FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I had a weird idea. I have a couple REALLY tiny neps (hamata & lowii) that are kind of slow. Recently I chopped off all their pitchers since they dropped them when acclimating to new conditions and they picked up speed and are making large leaf jumps. My question is, if I cut the tendrils so they can't form pitchers at this tiny stage, will it be beneficial to the plant so it can concentrate its energy on leaf jumps?

Hmmm, this is a complex situation. If the pitchers had already become unviable when you cut them off then I dont think it was the tendril removal that caused this. It is likely that, after becoming acclimated, the plants enjoyed your setup more than the previous. In addition, it is possible that it was simply time for a leaf jump. Also, if they are indeed seedlings, their fragility may make tendril cutting a potentially risky choice. Traditionally, nutrient loading their traps with fish food(at the sacrifice of the pitchers) is the go to way to force a size jump. Just sprinkle a pinch of storebought fish flakes into the pitchers and they go crazy. Sudden bouts of high but not damaging light intensity and is likely to cause size jumps as well.

wstok002 wrote:Hmmm, this is a complex situation. If the pitchers had already become unviable when you cut them off then I dont think it was the tendril removal that caused this. It is likely that, after becoming acclimated, the plants enjoyed your setup more than the previous. In addition, it is possible that it was simply time for a leaf jump. Also, if they are indeed seedlings, their fragility may make tendril cutting a potentially risky choice. Traditionally, nutrient loading their traps with fish food(at the sacrifice of the pitchers) is the go to way to force a size jump. Just sprinkle a pinch of storebought fish flakes into the pitchers and they go crazy. Sudden bouts of high but not damaging light intensity and is likely to cause size jumps as well.

Thank you for the tips! I'll make sure to try that when they make new pitchers.