Expert: Christopher Littrell - 1/30/2011

Question
QUESTION: Bought this mature plant from a green house is N.C. It has been doing well up intil a couple weeks ago. The new leaves that started growing began to become limp...slowly the rest of the plant has become very limp. The new beautiful pitcher that was growing has collasped (it got as far as maybe 2"). I am devestated. The whole thing is limp now. I have re-potted it, thinking possibly I over-fertilized it. I have been using orchid fertilizer according to the directions. There is some brown on the leaves but i think that is from a ceiling air vent that was too close to it a while back. I have moved it away. I love my plant ! Please help!

ANSWER: Hello Carol,

What kind of pitcher plant is it? There are five different geni of pitcher plant across the world. Since you indicated that the plant has leaves and pitchers, I take it that it is either an Asian Pitcher Plant (Nepenthes), or Australian Pitcher Plant (Cephalotus).

There are a few other questions to answer about the plant that will help me to determine what is going wrong.

How much is the plant watered?

What humidity is the plant in and what humidity did it receive previously?

What temperature is it where the plant is placed?

If the plant is a Nepenthes, it needs frequent watering enough to keep the soil just moist, but never enough to sit under the pot for longer than a day. Never tray water a Nepenthes with large amounts of water all at once. Too much water can cause root rot and kill the plant.

Humidity collapse can occur if the plant was in a high humidity and then placed in a suddenly low humidity environment. The ceiling vent is quite possibly one problem. It may be drying the plant out and changing the humidity constantly and drastically, which plants hate. Slow humidity changes over days and weeks is the only solution to keep the plant from collapsing.

Drastic temperature changes can also harm Nepenthes. They usually enjoy temperatures within a 60-90 degree range and relatively stable since they are tropicals. (Many Nepenthes, according to species, do experience and enjoy changes in nightly and daily temperatures, but most can adapt to stable household temperatures.

Overfertilization is a problem with Nepenthes and all carnivorous plants in general. Carnivorous plants get nutrients from insects, not naturally from fertilizers. It is possible to fertilize carnivorous plants, but less, or better yet, no fertilizer is better than too much. Too much will absolutely kill most any carnivorous plant quickly. Stop fertilizing the plant until you have all other bases covered, then just let the plant catch its own insect fertilizers. I never fertilize any of my carnivorous plants and they do very well on what insects they catch.

Make sure the soil you have the plant potted in is not garden soil or potting soil as those contain large amounts of fertilizers. Use only unfertilized Sphagnum peat moss mixed with unfertilized (not miracle grow) perlite and orchid bark in even amounts for Nepenthes.

If you have a name for the exact species of plant you have it would help immeasurably.
Send me a followup with what information you can.

Christopher



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for the swift answering. My plant is a Nepenthes. I think a "Maxima" ( This is based on the book "Savage Garden" by looking at the pictures of the pitchers....) I water it enough to keep it moist. I know itis not a bog plant. But for a while there I watered it with the fertilized water. I found it in a greenhouse enviroment in north carolina. I live in charleston, south carolina. the temperture in my home is STEADY 64 degrees. I spritzed the plant every morning, even taking it into the shower with me on occassion. I am sure the humidity in my home is very low. I left it in the soil it was orginally potted in, assuming this was a good one, due to it's size and health at the time of purchase. It looks like a good mix with perlite in it. The plant can't catch insects on its own as it has no pitchers now.I have since removed it, mixed some spagnum moss in with the soil. I took it into the shower and let the shower run over it gently to wash the soil hopefully of fertilizers.( and moved it out of the kitchen where there was a ceiling vent near by but not directly over head.) It is collapsed but I hope not dead yet. SHould I completely remove ALL soild from the roots and re-start with the mix you mentioned? Thank you.

Answer
Hello Carol,

It sounds like you have some good tools to use (the D'Amato book), however; the change from a greenhouse to a low humdity home is probably the problem. The greenhouse likely provided a high level of humidity. When humidity drops drastically plants cannot cope and dehydrate. Your best bet now would be to place a large, clear, plastic bag over the plant to increase humidity around it. Punch a half a dozen 1/4 inch holes in the bag to begin with, then about every three days, punch another 2-4 holes in the bag. Keep that up for a couple of weeks until the bag no longer holds in humidity then remove it. The plant should be better adapted for low humidity then. Be mindful that since the plant seems to have collapsed completely that it might simply be too late. I have seen some amazing recoveries though. I had a cutting that had no roots that I placed in just Nepenthes mix and kept it watered. Since it had no roots, it too collapsed almost completely from dehydration. In a couple of months, it began to grow normally again and grew roots.

The main thing to remember about plants is that they like a stable environment. Not much movement and changing around. Moving the plant back and forth in and out of the shower creates instability for it, especially if the water is warm and the house is cool. Best bet with plants is to place them in a well lit spot where they get stable humidity and temperatures and then just leave them there. The only times I move my plants is when I repot them or when I need to rearrange my setup, about once a year at most.

Christopher