Expert: Sarracenia Northwest - 1/4/2012

Question
I'm writing regarding a Nepenthes that I've owned for about eight or nine years.  (I'm not sure exactly what species it is.)  It had been growing well recently, but suddenly the growing tip of the main shoot turned black.  I use distilled water only; soil mix is one appropriate for Nepenthes (peat, perlite, pumice, vermiculite, orchid bark, charcoal).  It is growing under fluorescent lights, but also gets ambient light from a nearby south-facing window.  I'm located in the Portland Oregon area.  I treated the plant with fungicide and insecticide, but that does not seem to have had any effect.  Any idea what could have caused this?  Is the soil too damp?  What action should I take; should I cut off the dead end of the shoot?

Answer
Hi Robert,

Chances are your plant is just fine.  I can see from the photo (Thank-you!) that this is a Nepenthes ventricosa or ventricosa hybrid.  For some unknown reason ventricosa  and it's hybrids have a habit of just shutting down a vine.  It just stops growing for some reason, and you see this blackening of the tip.  Later you should see a lower shoot either from below the soil, or from a dormant node begin to develop rapidly into a new vine.  It could be a light response of some kind, but I've seen this many times in our greenhouse.  When the new shoot(s) develop you can cut this one off that is blackening, or beat it to the draw and cut it now to make some cuttings to root.

Good Growing!

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