Expert: Sarracenia Northwest - 9/19/2010

Question
Hi,
It's only been a week, and I know that these speices grow a little slow, but they haven't grown one tini bit.  Back when I got my N. Rajah and Villosa in July and put them in my terrarium, in 3 days they started to grow and have been doing great since. But the other 3 are just sitting there, making no progress.  The only thing I can think of is that these speices take longer to aclimate, or they shut down for some reason. If it's not that, then what could it be?

Iv'e been having the same problem with my first 2 other nepenthes lately, sanguinea and mikei, they were doing great the first couple months I had them. Then all of a sudden they slowed down in growth, started producing pitchers unwell developed, then they totally stopped growing. Do you know what that could have been?

Thank You for your Time.

Answer
Hi Agustin,

Patience!  Nepenthes grow slowly, especially the species you've mentioned.  They can look like they haven't grown one bit for months.

Keep in mind that in July, the temperature was warmer and the light levels were stronger.  Right now, the temperature is cooler and the light levels are less intense.  These factors will make Nepenthes grow even slower.  This is very natural and very common.  If you want to improve their growth, you will need to increase the daylight hours and/or ambient temperature.  I'm not sure what your setup is like, so I can't make any specific recommendations, but that's the general concept.

Let me know if you need further assistance.

Good growing!
Jacob Farin