FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

ChefDean wrote: ↑Tue Feb 02, 2021 2:37 am I've also seen that when you chemically fertilize neps, you often get the skip a leaf occurrence. However, when I stuffed all of my Ventricosa pitchers with Japanese Beetles and June Bugs (natural fertilizer) last summer, not only did I see a large uptick in growth, but every leaf formed a pitcher.
The plants know the difference, it wanted more beetle-y goodness.

Nepenthes0260 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 02, 2021 1:50 am After fertilizing Neps, they usually skip a pitcher on their next tendril and instead focus on leaf growth. It’s perfectly normal and the next leaf will grow a pitcher. Nice amp btw!

ChefDean wrote: ↑Tue Feb 02, 2021 1:03 pm

NepenBreeder wrote: ↑Tue Feb 02, 2021 6:18 amSo is that mean chemical fertilization is harmful to Neps?

I believe that it is not harmful to Neps as long as you don't overdo it. Excess fertilizer for any plant is harmful.
I just shared that, in my experience, the plant reacted differently after consuming its natural prey, bugs, than it did when I had put a chemical fertilizer in the pitcher. It reacted to the bugs by expending the energy to form as many pitchers as it could. Presumably, this was to try to capture as many as it could.

ChefDean wrote: ↑Tue Feb 02, 2021 1:03 pm

NepenBreeder wrote: ↑Tue Feb 02, 2021 6:18 amSo is that mean chemical fertilization is harmful to Neps?

I believe that it is not harmful to Neps as long as you don't overdo it. Excess fertilizer for any plant is harmful.
I just shared that, in my experience, the plant reacted differently after consuming its natural prey, bugs, than it did when I had put a chemical fertilizer in the pitcher. It reacted to the bugs by expending the energy to form as many pitchers as it could. Presumably, this was to try to capture as many as it could.

ChefDean wrote: ↑Tue Feb 02, 2021 4:19 pm Again, that is what I, and others have observed. Whether that causes it to skip a pitcher, I don't know.

In my experience, based on my conditions, when I dropped commercial chemical fertilizers in the pitchers, it wasn't uncommon for the next leaf to emerge to not form a pitcher.

Did the commercial fertilizer tell the plant "You're getting fed, be lazy and enjoy it."? I don't know. When I stuffed every pitcher with bugs, was there a signal to tell the plant "This is what you need to catch, make more pitchers"? I don't know. I'm only guessing why my plant did that based on my limited information. One plant is not enough to get a solid answer.

Looking again at your picture, that leaf is very yellow compared to the others. Maybe it's not forming a pitcher because that leaf is dying. Maybe that leaf got damaged somehow so it's barely getting enough nutrients to stay alive, but not enough to grow a pitcher. It's definitely not normal, and that could be the cause of why the pitcher is not forming. Sometimes, maybe the plant just decides "I'm not going to grow a pitcher on this leaf".

The bottom line is; your plant is fine, it's green and alive. Don't worry about the pitchers, it doesn't need to eat in order to live, it only needs sunlight and water.

ChefDean wrote: ↑Wed Feb 03, 2021 2:45 am Then it looks like you have the opportunity to experiment.
Wait until a month has passed since you added fertilizer, and do it again. See if the next leaf doesn't form a pitcher.
Then, when another new leaf is opening up, go get a dozen or so crickets from the pet store. Crush their little skulls so they don't eat the pitcher, and fill the pitchers with their fresh corpses.
See if the plant now forms pitchers on the new leaf and maybe the next leaves. I'd be curious to see the results.
I'd do the same thing, but I gave my big Nep away last year.