Expert: Christopher Littrell - 6/18/2007

Question
i have been thinking about buying a nepenthes inermis off of a web site and it will be sent bare root. is this dangerous, and if i get it, what soil recipe should i use for potting (it is an ultra highland nepenthes that some have said will do perfectly in SPHAGNUM moss alone.)? also what should i do as for receiving it?

Answer
Hello rostam,

It is fine to deal with bare root plants, usually the person that sells the plant will wrap it's roots in some damp moss. It is, however, harder to deal with a plant that is shipped bareroot as that is just one more thing on the list of stresses that the plant has to deal with once you get it. Bareroot purchases are usually best reserved for when someone has more experience with cultivating carnivorous plants.

When you receive the plant, inspect it for pests and damage, leaf deformities, and root problems first.

Get a pot or terrarium set up that is large enough to allow the plant some room to grow.

As for soil, sphagnum is alright, but even better would be sphagnum peat moss from the dry bales mixed in a 1/3 media with orchid bark and coconut husk. You can also use two parts perlite with the sphagnum peat moss, but you will have to change out the old perlite every year as it might sour and harm the plant over time. You can obtain Nepenthes soil mixes premade from sites such as cobraplant.com and californiacarnivores.com or find and mix it yourself. Just make sure none of your ingredients have salt, mineral additives, or fertilizers in them. The main thing about Nepenthes soil is it must be well drained so that water does not sit in the soil and rot the roots and acidic so that the roots are not damaged by bacterial action and fertilizers. The best bet would be to use a pot and let the excess water drain out every watering, every 3-4 days, without leaving the pot in standing water.

Being an ultrahighland, it might need special considerations like temperature changes during night when they like drops into the 50-60 degree range and high humidity at all times. I have not specifically grown this ultra highlander before, however, most of them are rather picky about their conditions and will not grow happily if they are not just right. If something is not to the plant's liking, it might stop pitchering and slow down in leaf production.

I noticed that Sarracenia Northwest has a hybrid of inermis that they grow in nursery, so you might ask for more advice from them so that you can get information from those that have direct experience with Nepenthes inermis.

In any case, it will likely need a terrarium or greenhouse with temperature controls to keep the plant 100% happy. Those ultra highlands are some of the more finicky Nepenthes in general.

Christopher