Have you ever seen anything quite like this? Just look at the sheer beauty and exotic wonderment of a nepenthes pitcher plant.
They are absolutely stunning, and the pitchers at the end of the leaves are as fascinating to look at as they are biologically important to the plant.
What’s more is that these exotic looking plants are not all that difficult to care for even for someone that hasn’t cared for many plants before.
These guys adapt well as houseplants in small spaces for quite a while if you pick the right ones as these guys typically vine and grow upwards over time, but this typically takes several to many years, depending on the species, before these little guys outgrow a small space.
And the good part is many nepenthes can be propagated by cuttings, so even if your little guy becomes a monster plant, you can always sell or give away the mother plant if it outgrows your space, and continue on again with the cuttings you took.
Nepenthes pitcher plants are really not all that fussy to care for if you can keep them constantly moist, in a bright location, and in most cases, relative humidity of greater than 50%.
But even humidity can be increased easily by placing the plant on a tray of pebbles with a little water to increase ambient humidity around the plant.
But before we get into the details of care, let’s first take a look at what makes these little plants so cool in the first place. They are carnivorous and eat bugs!
Nepenthes Have Adapted To Digest Insects and Small Prey
The plant lives in nutrient poor, nitrogen rich soils in very tropical regions of Asia. In general, nepenthes grow at lowland levels (below 3,000 foot levels) called lowlanders, while other species grow at highland levels (from 3,000 – 10,000 foot levels) and are called highlanders.
Nepenthes have adapted over time to be able to break down and digest insects and other small prey, in order to obtain the necessary nutrients that the plant needs for survival.
The bulbous pitchers that you see at the end are the mechanism, a trap actually, that the plant uses to break down and digest its prey that it catches.
For example, an unsuspecting insect may enter one of the plant’s traps, for say a drink of water, only to find that the inside of the trap is coated with a waxy substance that causes the prey to lose its footing, and fall into the trap.
The trap then functions through glands and digestive fluids inside of the trap to break down, and digest the insect to aid the nutrient deficiencies that the plant experiences living in nutrient poor soil conditions in its native habitat.
Many Nepenthes Can Adapt Very Easily As House Plants
However, what I think that most people will also find very fascinating is that these little guys make excellent house plants.
What’s more, many are surprisingly easy to keep as houseplants, with some existing happily on an East, West, or South Facing windowsills in the correct lighting and with ample temperature and relative humidity.
Please keep in mind that the intent of this article is extremely general in scope and is only intended as a very simple nepenthes pitcher plant primer for those that may want to keep one of these beautiful and surprisingly easy to grow plants.
The conditions that some nepenthes may require to thrive for long can be highly specific, and make some species rather fussy and not a good choice for the novice as a first nepenthes to attempt to grow.
So, we will only focus the scope of this post on species here that will work for a variety of folks as a good starter plants to begin with. The plants that are ideal beginner plants will be adaptable to a variety of temperature conditions and relative humidity levels.
Please also keep in mind that some of these beginner nepenthes pitcher plants will start to grow fast and large once they settle in. However, you can take cuttings off of large plants to propagate new plants to give away as gifts if you get overrun.
Important Notes on Lighting For Nepenthes
As a very easy guide to growing nepenthes pitcher plants, I would focus on giving these guys as much bright indirect light in an east, west, or south Facing window as possible that they can take without showing signs of burning. North facing windows generally do not provide enough light for many plants to thrive, so I would not recommend using a north facing window if at all possible.
I have found many nepenthes to be quite adaptable in terms of lighting. However, if you still feel that you still do not have the proper lighting to keep one of these magnificent carnivorous plants, then you can always try using a strong compact florescent light with a cool white bulb of 40 watts or more of actual output at about 6 to 8 inches away from the plant. Fluorescent lights should remain on for 12 – 16 hours per day.
If you have a larger nepenthes or if it outgrows the compact fluorescent light, then you can switch to a T-5 light, which are those shop lights that are used in garages. These work just fine as well. There is no point in spending money on expensive lights for specific spectrums as it is not really necessary for the arm chair hobbyist.
Temperature Ranges For Successfully Growing Your First Nepenthes
As a general rule for the temperatures ranges that nepenthes appreciate, the heartier and more adaptable species generally appreciate household temperatures in the ranges that you do. Think temperatures in the 70’s to 80’s degrees during the daytime, and temperatures above the 40 degree level at night.
However, if your conditions at home are not quite ideal do not be discouraged as many of you probably also use heating and/or air conditioning during the seasons throughout the year to keep yourself comfortable, to where this will probably not be much of an issue.
I have even read that some of the species can take occasional temperatures down into the 40’s and into the 90’s if this is not allowed to exist for long periods of time without harming many nepenthes.
Relative Humidity Levels That Nepenthes Need To Pitcher
Another thing to consider when keeping nepenthes is that they tend to like relative humidity levels in general of about 50% – 70%. If they do not receive this at least semi-regularly, then they will sometimes refuse to produce pitchers.
