Pitcher plants keeps losing pitchers

Pitcher plants keeps losing pitchers#435728

By graceguthrie -  Wed May 24, 2023 1:56 pm
Posts:  8
Joined:  Wed May 24, 2023 1:48 pm

- Wed May 24, 2023 1:56 pm #435728

Hello! A few months ago I purchased a pitcher plant and I'm having some trouble with it. First, can someone tell me what kind of pitcher plant it is? I think Nepenthese but I'm not sure.
Second, I have been bottom watering it with distilled water as well as misting 1-2 times per day. It has just started getting warm where I live (70-80s F) so I thought it would be good to put the plant outside. I use grow lights inside but I have always read these plants like sun. I hung him on the porch for a few hours last week and one of his pitchers got very sunburned and is black on one side. I brought him back in and yesterday put him back outside in a shadier spot. He only got 1 hour or so of sun in the late afternoon and his leaves got sunburned again. At this point I'm down to 1 good pitcher and I really don't want him to die.
I have attached a picture of the plant from a few months ago and I'll add one showing his crispy pitchers.

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Re: Pitcher plants keeps losing pitchers#435729

By Intheswamp -  Wed May 24, 2023 2:18 pm
Location:  Lower Alabama (LA), USA - N31°43'59" USDA 8a/b
Posts:  2373
Joined:  Wed May 04, 2022 2:28 pm

- Wed May 24, 2023 2:18 pm #435729

I would agree that it is some type of nepenthes...I think.

There are a couple of different neps...one type (lowland) requires warm temperatures and the other (highland) requires cool temperatures.

A couple few of questions which the answers can rule out or in a few things:
What type of water are you watering it with?
What type of potting mix are you using?
Does the mix have a chance to dry out some...not always sitting in water?
What general area do you live in?

Btw, welcome to the forum and check out the seed bank!

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Re: Pitcher plants keeps losing pitchers#435730

By Panman -  Wed May 24, 2023 2:22 pm
Location:  Atlanta, GA USA Zone 7b
Posts:  5661
Joined:  Wed Mar 04, 2020 8:41 pm

- Wed May 24, 2023 2:22 pm #435730

First off, it looks like a ventrata. Second, bottom watering for nepenthes is fine as long as no water sits in the tray. Water in the tray is inviting rot. As far as pitchers dying, it happens. I have found if you move a plant and slosh the digestive juices around in the pitcher it can kill the top part of the pitcher. Also, moving the plant around stresses it which will cause it to stop producing pitchers. Find a location where it is getting bright indirect lighting or dappled sunshine and leave it there. Sunburn will happen when you first move a plant into the sun. Humidity and the right light levels will cause the plant to produce pitchers, but it may take a month or two to do so.

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Re: Pitcher plants keeps losing pitchers#435732

By graceguthrie -  Wed May 24, 2023 2:38 pm
Posts:  8
Joined:  Wed May 24, 2023 1:48 pm

- Wed May 24, 2023 2:38 pm #435732

Thank you for your reply!

What type of water are you watering it with? - Distilled/purified purchased from the grocery store
What type of potting mix are you using? - They potted him at the nursery, but I believe they used a mossy-mix
Does the mix have a chance to dry out some...not always sitting in water? - Yes, I water him every 2-3 days, so he isn't sitting in water most of the time. I usually feel the top of the soil and its dry-ish.
What general area do you live in? - I live in the Kansas City area

Btw, welcome to the forum and check out the seed bank!
Thank you! I definitely will. I love house plants and this is my first carnivorous one.

Re: Pitcher plants keeps losing pitchers#435734

By graceguthrie -  Wed May 24, 2023 2:42 pm
Posts:  8
Joined:  Wed May 24, 2023 1:48 pm

- Wed May 24, 2023 2:42 pm #435734

Panman wrote: ↑Wed May 24, 2023 2:22 pm Thank you for your reply! I saw the name ventrata once but wasn't sure how to tell thats what mine is

I don't let him sit in water, and water typically every 2-3 days. The water is usually absorbed fully within an hour or 2.

I have a spot on my porch that is shaded from morning until 5pm or so, and after that is gets some sun from 5-8:30pm. Do you think that sounds like a good spot? Should I continue misting it when its outside? Also, I have 1-2 good pitchers right now. Is that enough for the plant?
Thanks! I'm new to the pitcher plant world but they're so cool!

Re: Pitcher plants keeps losing pitchers#435735

By Panman -  Wed May 24, 2023 2:52 pm
Location:  Atlanta, GA USA Zone 7b
Posts:  5661
Joined:  Wed Mar 04, 2020 8:41 pm

- Wed May 24, 2023 2:52 pm #435735

The spot on the porch may be okay. They don't need very intense light. As far as misting goes, how humid is it where you live? When mine are outdoors I do not mist them. Don't worry about the plant not having enough pitchers. It will do fine even if all of the pitchers are dead. It is still a plant and will grow with sun and water.

