Expert: Christopher Littrell - 11/24/2010

Question
Hello! I recently purchased an amazing nepenthes that is about 6 years old and very big. I think it is a Nepenthes x Ventrata. I heard that Nepenthes (especially this one) need a high humidity to maintain healthy. At my home in southeastern Massachusetts the humidity is about 30-50%. Do you think it can survive when humidity is at this rate? If not than what can I do to help improve humidity when it's in a south window with 4-5 hours of direct sunlight?

Answer
Hello Victor,

First off, ask the vendor you acquired it from what humidity they kept the plant in so that you know the starting conditions. If they kept the plant in very high humidity, then you will need to slowly adapt the plant to lower humidity. With large Nepenthes, this might be difficult to pull off, however; if you can find a large, clear, plastic bag to fit over the plant, then punch 3-6 quarter inch holes in the bag every three days, you can slowly adapt the plant to your home humidity. This may take over two weeks to do as you will need to ensure that enough holes are punched in the bag to ensure that the humidity has completely equalized after several weeks. If the plant was kept in before you obtained it was a modest humidity of around 50-60 percent, it should be fine in its new home. My Nepenthes have been grown in humidity levels of 40-50 percent most of their lives and are growing quickly and with ever larger pitchers.

Most Nepenthes can adapt to low humidity and thrive. Make sure that the window you have for the plant provides enough light in both intensity and overage. If the window is not bright enough or does not give the plant enough light over a large enough area for long enough time, it will lose coloration, stop pitchering and slow in growth. If the 4-5 hours of window sun is augmented by plenty of indirect light from the window all day, the plant should be fine, but just be watchful of any change in growth patterns and act to increase the lighting as needed.

Christopher