FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hey all,

I got a Nepenthes x Ventrata a week ago, and I've been slowly acclimating it to my household. When I got it, it came with a few pitchers, one of which looks like its turning kind of brown slowly. However, it came with this small green one that, over the past week, has grown like mad to the size of my thumb and has even opened up its lid, which as me super happy since I've only just started opening its ziplock bag!

My question is, do I need to put water in any of the pitchers right now while its acclimating? I know they make their own liquids, but is it necessary to put water in the pitchers as part of the acclimation process? I always get mixed information from googling.

Plant Pic tax:

They naturally fill the pitchers on there own. When i 1st get a plant in the mail i will fill them 25% with pure water to assist with recovery. Some advice i will give you is don't baby Ventrata let it adjust and it will grow in most conditions house hold or out outside.

I really abuse mine.

optique wrote:Some advice i will give you is don't baby Ventrata let it adjust and it will grow in most conditions house hold or out outside.

You can definitely baby it if it's your first nep... It doesn't need the extra liquid, but why not?

optique wrote:When i 1st get a plant in the mail i will fill them 25% with pure water to assist with recovery.

Mine is in a 12in pot and each vine growing 6ft+ a year. I really am trying to get rid of it. It was my 1st and yeah i did baby it. =p

Sounds good, thanks for the advice guys! I guess I'll put a little bit of water in each pitcher, doesn't hurt right?

I was planning on keeping it inside with a grow light. I'm in a 7b zone and my patio gets a LOT of sun, but it's super hot outside recently, like 90+ every day, and the sun usually is directly over the patio blasting everything there with delicious sunlight. Is that bad for Ventrata? I heard they normally need "bright shade" or something, but I'm not sure I can do that. Best to just keep it indoors with a light on it all year round so I don't have to worry about moving it in and out over the seasons? Or is it hardy enough to just live wherever?

Nikson wrote: ↑Sat Aug 21, 2021 3:18 am Sounds good, thanks for the advice guys! I guess I'll put a little bit of water in each pitcher, doesn't hurt right?

I was planning on keeping it inside with a grow light. I'm in a 7b zone and my patio gets a LOT of sun, but it's super hot outside recently, like 90+ every day, and the sun usually is directly over the patio blasting everything there with delicious sunlight. Is that bad for Ventrata? I heard they normally need "bright shade" or something, but I'm not sure I can do that. Best to just keep it indoors with a light on it all year round so I don't have to worry about moving it in and out over the seasons? Or is it hardy enough to just live wherever?

I'm still learning about nepenthes and I have a Ventrata myself, my first one ever named Clara. From what I did research and watched videos on, nepenthes r fine for indirect lighting, I don't know much of direct light. For my nepenthes, I let her have morning light on my porch and then put her in shade, my porch has a roof so I keep her there until at night when I bring my plants in.

It's up to you on keeping it inside year round with lighting. It can work and Nepenthes hybrids aren't that picky. My growing zone is 6B so I'm working on a winter setup in my house because Clara can't survive the frigid temps and snow. For me, I rather have my plants outside unless its 95 degrees or higher, because then I worry if they'll get sunburn or over heat.

Hopes this helps!

Hi guys whilst we are talking about nepenthes x ventrata I have recently just ordered one too and I was wandering if the new traps will secrete quite a lot of fluid as surely that's how they digest and drown thei prey it's just that I'm getting mixed views and experiences online and I was wandering if someone could confirm if they secrete a lot of liquid in each trap which is noticeable or if they secrete a few drops and that's it?

Many thanks!

My two ventratas fill their pitchers about 30% with liquid. I've had a couple fill a bit more than that, but not often.

Ok thank you for telling me!

BTW, if you slosh the fluids in the traps up towards the top of the trap, often times the trap will die basically of acid reflux. The top part of the pitchers can't cope with the digestive enzymes.

Interesting. My ventrata pitchers have a sort of "line" about 2/3 up from the bottom of the pitcher. There's also a color change above the line. I assume this is the "cutoff point"?
I wonder how they cope with rainwater filling up the pitchers.

I think the rainwater dilutes it enough to be reabsorbed. There is nothing scientific about this. It is just my observation.

A very interesting fact!