I've used rooting hormone with no issue, Tommy. When using rooting hormone with most plant cuttings, it seems to be best to just have a light dusting on the cutting. Nancy, I would agree with Tommy that the problem may be that the hydroton might not be staying moist enough. You might try taking one of the cuttings out of the pot, repotting it in the same type of set up BUT then bag it -- pot and all -- in a clear plastic bag. The bag will keep the humidity high. Open the bag once every week or two to check on water and to refresh the air. Keep the bagged potted cutting in a warm (temps in the 70s) brightly lit (but no direct sun) location. It can make a difference whether your Nep is a highland, intermediate, or lowland plant. This pertains both to rooting and general growing culture. Many Neps look very similar if not identical -- especially if only looking at their foliage. The pitchers are where differences -- sometimes very distinct, sometime extremely subtle -- are seen. Those differences are what is often used to get a rough ID of NoID neps. Unfortunately this ID process is made even more challenging by the fact that pitcher form on a particular plant often changes substantially from the pitchers of a young/juvenile plant and those of an older plant (typically referred to by hobbyists as lower and upper pitchers). Best bet would be to contact the seller and see if they know what they sold you. Mike, neps do very well with humid conditions -- dry conditions do them in. Temperature can play a huge role with neps, though, as highlanders verse lowlanders have very different temperature needs. That is why if you are buying a nep, you should inquire whether it is a highland, intermediate, or lowland nep. If the seller does not know, don't by from them. (Unless it is so super cheap that you won't mind it dying if it turns out to need different conditions than you can provide.) Nepenthes can also be grown in orchid bark mix or coconut husk chunk mix. HOWEVER, as you'll be growing it in Florida, I can't vouch for any mix suggestions like mine or Tommy's. Your conditions, Nancy, are simply so radically different than ours. And don't feel too bad, Nancy, I found that even from the same plant in the same media, some cuttings would root easily, others refused.

Thanks! Now the pitchers have small sticky brown areas on them, so I presume that they are about to die (even though they still seem effective at catching bugs.) I'm a little nervous trying the fertilizer since this is my first pitcher plant. Is there any special way I should go about fertilizing it?

you should also mist the plant's leaves with purified with a small water spray. this will help the plant to aquire some humidity to its new surroundings. at first, mist it in the morning, gradually.. mist it in the mornings and nights. the plant will benefit from this mist since it will create some humidity around it. where your plant is growing, looks like a perfect view. Nepenthes love bright light(not full sun) they do much better as an indoor windowsill plant. i bought a nepenthes a year ago from home depot, the plant was pretty large and it cost me $ 5.00. I had to repot it since the container was way too small for the size of the plant. The plant had NO pitchers what so ever, just some healthy green leaves and some drying dead leaves.. It took some time for it in order to make pitchers. So i repotted it, and then watered it.. i mist it everyday once a day in the mornings. adter a few months, it started making nice speckled pitchers.

You need to slowly acclimate them OUT of the terrarium, then slow get them used to all day Sun outside. You CAN grow these outside but come fall, just before first frost they need to go somewhere where the temps will be 35-40 degrees F. until around Msrch. A cool basement, unheated garage or what I do, put them them in zip lock bags then in the fridge!