Nepenthes Lady Luck Pitcher Plant
aviolet6
8 years ago
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Photo Synthesis
8 years agoYeah, they're carnivorous. Don't use tap water. Just distilled water, rainwater, water from a dehumidifier, or from a reverse osmosis filter. (I just use either rainwater, or water from my dehumidifier.) I was finally able to buy myself a Nepenthes ventricosa. Lowe's had them on clearance for only $5 bucks. He's a puny little guy with only a couple of tiny little traps so far, but he appears to be relatively healthy. I repotted mine using a 50/50 mix of New Zealand sphagnum moss & and orchid mix (bark, perlite, charcoal). Don't give them direct sunlight, just bright indirect light.
aviolet6
8 years agoRelated Discussions
Help Rooting Pitcher Plant Cuttings
Comments (32)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....See MoreNEWBIE: Questions about Tropical Pitcher Plant
Comments (7)Hi Well Neps are very mineral hardy, out of all the CP's they can do pretty well with mineral rich water, not to say that its good for them. I would not advise you put ANY fertilizer of ANY SORT in its drinking water that gets to the roots, only a foliar feed would be suggested here. Your potting mix sounds fine, you want a mix that is very well draining and that will just stay moist but never be water logged. Many people use Coir, from what Ive read it does not do that well with other CP's though. An easy mix for a Nep (traditional mix) would be something like 2 parts Perlite, 1 Part Sphagnum Peat. I went a more "deluxe route" now back in South Africa by potting like this: Put layer of Long Fibre Sphagnum on bottom of pot to stop any soil mix from escaping. 1 part of each of these mixed together: Perlite, Vermiculite, LFS, Peat Moss, Orchid Bark I did this as a test with Peter D' Amato's "Deluxe Nep Mix", Im missing 2 or 3 things from his like Pumice, Charcoal and Lava Rock. The Neps seem very happy and are growing at a good rate. I cant say that they are any happier than when I grew them in 2 parts Perlite and 1 Part Peat though. Superthrive ia a great growth addetive, but I've seen and heard the bad side of too much on many CP's news groups. Over use of it also appears to lead to a HUGE mass of leaf growth, the downside is that there are no pitchers produced. From testing the growers have found that a monthly misting (half recommeded dosage on bottle) gives the plant an extra boost with folige growth and still has its large good looking pitchers. Many people have wondered if SuperThrive is a gimick or not. I attempted to test this with leaf cuttings as well as newly purchased plants. The Superthrive soaked leaves (D Capensis) did produce plantlets long before the untreated leaves and had faster growth to begin with. The new plants that where under stress from shipping and from climatising (D. Capensis Giant, Alba, Typical and D. Aliciae Typical) had their roots soaked for 30 minutes in a solution of 1 drop per cup full of water. The results where that the soaked plants adapted and started growth a few weeks before the unsoaked plants got their act together. From what I've seen it has benefit, mabey its just coincidence, but seems to be good stuff. Happy growing n good luck Sheldon...See MoreWhere can I find pitcher plants?
Comments (7)I would say that most of my Sarracenias & Nepenthes have come from Lowes and secondarily from Home Depot. After that, I have received plants via trades and generosity of CP forum growers. The trouble with going to Lowes or home Depot is that the workers haven't a clue as to how to take care of them. Consequently, they could be in very bad shape and need to be nursed back to health. buting online is expensive, although I've never attempted it. Obtaining from other hobbyists is very cheap, possibly free or just for the cost of Priority shipping ($4.05), but you don't get to see what you are getting. Personally, I like to check our Lowes and see whatthey have, if anything, or anything worthwhile. ~95% of my CP collection have come from responding to trading forum offerings and cultivating friendships within the CP community. My collection is relatively weak when it comes to having extra Sarracenias & Nepenthes, and I've already given or pledged to others. Otherwise, I'd offer some starter plants. In contrast, I am strongest with sundews, which I find to be most appealing. There's nothing like looking at sundews glistening in the afternoon sun! See what I mean? Here's my meager Sarr & Nep collections:...See MoreNew Nepenthes Help
