Q/A #119 - Large Nepenthes Stopped Producing Pitchers

June 28, 2023

Q/A #119 - Large Nepenthes Stopped Producing Pitchers

QUESTION:
I am in Chinatown NYC with a large bank of eastern facing windows and many mirrors. I have had a Nepenthes for the past 5 years! I think it's N. maxima or maybe a hybrid.

It has always been happy and grown quickly while growing and maintaining many pitchers. Maybe a year ago it started to not grow pitchers. The leaves continue to thrive and it blooms frequently but the pitchers remain infant and never develop.

I thought perhaps it was in too small of a pot/ over grown soil or had too much foliage to support.

This spring in March I trimmed back the largest branch of the plant and repotted it to a larger terracotta container with sphagnum moss hoping this would revive it some. It took slowly to the new environment and is now again growing a lot but still no pitchers.

Any thoughts? Do Nepenthes age to where they don't produce? The conditions that my Nepenthes enjoyed for many years remain the same but it no longer produces pitchers.
(Submitted in June 2020.)


RESPONSE BY JEFF DALLAS:

Your plant needs much more light; i.e. several hours of direct sun. This looks like a Nepenthes Miranda and it definitely needs to be right up in a sunny window. You know it is getting enough sun when the leaves are slightly reddish and the nodal spacing is tight. (A node is where a leaf comes out of the stem. Right now your plant dull green leaves with wide nodal spacing. Both are signs of low light conditions.) 

Also, it's important that the base of the plant is in the sun, not just the tips of the vines. From what I see in your photos, you need to move the plant down directly in front of one of the windows. A shelf or more conventional plant stand would take care of that.

This particular Nepenthes can get huge. It's perfectly ok to cut it back to make it more manageable. Vines that you cut off can be rooted like other plants.



• The original question and response have been edited for publication.
• With a database of thousands of questions, we will post a Q&A every few days or so.
• To search for similar posts, click on a hashtag below or use the site's search function.
• To submit a carnivorous plant question, visit
Ask the Growers.