Expert: Sarracenia Northwest - 1/10/2012

Question
I have a question regarding misting Nepenthes. I know that misting Nepenthes or any other potted plant for that matter cleans the foliage. If you mist Nepenthes frequently to help maintain their humidity, why does it do them more harm than good?

Thank you Jeff!

Answer
Hi Derick,

One of the things I've noticed over the years answering people's questions about Nepenthes are certain trends.  One of the most common questions I get in regard to Nepenthes is "My Nepenthes won't produce pitchers? What's wrong?".  Now I would say around 80% of the time it's just not enough light, or short days such as in the winter.  However, one other factor I've noticed, almost to the letter, is folks who are having trouble with Nepenthes pitchering are also avid misters.  They've heard all the stuff about the plants need for high humidity.  So there's my observation, along with the fact that in my 15 years of having Nepenthes as houseplants I've never misted them, and I get plenty of pitchers. Then I ran across this a couple years ago from another expert here on Allexperts:  http://www.horticulturalhelp.com/myths.html  Check out the lines on humidity and misting.  This guy really knows his stuff; he answers about as many questions as we do.  Here's another good article:  http://www.gardenseeker.com/indoor-plants/misting_houseplants_indoors.htm

The big problem at work here is constantly changing conditions.  Plants like things very boring, i.e.--consistency.  Nepenthes are especially guilty of this.  Misting causes the humidity to see-saw, and so the plant is always trying to re-adapt to the changes.  At best you get 20-30 minutes of elevated humidity, then back to whatever your house was.  With Nepenthes that seems to cause them just enough stress for them to need to conserve energy.  Making pitchers is very energy intensive.  Moving the plants around lots does the same thing.  With moving they not only get humidity changes, but light changes too.  I've run across dozens of chronic plant movers who complain about Nepenthes with no pitchers.

So, the big question seems to be if you want to raise the humidity some is there a better way?  Two ways I've found that you can use individually or together is pebble trays, and or adding lots of other plants to the growing area.  Pebble trays create a consistent evaporation of water as long as you remember to keep water in them.  Adding more houseplants, especially foliage plants, you get the benefit of their transpiration.  These things create a good microclimate for your plants.  As an example I remember a beautiful N. maxima x albo-marginata that used to be in my living room.  That house had a large south-facing window along with several big houseplants that my roommates had that included Philodendrons, orchids, Peace Lily, and others.  I positioned the Nepenthes near the Philodendron close to the window.  Over the course of a year the Nepenthes climbed up the Philodendron and even had some pitchers hanging over our stereo that sat in the same area.  I just made sure it was watered, and popped it a bug every now and then.  That spot had the ingredients, good sunlight, good ambient humidity, and it never got misted.

Good Growing!

Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.cobraplant.com