FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Recently purchased from Home Depot (surprised about that).
Watered with distilled, reverse osmosis, yadda yadda, water.
Keeping the medium moist.
Topped off it's pitchers with same water.
Fed it lady bugs and a few insects that fly into the house.
Pitchers browning and shriveling.
Help.

EDIT: The leaves are turning brown and losing their rigidness as well.

It's normal for the pitchers to dry off when acclimatizing. Once dried, snip off the tendrils.

Most of my Nepenthes often shed off their pitchers after shipping, probably due to the stress and the new condition.

Pitchers (particularly on new plants) aren't always a good way of assessing a plant's health. Posting pictures of the foliage, media, and growth tip would help us diagnose any issues better.

Posting pictures of the foliage, media, and growth tip would help us diagnose any issues better.

I will post some new pictures soon.

Where does it grow at? How much sunlight does it get?

It doesn't get a lot of sunlight as the temperature is consistently below 60, and there are no places to keep it by a window, so I keep it close to a ceiling fan (not spinning) with the four florescent lights on for the day.

-Root rot from poor drainage.

I assume there is enough drainage because of the whole at the bottom of the pot, and I have to keep another pot beneath that one to catch any dripping water.

low humidity?( if it's lower then 30% neps have problems even Ventrata)

I live in the marshlands of Maryland, right next to the Chesapeake Bay. Even though the temperature is dropping, the humidity tends to stay well above 60%, consistently.

No need to send photos...it's dead. Everything has gone black and limp and the traps are shriveling along with some leaves. Anybody know how to resurrect a nepenthes? Or how to bring this one back...

If the stem is still green then it is still alive. I am not sure why it would recede so much if your humidity is above 60%. I bought my ventrata during the summer and immediatly moved it from the greenhouse where I got it to direct sun outdoors (about 20% humidity) and had no loss of pitchers.

If it's gone black and limp it sounds like root rot to me...that's what mine did when it got that...

Leaves changing color and losing their rigidity is definitely a symptom of too much water or water at the roots.

But yet you said you kept the soil medium moist, which is reasonable.

There is one other thing you said, which I have not heard before from others. So although I bring it up, because others did not think it was the cause, it might just be me trying to think of something to explain what happpened, and it might be just fine to do what you did.

Usually, it is suggested to fill the pitchers to about 1/3 or even 1/2, but you "topped" them. To me, that means you filled up the pitchers all the way to the top.

I don't know if that much liquid would adversely affect the plant. I assume they don't want too much water because of the lid that prevents rain from getting in.

Either 1) the pitcher could tip over from the water imbalancing the pitcher; or 2) maybe their pitchers or the plants aren't supposed to have that much water. Now and then, 1 or 2 may get that much water and the plant can work through it, but if all of them get that much, it may be negative.

Again, I don't know if my comment "holds any water", so to speak, but I'm sorry to hear that your lovely plant succumbed. HD does have a 1-year plant guarantee so you may be able to get your money back if you have not disposed of the plant or receipt. On the other hand, the HD managers may not give in so easily on their own guarantee, but give it a try.

Chipi3s wrote:As stated before you have your plant in a room where it's only light is the 'ceiling fan' that it hangs from. It's dying because there's not enough light. I don't know why no one has pointed this out yet. Not any old floresent light will do, at a bare minimal "i" would recommend a 5000k bulb. Preferably 6500k.

All that aside you said your temps are consistently below 60 degrees farenheight. That's another reason it's dieing. It needs warm days and cool nights. Day and night swing.

My ventrata is in constant 90F temperature with no drop and they are still growing like crazy.

omnipercp15 wrote:Usually, it is suggested to fill the pitchers to about 1/3 or even 1/2, but you "topped" them. To me, that means you filled up the pitchers all the way to the top.

My apologizes. I topped off what was already in the pitcher, ensuring that I did not go above 1/2. I will keep everything else in mind that you mentioned and I still have the plant, but will have to look for the receipt.

Chipi3s wrote: Not any old floresent light will do, at a bare minimal "i" would recommend a 5000k bulb. Preferably 6500k.

I was afraid the bulb wouldn't give it enough, but the way my house sits, there is no good location for sunlight. Which, on that note, I have been thinking about setting up a small indoor "greenhouse." Could you suggest any lights or equipment or point me in a direction of where to start?