However, this is definitely not true of all nepenthes species, as there are many that appreciate, and some that require, humidity levels constantly above 80% – 90%. However, these are very specific and are outside the scope and intent of this article primer.
If you live in an area where humidity levels are low don’t worry too much, as you can place the nepenthes on a tray with some pebbles, and a tiny bit of reverse osmosis or distilled water in the trays just below the surface of the pebbles, and this will help to elevate the humidity levels immediately around the plant, and can sometimes coax it back into pitchering happily again.
Important Notes About Watering and Water For Nepenthes
Do not use tap water or drinking water to water your nepenthes. Nepenthes are plants that cannot take high levels of salts and dissolved solids or else they will slowly deteriorate and die over time. Instead, use only distilled or reverse osmosis, or pure rain water to water nepenthes. This will ensure that there is no buildup of salts or dissolved solids into your nepenthes that will kill it over time.
When you water your nepenthes, water the pots overhead, so that the water drains through the pots. Water until you see water dribble out the bottom of the pot into a plastic saucer and then stop. Do not let the plants sit in standing water for long periods of time or else this will rot out the roots and kill the plants. Nepenthes in general have very delicate, fragile, shallow root systems. Always keep your nepenthes moist and do not allow it to dry out for any length of time, or it could die.
Soil Mixes Used For Growing Nepenthes Successfully
Nepenthes do not grow in standard potting soil or potting mixes as this will kill your nepenthes. There are fertilizers, salts, chemicals, and other items in commercial potting mixes that will surely kill your nepenthes, so please avoid using those.
Also, bear in mind, if a vendor is shipping you a nepenthes that will arrive bare root, then you will need to either buy potting mix to grow your nepenthes in, or mix your own. Luckily, mixing your own is easy.
A good nepenthes mix should be open, airy, and contain inorganic materials of different coarseness to allow airflow and roots to develop. You can mix a very good nepenthes mix on your own consisting of equal parts of chopped long fibred sphagnum moss, peat, perlite, orchid bark, and horticultural sand. You can find all of these at a local nursery or online relatively easy.
Types of Containers Used To Grow Nepenthes
I have found that nepenthes do quite well in plain old plastic pots. For plants that are approximately 4 inches or less, you can use 3 inch pots. For plants 5 inches to about 8 inches you can use 4 inch pots. As the plants get larger, they can be resized in pots the next size up.
Some folks have even had success with growing nepenthes in hanging baskets, wooden orchid boxes with slats, and even orchid net pots. However, I have usually just stuck to plastic pots for my plants. You should feel free to experiment with your container preference of choice.
You can really repot a nepenthes any time of year once it has settles in and established itself as comfortably growing and pitchering, however, I generally try to do all of my repotting in early spring when it warms up and the plants begin to get a little more active. You don’t need to worry about fertilizing your nepenthes as they get all they need from digesting insects that wander into their pitchers. Do not be tempted to try to fertilize your nepenthes as this could result in the death of your plant.
Easy and Inexpensive Beginner Nepenthes Pitcher Plants to Start With
Because nepenthes pitcher plants look so exotic and fascinating, some may be tempted to assume that these magnificent plants must be expensive and painfully difficult to take care of.
In fact quite the opposite can be true. I have seen some nepenthes species on ebay and Amazon and other vendors that sell plants for less than $20, and in some cases I have seen plants that grow very vigorously sold for approximately $10. So, it is definitely not cost prohibitive to get started growing these beautiful plants.
Some examples of nepenthes species that are inexpensive, very easy to grow, and very tolerant of a wide variety of conditions are Nepenthes alata, Nepenthes ventricosa, Nepenthes Sanguinea. I would recommend any of these as vigorous, tolerant, and forgiving nepenthes beginner plants for someone looking to get their first experience at growing these beautiful and mysterious wonders.
Additionally, you can find many many new nepenthes hybrids from online vendors these days. Hybrids are generally nepenthes that have a lowland and a highland genetic parent. What breeding highlanders with lowlanders does, is create a plant that is in general more rugged and accepting of different and varying temperature and humidity conditions. This is because lowland nepenthes generally favor hot, humid conditions due to where they grow naturally, while highlanders generally enjoy cooler weather and a bit less humidity than the lowlanders do.
So, I would definitely also urge you to consider trying to grow a nepenthes hybrid as well as they are very forgiving of inexact growing conditions, and will many times become massive plants over time. When this happens, you can then take cuttings, cut the plant back, and give the cuttings away as gifts to family or friends, or start a small hobby business by selling them online.
I hope that this post has inspired you to try your hand at growing your very own first nepenthes. Nepenthes really are fairly easy to grow once they settle in, and they are a marvel to look at and are a definite conversation starter for anyone that sees these for the first time. Be careful though, this hobby can be addictive as many Nepenthes pitchers and plants are strikingly different looking. So go ahead and give one of these a try, I really think you will be glad you did.