Nice! I have to get another. I lost mine a few years ago. GREAT nep!

Thank you! :) I hope you're able to get another for your collection! What other species do you keep?

Ventrata and Truncata .

Neat! I've never kept ventrata but I have tried the highland variety of truncata. Unfortunately, I did not do very well and it didn't make it. At this moment, I have N. 'Miranda', N. 'Gentle', and N. Veitchii 'Hose Mountain'.

Duc, I recently bought a Miranda and live in an apartment in Dallas. Any suggestions on if I should be keeping it indoors or outdoors?... I'm assuming you left yours outside during the rains we have been having the past few months. All the hard downpours didn't wash out the soil?... Here is a photo of mine

Hello there! That's a beautiful plant you have! To answer your questions, yes, I do keep mine outdoors but I bring it inside if the temperatures get below 40F. If yours has been inside, I would suggest you acclimate it by letting it sit in partial shade. Mine is in a hanging basket and I have it hanging off of my live oak in the back yard. And with all the rain, mine was perfectly fine. It didn't have any soil problems at all. I think all my plants appreciated all that rain water! My intention is to repot it next year at some point because it seems to be outgrowing its current pot. Please keep me posted on how yours progresses. Mine is about four years old.

Beautiful plant and thank you for sharing!

Well, consider the case that like any potted plant, if it's sitting outside, it doesn't necessarily lose so much soil just from some rains. In the case of Nepenthes plants, their potting medium usually is not like particles of soil, so that potting medium will stay inside the pot even more.

I'd also recommend for it to be outside if you can at your apartment.

I'm glad to hear you are both from the North Texas area. I have also been eyeing a N. miranda at a local nursery. Where else are they being sold? The one I saw is at Northhaven Gardens in Dallas.

A few weeks ago, I had a few cicada wasp killers (1.5 -2 inches long) in my backyard and the first thing I thought of was, if I only had a N. pitcher plant with large enough pitchers to try that wasp in there!

The problem with my apartment is that my balcony will get direct sun for half the day or so... And what I read was saying not to keep it in direct sun for more than an hour or two. Also, I know to keep the soil moist but how much do you usually water the plant?

I just bought mine at Sunshie Miniature Trees on Greenville this weekend. The place is kind of a hodge podge of a house and green house. So, I took it from this place to my apt where we keep the temp in the apt in the low 70s and the AC is blowing the air around quite often. My apt is small so their is also always a breeze from the AC where ever I would place the plant.

Hi purslanegarden! I don't see pitcher plants very often around the north Texas area to be honest. Sometimes, I go to places like home depot or lowes and see the standard ones in the little plastic containers, but I stay away from those because they do not look very well taken care of. For me, I have ordered from petflytraps (in Houston) and their plants do very well for me.

Hi jwheel! I give mine a little water (enough to get the soil medium wet) every other day during the summer months. During the cooler months, I water mine about once every five days or so and it seems to be fine. Your environmental conditions sound like your plant will be happy as an indoor plant so I wouldn't put too much emphasis on moving it outside...just my opinion though! :)

Have an awesome day!

-duc nguyen.

HELP!!! I don't know what I'm doing wrong but my plant is dying!

So since I have talked to you guys I have kept the plant inside. The temp stays in the 70s. I water it once a week, the soil seems to keep moist. Is once a week not enough? Also the plant is not super close to the back patio for light.... I have been putting it outside one day a week to get some fresh air, humidity and daylight. I will set it by the back door with the door open for an hour or so before I put it outside. When I put it outside I keep it out of direct sunlight....

What should I do???

Oh I have also been using bottled water from the grocery store

Better test that water with a TDS meter. I only use rainwater on mine or distilled . Looks like the plant needs more light. Browning pitchers are not a sign of the plant dying,. It's normal. Juts cut off any pitchers that look ugly to you.

Hi jwheel,

Your plant doesn't look like it's dying at all. In your previous post, you had mentioned that it was purchased in July? In my experience, what you're seeing is the plant adjusting to environmental changes. I would assume the plant nursery you purchased it from had certain conditions the plant was already adjusted to and is different than what your apartment is. Your traps drying up is pretty normal. I usually wait for mine to dry up a little more and just clip them off where the trap ends and meets the 'tendril' part of the leaf. My suggestion would be continue with how you're watering and maybe try and use a spray bottle with DI water and mist the leaves every few days. That should help in humidity.

I hope that helps and I'm sure others will offer their advice. Please keep us posted!

Thank you,

Duc Nguyen.

Great! thank you both for the comments... In a bit of panic, my wife and I put the plant outside last night on our deck where it won't get direct sun. I don't know why, but it seems everyone else I talked to on here keeps theirs outside. So, I've always kind of had a feeling in the back of my mind that I should be keeping it outside with the Dallas heat and humidity, but we would like to have it in the living room to liven it up... I'm planning on bringing it back inside now. I appreciate all the help!!

Tommyr_gw... I'm assuming your plant is outdoors too if you are using rainwater? What are the signs that you think it needs more light? How much should it be gettting?

Duc... Thanks for the spray bottle trick. My wife suggested this to me ( I guess I should be listening to her :) )... DI water? distilled water? deionized water?

Hi jwheel,

When I said DI water, I was referring to deionized water. I find N. 'Miranda' are very resilient. I wish you the best of luck with yours! And again, please keep us posted on how you're doing. :)

Thank you,

-duc nguyen.

Even if you keep your plant inside, you can collect rain from outside. It's easier at a house with a rain gutter but there may be some spot near your apartment where you can do that. Since you have just the one plant, a few gallons of rainwater could last you a while.

My carnivorous plant collection is only a few plants, so I just keep a few gallons of rain water or distilled water on hand. I loved having the rain in early spring. I didn't have to buy any water for several months, including having the rain itself or using the bottled rain water.

I store mine in 1 gallon jugs, though I have been wanting to get one of those 5-gallon water containers. The general condition is to keep it out of direct sunlight so that algae won't grow in the jug. Other than that, you can keep rain water for a really long time in those jugs.

You can get distilled water from grocery stores. The cheapest price I've seen is at Walmart. Another option is to get the Glacier water from those vending machines that you may see outside of grocery stores or drug stores. They are described as being water that used reverse osmosis.

purslanegarden, thanks alot!!