FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I'd use MaxSea or orchid fertilizers. You will destroy the slow release coating and most likely kill your plants, especially if they are that small.

Of course, I don't grow Nepenthes, much. But I have read that most people use either MaxSea or Orchid fertilizers, on all sizes of plants. They just dilute it.

Chipi3s wrote:Or would cutting it no longer make it a slow release fertilizer?

It would no longer be slow release.

I don't think you'd kill your plant. From what I've learned from others, and my own experience with over fertilizing the pitchers, the worst that happens is you burn the pitcher. The plant will be fine.

However, just search for the tiniest of pellets. In a bottle of Osmocote you will find some really small pellets.

I share the following thinking with other Nepenthes growers I know...
If a pitcher plant died every time one of its pitchers caught an overabundance food, they'd be extinct by now.

But, I'm no expert on neps, or any plant for that matter.

Alvin 415 wrote: I share the following thinking with other Nepenthes growers I know...
If a pitcher plant died every time one of its pitchers caught an overabundance food, they'd be extinct by now.

I figured that chemical fertilizers (non-slow release) would be naturally stronger than anything a Nepenthes could catch, especially a thin walled little plant if it's only an inch across.

But, having personally never had a 1 inch diameter Nepenthes, I couldn't say!

Alvin 415 wrote:But, I'm no expert on neps, or any plant for that matter.

You're selling yourself short here! Based on the most important factor (the health and happiness of your plants) you're at the very least extremely competent.

Thanks for the compliment!

I do have a couple of tiny Nepenthes I could test. What I could do is test one, and leave the other one unfertilized as the control. Yeah, a control group of one is not much of a group, but that's what I have.

Perhaps, I will take it far and crush the Osmocote pellet instead of just cutting it in half, just to see what happens when all that fertilizer is released into the pitcher.

I've tried putting split osmocote pellets in Nepenthes seedling pitchers before, and I would certainly not recommend it - after a few hours the pitcher becomes very wilted and shrivels up. This then spreads to the entire leaf.

Once the plants are big enough to accept whole pellets they respond very well.

Chipi3s wrote:Fed the smallest pellet I could find to one of my small Lowii's.

No pics?

Please let us know how it goes.

Hi! I am also new to neps and I tried putting 1 osmocote pellet in one of the newly opened pitcher of my N.ampullaria and it seems to be doing fine. Been a week and nothing much happened. Pitcher is an inch long and plant is 3 inches high.



I also tried osmocote in the pot of one of my gracilis as an experiment and so far so good. Plant is 2 inches tall and pitchers are half an inch.



Wanted to get maxsea but sadly none sold in my country and buying online the delivery is double the price of product so no maxsea for me!