FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Haven't seen this on any of my other neps. What would cause the pitcher to open prematurely?


Other pitchers just for side reference

Have there been any changes in your growing conditions lately? Sometimes neps pop open "stress pitchers" when something bothers them such as a drop in humidity, letting the plant dry out, pests or too much light. If not sometimes it just happens as long as other pitchers develop nicely everything should go fine.

The only difference is I dropped an osmocote pellet into the adult pitcher shown. That's it. Same light same water.
I know most would say osmocote won't cause any issues, I've had my second pitcher die on a second plant after adding one pellet

I havent ever really tried to feed osmocote to my neps since they catch all they need but ive heard it can cause pitcher die off if it becomes more concentrated. My suggestion if you really want to fertilize is to do very very diluted foliar sprays with maxsea every other week thats what I do. Otherwise keep it how you would normally keep it, it looks like a healthy plant it'll produce other pitchers.

Yeah I do the maxsea on the roots once a month in the summer. Maybe I'll add some foiliar too and dump the osmocote

I dont think root fertilizing is too good with neps ive only heard of sarracenia and helis liking it. Id recommend flushing the pot as fertilizing the roots could lead to a mineral buildup in the soil and sticking only to either foliar fertilizing or dropping an osmocote pellet in there once in awhile.

Wow. I have read many articles about using maxsea on roots at 1/4 teaspoon/gallon leave for 2 days and flush with distilled. I have been doing that to my neps the last year and they all are growing amazing! Have had many pitchers die from osmocote.

I have noticed a slow in growth for all my plants under that light. Nothing has changed. Unless the cfl should be replaced after so many hours or something weird

MrSleeves wrote:The only difference is I dropped an osmocote pellet into the adult pitcher shown. That's it. Same light same water.
I know most would say osmocote won't cause any issues, I've had my second pitcher die on a second plant after adding one pellet

Quite honestly, I cannot stand Osmocote. The pellets have a coating on them that, if damaged, tends to dump out the fertilizer in a non-regulated manner. Every nep (including my Miranda) that I have tried this on has thrown a fit as a result. Pitcher death, deformations, etc. They do not like it. YMMV.

I'd advise you to stick to the blood-and-guts. Bait and tackle stores are good sources for nep food. I prefer maggots myself, as they tend to plop right in with only minimal objection, and their soft skin is easy to digest for the plants. Meal worms work well also. Open them up a bit (yes, I am telling you to mortally wound the bug. If you have ethical objections, grow petunias ) if you're worried about an escape. These plants evolved to eat anything dumb enough to fall into the traps. Give them what they need.

I have root fertilized with Osmocote in the past, but the only results I obtained were lots of leaf growth and pathetic pitchers. It seems that if the plants are getting root nutrients, they don't put much effort into the pitchers. Lazy...

I do not know about mineral buildup, as I flush my pots with every watering. With some exceptions, the soils that neps are native to are frequently purged of everything they can hold. Orchid pots are key here; they allow a massive amount of oxygen flow, and are easy to completely flush with minimal water. Most of my plants are potted in a varying mix of LFS, peat, pearlite, LECA, orchid bark, missing children, and #12 silica (one of these is a joke). It seems to be close enough to their native environments to produce the non-water retentive jungle debris they're accustomed to.

Maxsea to the root zone hasn't produced results worth discussing for me, and only seems to cause leaf burn on most of my plants when applied to the leaves. I have added it to the pitchers in the past, and it seems to do very little compared to true food.

These guys are carnivores, they eat living things. Give them carnage!

PetroleumJunkie412 wrote:

MrSleeves wrote:The only difference is I dropped an osmocote pellet into the adult pitcher shown. That's it. Same light same water.
I know most would say osmocote won't cause any issues, I've had my second pitcher die on a second plant after adding one pellet

Quite honestly, I cannot stand Osmocote. The pellets have a coating on them that, if damaged, tends to dump out the fertilizer in a non-regulated manner. Every nep (including my Miranda) that I have tried this on has thrown a fit as a result. Pitcher death, deformations, etc. They do not like it. YMMV.

I'd advise you to stick to the blood-and-guts. Bait and tackle stores are good sources for nep food. I prefer maggots myself, as they tend to plop right in with only minimal objection, and their soft skin is easy to digest for the plants. Meal worms work well also. Open them up a bit (yes, I am telling you to mortally wound the bug. If you have ethical objections, grow petunias ) if you're worried about an escape. These plants evolved to eat anything dumb enough to fall into the traps. Give them what they need.

I have root fertilized with Osmocote in the past, but the only results I obtained were lots of leaf growth and pathetic pitchers. It seems that if the plants are getting root nutrients, they don't put much effort into the pitchers. Lazy...

I do not know about mineral buildup, as I flush my pots with every watering. With some exceptions, the soils that neps are native to are frequently purged of everything they can hold. Orchid pots are key here; they allow a massive amount of oxygen flow, and are easy to completely flush with minimal water. Most of my plants are potted in a varying mix of LFS, peat, pearlite, LECA, orchid bark, missing children, and #12 silica (one of these is a joke). It seems to be close enough to their native environments to produce the non-water retentive jungle debris they're accustomed to.

Maxsea to the root zone hasn't produced results worth discussing for me, and only seems to cause leaf burn on most of my plants when applied to the leaves. I have added it to the pitchers in the past, and it seems to do very little compared to true food.

These guys are carnivores, they eat living things. Give them carnage!

Haha I laughed out loud petroleum haha
"Eat anything dumb enough to fall in their traps" hahahaha