I wasn't sure if this was the right spot to post, but I didn't see anything like 'houseplants' section. But anywho, I purchased a tiny little tropical pitcher plant (nepenthes ventricosa) and for a while it was touch and go, as all of its pitchers died a little after purchase. I put it in a little terrarium and it's now thriving with a new mature pitcher and several developing.
My concern is the pitchers don't seem to be able to catch much in the way of bugs as it's indoor ( I live in the inferno called Oklahoma ), and I'm not sure if it's starving. I was hoping maybe someone had experience with them, and possibly recommend a food source that I can manually give them. The pitchers are tiny, about an inch tall so the crickets from the pet store would be too large.
Any tips appreciated.
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CharlieBear
- Green Thumb
- Posts: 588
- Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2011 5:19 pm
- Location: Pacific NW
Some people have used small bits of raw lean hamburger in cases like this and all I could check will had really good results. They all said they only did it once or twice a week as a supplement to anything their plants could catch, like fruit flies, house flies etc. Someone might have a less messy idea for you.
I checked and most of the carniverous plants need to have constant moisture but not a lot of food. Each trap will close about 3 times and die. If all the traps have been used up the plant will die. Even if you spring the trap with your finger it counts even though the plant did not get any food. Just give the plants a moist environment and don't worry about feeding so much. The plant will make more traps if it is not fed and with more traps the plant will last longer. The don't have to be fed often. If you want to attract flies just cook up some fish and they will beat down your door to get in.
I just got one the other day. I am in NC and it says half sun half shade and when get it home to fill the pitchers half way did that and all of a sudden the leaves are turning brown and seems like it got soggy from being outside. Is it only an indoor plant? Would love to keep it alive it did get 1 bug from what I can see but that's it. Has been raining and a little cool the past couple of days. Maybe just bad timing to put it outdoors.
I've had mine indoors in a terrarium the entire time. I've been feeding it random bugs I find, and occasionally buying crickets from the petstore and just chopping them up into smaller "bite size" pieces since my plant is still pretty small - it's barbaric but it's helpful to recall all those times a hidden cricket in my room kept me up. It seems to do ok with that since it has now started producing several little pitchers.
I've noticed it loves high humidity, but I don't know if I've ever heard of filling up the pitchers for Nepenthes (tropical pitcher plants). I have however heard that you can do that with the Sarracenia varieties or as I like to call them - trumpet pitcher plants.
I've noticed it loves high humidity, but I don't know if I've ever heard of filling up the pitchers for Nepenthes (tropical pitcher plants). I have however heard that you can do that with the Sarracenia varieties or as I like to call them - trumpet pitcher plants.
I guess these are issues only with house plants. I just put mine outside under the ti plants in partial shade. I don't fill the pitchers, rain does that and I don't feed them anything except water. I think I was told that too much fertilizer would kill them and they did not need much. I guess there is enough bugs for them to catch.