found my mistake was that the pot was sitting in the water tray, I filled the tray with perlite so that any water drainage will be absorbed.
I have also put it outdoors under a tree that gets mornining sun, its growth has sped up alot from this, 3 new leaves so far and its looking good.
The existing pitchers have also now producted the yellow looking digestive fluids.

Cheers

Sheldon

Hey there all,
Foliar feeeding is good during the growin season.
The latest up to datest info on fertilizing nephenthes, say it is okay to use a a few grnuales/pellets of slow release fertilizer such as osmocote.BecAUS THEY ONLY RELEASE THE FERTILIZER WHEN CONDITIONS ARE OPTIMIM TEMPERATUSE AND DAMPNESS OF THE MEDIA.
I only 6 or pulvules,or whatever you call them to a 4 -6 inch pot.Has been working well so far.

Thanx for listening and keep 'em plants growin'
Lois

I have been reading this thread and I have some curious questions. This is my second time growing neps ( second plant) I it is very small and i bought it at a green house in toronto not sure of what kind or its botanical name. Now I have put it in a 1 gallon pot with equale parts of sphagnum pete moss perlite and soil and I put a dme lid with a vent at the top and a hygrometer inside. Now I know for a fact that I over watered it and hav stoped watering for about 2 weeks now. Soil is still very moist and humidity is at constant 60 to 70 %. It is on a window sill indoors that gets sun all day 6 hrs.
First question. How do youfeed a nep with no pitchers? They grow then turn black before they even open. And the pitchers are just under 1 inch. Any suggestions? I have a couple more questions but I will leave you guys with this one for now