FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi everyone, new to this forum !
Got a “monkey cup” a few months back as a gift and it took off and was doing great on my shower windowsill and grew a bunch of nice pitchers for a bit.

But the past week I’ve noticed the newest pitcher which hasn’t opened yet is growing WAY slower than the other ones. And the two newest leaves look like they will not produce any pitchers...?
No conditions have changed for him. Same windowsill. Same humidity. Same water schedule. Not sure what is going on, maybe normal? I’m in SoCal by the way if that matters at all.

Thank you for any responses !! Hopefully the pictures attach properly from my phone. Also not even sure what species he actually is. Haha

a few things can affect nepenthes.
1. humidity (is same so is ignored)
2. watering (also same, ignored)
3. light. even though it may be on the same windowsill, less light means bigger leaves and smaller or non-existnt pitchers.
4. fertilization (one word. DON'T.)
just to make sure you've got the basics down.
1. only distilled water
2. plant in pure spagnum or peat and perlite. (NOTHING CAN BE FROM MIRICAL GROW!!!!)
3. lots. of. light. (3+ hours of direct sun, some exclusions but it's a rule of thumb)
i'm not good with plant types but i assume that might be a highland nepenthes (please correct me if i'm wrong someone) and those slowdown growth in the winter (again, please correct me if i'm wrong, i'm also a noob) and that might be what's causing the slowdown.
when the tips of leaves are turhung brown consistantly it oculd be either fertilization, or it got burnt. do you have a heater near the house? also, to see if your nepenthes likes the temperature, wear a t-shirt. if it's too cold for you, it's also too cold for the nepenthes. if it's too hot for you, you nepenthes is sad and wants the ac to be turned on.
also, keep in mind that feeding the pitcher bugs is technicaly fertilization, but it really doesnt' matter how much you feed it. so go overbord with the feeding. the worst thing that can happen is the pitcher dies (don't stuff the pitcher to the tip or put pure fertilizer in cups)
for more info you can search up (at the top) "nepenthes not making pitchers" it might help.

thank you for the reply !

Yeah I wasn’t sure if because we are getting closer to winter that it might affect it...? He still seems to be getting a decent amount of light on that windowsill but I might try to change it up depending on if I can find a better one.

I also wasn’t sure if he got too big for his little pot. He came with whatever soil mixture they shipped him with but I’ve noticed most online stores come with moss and not soil.

Growth slows down when cold weather approaches

I think it’s hard water residue. I have been using distilled for a bit now. But I think it’s from when I first got the plant and had no idea what I was doing