Expert: Christopher Littrell - 11/5/2010

Question
I am sorry for not giving info on my question about my pitcher plants not producing pitchers, they are in 8 inch hanging baskets in a greenhouse with temps from 55-85 lots of bright light, they are potted in equal parts of peat moss, orchid bark, and vermiculite, I keep them damp usually water about 2-3 days apart I fert. 2 times a month using a 20-20-20 and I also put in 1-2 drops of super thrive per 1-1/2 gallons of water, i had them outside all summer I brought them in about mid-oct.
sorry for being a dumbo about not giving enough info to you the first time I asked a question   thanks so much Linda

Answer
Hello Linda,

You might try with less fertilizing and with repotting them in a mix with sphagnum peat moss, orchid bark, and perlite. Vermiculite is less than optimal since it is mineral laden and Nepenthes, even though they can withstand slightly higher amounts of minerals in their soil than some other carnivorous plants, may be harmed by high mineral deposits in their soil.

As I had indicated in my past answer, fertilizing is OK but insect prey is optimal since that is the natural way that Nepenthes obtain nitrogen and trace minerals.

In addition, if there is anything being sprayed or dripped on their leaves that contains copper, like copper based fungicides or insecticides, it could damage the tendrils and pitchers. Use only Neem oil or sulfur based fungicides. Take a look at anything you might be spraying around the greenhouse: Cleansers, deoderizers, fungicides, etc.

Christopher