Comments (6)Hello Nycti, Thanks for the compliment on the plant, it (and all of my others) was from Sarracenia Northwest too. It is under 12000 lumen light. The VFT I have is just an inch away from the light and right in the center of the light fixtures so it gets maximum light from both sides. When I get a window set up I will place all my plants there with the extra light from the florescents for the North American species... and eventually move them outside when possible. The Butterwort would like similar conditions to the Nepenthes in watering, they root rot quite easily too when overwatered. Just keep their soil moist the same as the Nepenthes, water them both about twice a week and remove runoff water. The VFT like being in a tray of water, just not too high. About like what a sundew gets... a 3 inch pot should be in about 1/2 inch of water. The problem is when the water level gets over 1/4 to half way up the pot as the VFT roots really like some air.. they just like the very tips of their roots near water. If you upgrade the pot to a 5 inch, just leave an inch of water in the tray and top it up when it gets low, top water the plant to allow draining water to wash its roots and draw air down into the soil, they like that. When your able, about 5 inch pots would be good for most of your plants to give them growing room, though, as you can see, I should have upgraded the Nepenthes sanguinea to a 8-10 inch wide pot sooner as all its lower pitchers have no support. Each tube in the fixture will be 3200 as the package says, so four would be 12000 or more like mine. If possible, place the light near the brightest window you have and put the VFT right in the window as close as you can and only a few inches from the lights, but far enough away to get sunlight from the window. It will thank you for as much light as you can provide. VFT and Sarracenias all need about the same light as garden plants, full sun, which supplies them with well over twice to three times the light those twin shop lights could give them. 12000 lumens is really a bare minimum for just surviving for VFT and they might not even get enough energy to overwinter with that. They tend to slowly degrade in most indoor setups. At least with mine I got seedlings going, so if the adult does not make it until I get a better setup, I will at least have my young ones to tend to. Nepenthes can be rather difficult when you first get them in a new environment. Give the plant what it needs and give it time and it will adapt. Just keep adapting it for low humidity and keep giving it all the florescent light you can (12000 lumens). Nepenthes ventricosa can adapt to high light levels but prefer partial light like under a slightly shaded tree. Florescent light will have little of the potential for leaf burn, so just hit it with all those lights you can. It sounds like the pitchers are dying on you if it is just the tendril tip dying off and the pitcher browning. That is a combination of low humidity changes too quicky, low light, and possible temperature differences. If the temperature indoors is consistent, at what we humans like at about 70-80 degrees, the plant should be fine in that. That leaves humidity and light. They can adapt to low humidity fine, but if you are adapting the plant slowly, raising the dome a fraction of an inch every 3 days, it should not be experiencing such a humidity shock as that, particularly in an aquarium. The yellowing is often brought on by too much light, but that cant be right with only 6000 lumens. N. sanguinea and N. ventricosa both prefer similar conditions and mine is under 12000 lumens and doing great with only some reddening on its leaves due to high light. Yellowing occurs on its bottom most leaves just before they begin dying of old age. If all of the leaves on your plant are yellowing, it leaves me puzzled as to why unless something else in the environment is affecting it. So far as central air, just place the plants where the air is not directly hitting them. Mine are in a small apartment in zone 9 Texas with central air keeping the apartment at about 77 degrees. What air they get does not affect them as long as they are across the room from vents....See Moretropicbreezent
8 years agoPhoto Synthesis
8 years agoWith these plants, less is definitely more. Tho in the rainforests, these can become monsters. There have been many accounts of them catching and eating small mammals, like rodents. Look at the size of these traps...
aviolet6
8 years ago
tropicbreezent
7 years agosaberonyx
7 years ago
Suzanne Enfield
7 years ago
Many nepenthes are quite tolerant of cold (but never of freezing). I had my nepenthes lady luck outdoors in a fish bowl covered loosely with saran wrap all summer in Seattle (where it routinely goes into the 50s each night) and it was thriving. They key to it growing good traps is to have plenty of humidity, but without letting the roots of the plant get too wet. So I keep mine in a separate pot inside the fishbowl. The pot is elevated on some rocks so that it is above the half inch of water in the bottom of the bowl. I water it with rain water or distilled and I feed it dried blood worms from the pet shop every 1-4 weeks. Almost all the traps you see on the plant in the photo are ones it grew this summer.saberonyx
7 years agotropicbreezent
7 years agosaberonyx
7 years ago
Paul MI
7 years agosaberonyx
7 years agowell i went ahead and moved my "lady luck" into my 90 gallon terrarium/ rivertank at work. I wanted to do this because this being my second winter owning this plant I saw it "slow down" too much last winter in my freezing house. Since I cant get my wife to raise the heat in our house I want to see how the plant does over this winter in a very good environment.
I have my temperature at 70/75 and humidity is 70% to 80%....This tank has live goldfish ,running water and plants growing very good..The river tank pumps water from the low side to the high side and cycles every few minutes. The waste from the gold fish feed the plants and the grow like crazy....
lady luck plant · More Info
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