I discovered this list while perusing Barry Meyers-Rice's CP FAQ. I've been
growing orchids for about three years on my apartment windowsill and under
fluorescent lights. Recently a couple of carnivorous plants snuck into my
growing area, and I expect that more may turn up from time to time. Currently
I have a Venus' flytrap (supposedly produced by tissue culture) which is
growing rapidly and consuming some of the fungus gnats that seem to love the
orchids' fir bark. I also have a Nepenthes alata.
Barry suggested a couple of answers to my Nepenthes questions, but hopefully
he won't be insulted if I also ask the list :-)
Anyway, my Nepenthes alata arrived potted in regular houseplant potting soil.
I repotted it in a mix of dried sphagnum and coarse fir bark. I keep it moist
at all times, but the pot is not sitting in water. It receives direct sun
until about 11:30 am and then diffused light throughout the afternoon.
Humidity is about 50%
Cuttings had apparently been taken from the top of the plant recently (or
perhaps the plant itself was a cutting from the middle of a vine), but it has
since branched below the cut and is growing vigorously. However, the plant is
not producing new pitchers, and the old pitchers seem to be slowly dying back.
Each new leaf ends in a small knob, but it never expands into a full size
pitcher. Any ideas what's wrong? Barry suggested either my humidity was too
low, or the plants was still stressed by its treatment prior to my purchasing
it. Any other possibilities?
cheers,
Nick
Nicholas Plummer
nplummer@umich.edu
http://www.umcih.edu/~orchid.html