"I accidentally stepped on a little tree frog in my greenhouse,
and was about to discard the carcass when it occurred to me
that a nepenthes might be able to handle it. So I added a
little distilled water to a N. rafflesiana pitcher and tossed
it in. It might be my imagination but it seems to have
ignited a growth spurt."
This is not surprising. In many of the more spectacular
pictures I have seen of the larger Nepenthes, they have either
caputured a tree frog or the tree frog is close to disaster.
When I first started growing Nepenthes, the advice was to not
feed them. About six months ago one of my plants caught a
fruit fly and immediatly went in to a growth spurt. I have
been feeding the plants regularly with store bought crickets
ever since and have gotten very good results.
I have since stopped using fertilizer (except for Superthrive,
which is not really a fertilizer) and the plants are doing much
better.
I have even tried a few experimens with two of my plant where I
remove all but one trap, feed it and wait for the growth spurt.
About two weeks in to the growth spurt, I remove the one
functioning trap. On both plants, the result is the same: the
growth spurt stops and it takes forever to finish the growth
started during the spurt.
So my advice: feed often and regularly.
This advice is for Nepenthes only.
Chris