Expert: Christopher Littrell - 7/13/2011

Question
I copied the following quote from another website:

"Nepenthes "Miranda" is thought by most growers to be Nepenthes x mixta X N. maxima. (Note N. x mixta = N. northiana X N. maxima.) There are some other growers, who think this plant is a pure N. x mixta, possibly var. superba."

From the excellent book, "The Savage Garden" by P. D'Amato, I see that N. northiana is listed as one of the lowland species, while N. maxima is a highland species.

Thus, in either case above, the hybrid would seem to blend the horticultural requirements of the two - evenly if it is indeed pure N. x mixta, or perhaps more skewed toward the highland if it is the former.

My question is, then, how do we treat it in cultivation? I've only had mine for a couple of weeks and I don't know whether to give it the cool nights and warm days of the highlands or the more evenly warm temps of the lowlands. I want to set up something and leave it that way so it will be happy. I live in coastal southern California and have it outside right now, day/night temps from high 70's down to low 60's F., humidity varies from 53% to 80%. Strong but dappled sun. What do you think? Greenhouse better?

Second question. I have another older Nep (never knew the sp.) that's been growing very successfully in my bathroom (under a bright opaque skylight) for several years. I have, of course, read your advice to let the plant trap its own bugs, but as it is in my bathroom, it gets no bugs via nature. Since I've gotten tired of catching them myself and dropping them in, as an experiment, I've started dropping orchid fertilizer (30/10/10) directly into the pods. The plant seems to absolutely love this - its really taking off - definite strong positive response. Have you heard of this being done before? Is it OK? Any ill effects? Should I continue? If so, what sort of feeding rate/amounts could you recommend? Maybe a different fertilizer?

Thanks!

Answer
Hello Ted,

Since N. miranda is a hybrid, it has the strengths of both species. It is a tolerant plant capable of living in a variety of conditions. Best bet is to keep the plant in its present position and simply monitor its response to the environment. It should be fine there since the conditions are not extreme one way or the other.

In general, fertilizing should be done with even phosphorus, nitrogen, and potassium mix across the board for carnivorous plants. 10/10/10 or 20/20/20 would be fine. You can continue dropping the fertilizer in the pitchers every couple of weeks since that seems to be working well. You could also dilute the fertilizer to 1/4 strength or less and wipe or spray some on the leaves.

I have also used various kinds of dried or frozen fish foods that do not have salt incorporated in them as stop gap feeding measures (like frozen blood worms), but the easiest way for Nepenthes is actually to go to a pet store and buy a container of meal worms and cultivate them in a plastic storage bin. They are extemely easy to care for, can't escape easily since they can't climb plastic sides, tougher than roaches, do not stink, are not dirty, and reproduce themselves easily after they mold to adult Darkling beetles. Just toss a bit of dry oatmeal and a few carrots or bits of potato in with them every week or two and you will have plenty of Nepenthes food with no need to fertilize at all. The beetles and mealworm grubs are both great "fertlizer" for Nepenthes.

Christopher