Last year, I got a Nepenthes (Monkey Jars) from my daughters for my birthday.
We went to the garden center on my birthday, where I found this amazing plant.
I was immediately impressed by the large pitchers hanging from it. So that became my gift.
It’s now almost a year later. The pithers died in winter (which seems to be normal). The plant went into a sort of hibernation. But during the spring, when there was more sun, my Nepenthes started growing again. And I even noticed some shoots next to the mother plant (actually it are two plants). At the moment these shoots have grown quite a bit. And the plant, and even the new shoots, is starting to grow new pitchers 😀🎉
But having two new plants in the pot made me worry a bit. I'm afraid the plant will get overcrowded when they all keep growing. So I decided to split them up.
A Nephentes needs nutrient-poor, well-draining, and airy soil. As I didn't have that, I went to the garden center and found potting soil that was especially for all types of carnivorous plants.
I also bought an extra hanging basket for the second plant.
I did have some perlite at home, so I mixed it with the potting soil to make it even more airy and well-draining.
Then I removed the plant from its pot. Which was quite a difficult job with the tiny pitchers attached to the leaves. But I managed to get it out without damaging the pithchers.
My original idea was to seperate the two small plants from the big ones, but I noticed that both shoots were directly attached to the stem of the mother plants. I was afraid to kill the plant when I would try to seperate the young ones from their mothers, so I kept a big and a small one together.
After placing the two plants (which are actually four now) in their baskets I gave them some fresh water. Nepenthes (and other carnivorous plants) are very sensitive to minerals like lime (calcium) and salts, so I don't give them tap water. They grow on soils with almost no nutrients. That is the reason why they eat insects by the way!
I also gave them a good spray because they like humidity a lot!
And then the thing that makes this plant so cool; their pitchers. Since this is my first Nephentes I didn't know if I would be able to keep it alive. It is a tropical plant and I keep it indoors in a not-so-very-humid environment. But I treat it wel by spraying it regularly.
And it seems to do very well. It looks lushful and green and it started growing back some pitchers. Now both plants have pitchers and there are even more underway!
The pitcher contains an acicid liquid substance that attracts small insects. They fly or walk into the pitcher, fall into the acid and get digested by the plant. That is how they get their nutrients.
The pitchers are still very small, but they grow quite fast. Last year when I bought the plant it had two pitchers that were about 12-15 centimeters tall.
Especially the one from the youngest shoot is very tiny. It is as small as my fingertip. And it is also still green. When they grow bigger they start to turn red.
You can see the biggest pitcher I have is aready turning red.
Until now there are three pitchers on the plant, but I think there it will grow a couple more since some leaves have these brown things that can grow into pitchers.
Let's see what the coming weeks bring. I'll try to keep my Nephentheses happy by spraying them and regularly giving it a spray.
Does anyone else have any carnivorous plants too?
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