Expert: Christopher Littrell - 2/16/2012

Question
QUESTION: I have had this Nepenthes plant for going on 2 years and untill now it was growing and not producing. It recently started 3 new shoots growing off main one, the 3 new shoots are only about 3-4 inches tall but have 5 traps forming rather rapidly however the main shoot is now 12 inches atleast with no traps and has not grown any in the last month or so and is starting to droop and turn a light yellowish, but the others look great green turning red under the grow light. Do you think I should be concerned or should I clip off the top part and will that harm the plant?

ANSWER: Hello Joe,

A couple of concerns. I will need more information about the plant's growing conditions to make a determination as to what might be the root of the problem.

How do you water the plant and how much?

Is the oldest vine blackening from the top down as well?

How much light does the plant get and how much coverage over the entire leaf surface?

Nepenthes need a larger surface area of light as they get larger. If a small Nepenthes is fine under a small lamp in its infancy, it will need a larger light set up as it gets larger or the older vines will receive insufficient light while smaller vines will be fine.

Standing water under the pot can result in root rot which results in a Nepenthes dying from the top down. If too much water is collecting under your plant's pot, that could be the problem.

Send me a follow up with some additional information about the environment the plant grows in so we can take it from there.



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

QUESTION: For water I use distilled, and check top surface and if damp or dry I water excess water collects in bowl which I lift plant out of untill more is needed then set back into bowl. I only have 1 T-5 bulb on it and since top is looking bad I have set it over the light so I could lower the light closer to the bottom healthy parts and get more on to my Ghost Chilli plants aswell.I do have a double T-8 setup which I am trying to find a place for to enhance light coverage. Oh and yes the Nepenthes plant has blackened at top tip aswell as on tips of a couple top leaves which I had assumed came from trying to set it outside one day when it was over 90 degrees outside here in Texas. And it gets 14-18 hours of light a day. I hope this helps with diagnosses and I look forward to hearing from you again, thank's. Joe

Answer
Hello Joe,

It does seem as though the plant will need more light. Moving it from inside to outside, especially here in Texas, could also have caused some damage to the plant. Many species of Nepenthes are partial light plants that can burn in direct Texas sun. I use 3 sets of twin tube T12 florescent lights, total output about 18000 lumens for my Nepenthes. They pitcher quite well all season though they loose a bit of color and growth speed in winter when I reduce the hours of light per day to 12. Moving plants around can also inhibit or damage them if the humidity and temperature change rapidly from one environ to the other.

It sounds like you monitor the watering well. As long as standing water does not sit under the plant for days on end, it should not succumb to root rot.