Expert: Christopher Littrell - 2/27/2010

Question
I was in Florida in Dec. and went to a Garden and purchased a Asian Pitcher I live in KY. and I have had it in my home in a bright to partial Sun Window.I keep the soil moist and mist it with water every once in awhile. It hasn't developed pitchers yet had it for about 3 months don't know how old it was when I bought it ..It was pretty large though.Now I separated the plant and repoted both pieces now my leaves are turning brown.Did I hurt my plant by separating it..what should I do I don't want it to die on me.

Answer
Hello Amy,

Most Nepenthes tend to be better propagated by taking cuttings and placing them in water like one would do with Ivy cuttings. It sounds like the plant was already suffering from humidity shock as you indicated that it lost all of its pitchers. Most species of Nepenthes are fairly resilient plants, so it might yet survive if it is given a chance to rest and recover. The plant is, by now, past any humidity shock, but might still be a bit unhappy and still recovering from that shock. Dividing it like that might have compounded the problem as now the plant halves need to reestablish lost roots instead of concentrating on leaf and pitcher growth. I have no idea if the plant will survive at this point as I have never heard of anyone dividing a Nepenthes in that way. If the plant survives after a few weeks and begins growing again, send me a followup and let me know how it is doing. I would be interested in finding out how well a divided Nepenthes fares. I typically just clip off 8-12 inches of vine from my N. sanguinea and discard a few lower leaves, then just place the stem in a vase of distilled water. After a month or two they grow roots and can be planted in Nepenthes soil. not all Nepenthes are tolerant of vine cutting propagation, so knowing the species helps.

By the way, did the grower indicate what species of Nepenthes it is? Some few Nepenthes are more finicky and some are downright notoriously difficult to grow.

Christopher