This is very common.
Your plant is just recovering from shock.
Don't be surprised if the pitchers die soon.
Adrian

You'll be fine! RELAX!

I always look to new growth (or not) as an indicator of plant health and trend. Old leaves, as indicated above, may die when there is a signiffcant change in condition, like taking a new plant home from a neglected hardware store. Provide them with as good conditions as you can from the beginning and give them time adjust.

A drooping Nepenthes lid is not really closed, it might be preparing to die back or, as carnivorousplants indicated, undergoing a bit of shock. It will get over the shock fine. After I repotted mine a month ago it closed a couple of the lids of its pitchers and a day later reopened them... now those pithcers are preparing to die back, however; new pitchers are growing in. Nepenthes periodically let old pitchers die in waves so that newer, larger pitchers can be produced over them to take their place. My Nepenthes had 8 pitchers at one time, however, has allowed about half to die back in the last two weeks. As long as new growth is coming in and the newest pitchers are still alive, the plant is fine. If the tendrils and new pitchers start browning and dying off, you will have a waiting period in getting the plant acclimated to its new home.

Hi
In a related question .What is the normal life span for the pitchers and should they be removed when they dry up?? gary

Hello garyfla,

My N. sanguinea keeps its pitchers for up to 5-6 months, however; most of the time, Nepenthes will keep their pitchers for about 3-4 months. Anything in that range is probably normal. You can clip off completely browned pitchers when they have died back to the tendril. Removing them will reduce the incidence of mold, however; if the plant is in a place where it gets good air circulation and light, that should not be a problem.

Hi
My wife bought this one at a local plant sale in March
against my better judgement lol (I'm an orchid fan ) without an I.D. Seeme to be loving the heat and humidity so assume it's a rafflesia. hung it among the orchids in the shadehouse where it seems to be doing very well. as it's sprouting in 3 directions.
I removed one of the fading pitchers and discovered it had caught a LOT of bugs. lol My concern with removing the pitchers is that maybe I'm defeating the purpose ?? Would think that digestion is not possible after the pitcher dries.?? Anyway , they seem to absorb a lot of water and get very heavy, though none have actually broken off.
With the daily rains it seems to be putting a lot of strain on the plant though it certainly looks a lot healthier than when we got it and all the new growth would indicate that also.
Thanks for the reply gary

You should leave the pitcher on the plant until it completly dies or starts to rot.
Any greenery is still alive and helping the plant.
I would assume the pitchers would'nt eat any more because digestive glands probaly don't work anymore.
- Adrian

I got a N. Ventricosa about two years ago from a local garden centre, and it is still doing fine... actually I've got three now since I did some clipping and rooting 8 or 9 months ago. I read that the single biggest factor for good pitcher development was high humidity, so I grow mine in pots in a 10 gallon aquarium under grow lights, with a bit of water in the bottom of the aquarium, and with the top of the aquarium mostly covered in plastic wrap to increase humidity, but not so much as to fog the sides of the aquarium. If you have trouble getting pitchers to grow, you might give that a try.

A picture:
{{gwi:563714}}

Good going don555,

Beautiful example of an N. ventricosa.

Actually, a lot of factors go into good pitcher production with Nepenthes. Some really need high humidity, but many, like N. ventricosa and N. sanguinea, really can do with lower humidity. I grow my N. sanguinea open pot in South Texas indoors with central air blowing and it continues making larger pitchers every month or so.

Light, humidity, soil moisture, chemical pollutants, and temperature changes can all affect pitcher production dramatically. Also, insect prey affects pitcher production as the plant needs some insects to provide the fertilizer it needs for leaf production. Too little of any of those factors, including humidity, or too much pollution (copper mostly) or too many environmental fluctuations too quickly can cause pitchers to die back and the plant to refuse to grow more. As an example, I just repotted mine recently and it simply made its newest pitcher a bit smaller and had some dieback in its oldest pitchers, but resumed growth after that and kept its newest pitchers.

I had this plant for about 8-9 months and it has grown from a tiny 3 inch plant to a foot across. its pitchers still have another 4-5 inches of growth before they are full size.

{{gwi:563716}}

By the way, with all the questions about repotting without fluid loss, the trick to keeping the fluid in the pitchers during repotting is to carefully dig around the edge of the pot until most of the plant's central mass of soil loosens and just lift it out upright and set it in a container of distilled water to wash its roots off before repotting in new medium.

Make sure that the pot is above the water level, Nepenthes can experience root rot in standing water. It sounds like your conditions are just right for them though. Keep up the good work.

Well the last picture was deleted for some unknown reason by the hosting site, here it is again.

{{gwi:563718}}

Mutant Hybrid!
What happened to that beautiful N. sanguinea!
- Adrian

carnivorousplants:

It is just recovering from a full repotting. It is regrowing new pitchers now and it just decided to let some of the old ones die back.