Nepenthes observations

Alan Bickell (bickell@idirect.com)
Thu, 12 Sep 1996 15:43:14 -0400

Chris Frazier wrote:

One of the things I noticed in Singapore was that in a few cases
where I took pitcher fluid out of the pitchers of N. trichocarpa or N.
gracilis the pitchers did not fill up again, but rather dried out and died
very quickly. Has anybody else observed this phenomenon? Or the opposite,
that the pitchers did fill up again if you removed the contents?
Just curious,

To which I would like to add a couple of observations:

1.emptying pitchers
I used to dump the fluid(and dead bugs) out of the pitchers on my plants
regularly. The theory being that the plant would make more pitchers to catch
more bugs. The pitchers never died off because of this. I do have an
overhead, automatic watering system in the greenhouse though and the
pitchers would usually, but not always fill back up slightly.
I poured the water out of the pitchers regularly.

2.dead rims on pitchers
As pitchers aged(six-eight months) the rim and upper fluted part died back.
I used to remove the pitcher at this point but it occurred to me that the
pitcher was going through a series of stages in its life and that was just a
stage. While young they attract and capture insects. During the second
period, when the upper section has died, the pitcher is reabsorbing the
nutrients from its "catch". This occurred to me because the lower half of
the pitcher does not die immediately but stays green and alive for several
more months. Only the capturing of prey ceases. I now leave the half dead
pitchers on the plants.

3.fertilizing the plants
My plants seemed to grow very slowly (of course - no bugs) so I tried
different ways of fertilizing them -foliar spraying, dilute fertilizer
drench, etc with little in the way of results. On one lucky experimental
subject I put about 1/2 teaspoon of composted sheep manure ($2 a bag from
the local garden center) in each of three of the pitchers. Big change!! Lots
of top growth, lots of new pitchers, lots of side branching! Can't say if it
would work for you but it sure does work for me.

sheep manure in pitchers 1/2 tspn in each of three, no smell


Al Bickell
Emailto bickell@idirect.com
<http://web.idirect.com/~orchids>