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Toes in the water, ankles wet, and knees damp.

Re: Pitcher plants keeps losing pitchers#435737

By Intheswamp -  Wed May 24, 2023 3:31 pm
Location:  Lower Alabama (LA), USA - N31°43'59" USDA 8a/b
Posts:  2373
Joined:  Wed May 04, 2022 2:28 pm

- Wed May 24, 2023 3:31 pm #435737

Panman wrote: ↑Wed May 24, 2023 2:22 pm First off, it looks like a ventrata. <snip>

Hey! Those leaves *do* look familiar!!!!

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Re: Pitcher plants keeps losing pitchers#435739

By graceguthrie -  Wed May 24, 2023 5:29 pm
Posts:  8
Joined:  Wed May 24, 2023 1:48 pm

- Wed May 24, 2023 5:29 pm #435739

Panman wrote: ↑Wed May 24, 2023 2:52 pm The spot on the porch may be okay. They don't need very intense light. As far as misting goes, how humid is it where you live? When mine are outdoors I do not mist them. Don't worry about the plant not having enough pitchers. It will do fine even if all of the pitchers are dead. It is still a plant and will grow with sun and water.

Gotcha, hmm I'll need to look around and see if there's a spot that doesn't ever get direct sunlight but is partial. It can be humid, I live in the Kansas City area and humidity is usually 60-70% in the summer.

Re: Pitcher plants keeps losing pitchers#435740

By graceguthrie -  Wed May 24, 2023 5:31 pm
Posts:  8
Joined:  Wed May 24, 2023 1:48 pm

- Wed May 24, 2023 5:31 pm #435740

As a follow up question, do pitcher plants prefer to live outside or inside? Just curious if its worth setting him up outside. All my other house plants thrive outside but maybe this one is different.

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Re: Pitcher plants keeps losing pitchers#435743

By Panman -  Wed May 24, 2023 6:05 pm
Location:  Atlanta, GA USA Zone 7b
Posts:  5661
Joined:  Wed Mar 04, 2020 8:41 pm

- Wed May 24, 2023 6:05 pm #435743

I have a ventrata that does very well outside in Atlanta, Georgia. It gets direct morning sun for a few hours and then is in shade/dappled shade the rest of the day. You just want to avoid direct sun in the hottest parts of the day. The plant will tell you it is too much by its leaves getting red. The redder the leaves the more sun it is getting. A few red areas are okay but you don't want it to be completely red and on the verge of burning. Also, having it in indirect sun makes it easier to keep wet. It also does very well indoors, with a little misting to encourage it. Outdoors it will tend to grow faster because it will capture a lot more bugs.

As a side note, ventratas are very adaptable and just about unkillable. I have frozen, fried, dehydrated, poisoned, and drowned the one that I have. Each time I was able to rescue it or start over from a cutting. It will tell you that it isn't happy long before it dies. If you see it start to decline you can take steps to remedy the situation. Most of the time, the plant will respond.

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Toes in the water, ankles wet, and knees damp.

Re: Pitcher plants keeps losing pitchers#435747

By Intheswamp -  Wed May 24, 2023 7:44 pm
Location:  Lower Alabama (LA), USA - N31°43'59" USDA 8a/b
Posts:  2373
Joined:  Wed May 04, 2022 2:28 pm

- Wed May 24, 2023 7:44 pm #435747

Hey, thanks for posting your questions. I'm getting an education from Panman! He gave me a ventrata cutting a while back that I've been rooting and the information will be good for me, too!

One note about the "Distilled/purified" water. Be *sure* that it is distilled and not just purified. Being only purified it could still minerals, which make the water taste good to us, but that could harm carnivorous plants. Distilled and reverse osmosis are both usually well below the 50ppm TDS maximum that is recommended for CPs.

Panman has basically addressed the other questions...and better than I could've.

graceguthrie wrote: ↑Wed May 24, 2023 2:38 pm Thank you for your reply!

What type of water are you watering it with? - Distilled/purified purchased from the grocery store
What type of potting mix are you using? - They potted him at the nursery, but I believe they used a mossy-mix
Does the mix have a chance to dry out some...not always sitting in water? - Yes, I water him every 2-3 days, so he isn't sitting in water most of the time. I usually feel the top of the soil and its dry-ish.
What general area do you live in? - I live in the Kansas City area

Btw, welcome to the forum and check out the seed bank!
Thank you! I definitely will. I love house plants and this is my first carnivorous one.

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