- Sat Jul 02, 2022 5:10 pm
#415784
That's not what the OP was asking, he asked what he was doing wrong. In my opinion, he's not doing anything wrong at all. That the plant is still alive and so large after two years of him growing it is proof to that. Plus, the other growers commenting on how nice the plant looks also attests to the OP not having done anything wrong. My "bringing out the cannons" was in response to the Google expert, quoting what he has read online ("Everything on the internet is true." - Abraham Lincoln), vs my decades of hands on experience with a wide variety of plants. I'm not saying I'm completely right, as it's just my opinion to the question asked. But, if I'd agreed with Mr. Google expert, then we'd both be wrong.
Another thing to consider is that a small plant (like when the OP got it two years ago), under the same conditions as the OP's plant, will probably produce pitchers as it will have fewer and smaller leaves. Fewer/smaller leaves means less square footage/surface area, which translates into less photosynthesis. It will have more of a need to supplement photosynthesis with captured prey.
If the OP had asked how to get it to produce pitchers, after reading about the current conditions, I would have suggested starting by lowering light exposure. Less sunlight means less photosynthesis, which means it's not making as much food. In South Atlanta, and without knowing the layout of his place, that might be much easier said than done. I didn't read anywhere that he had been fertilizing, but my second suggestion would have been to stop fertilizing. In my personal experience with Neps, chemical fertilizer is almost a sure fire way of causing them to not produce pitchers. Again, if it has enough, it's not going to try for more.
However, if the plant starts to detect a lack of nutrients somewhere due to less light or less food uptake, less than it's basic need, it will make an attempt to correct that. That's when it will expend energy to attract the bugs by growing pitchers.
A capensis won't likely wrap around a small gnat. A flytrap won't seal and secrete the cysteine proteases necessary for digestion without stimulation after closing. Late in the season, many Sarrs produce only phyloddia to photosynthesize without having to produce nectar or their own aspartic proteases for digestion. And Nepenthes won't necessarily produce pitchers if it's basic nutritional needs are already being met. There's simply no need to expend any extra energy to develop those structures or produce those enzymes that are unnecessary at that time.
Everything happens for a reason. Sometimes the reason is that I make bad decisions.
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