If I had never owned a plant before (I have, I currently have like 30 lol) how hard are these to keep alive? Nepenthes in general not just this stunning beauty in the post.
Nepenthes are carnivorous plants, and as all carnivorous plants go, they do need special care. Water them with only rain water or distilled water, never tap. They need a soil mix that has no added fertilizer (so stay away from miracle gro). Some people put their nepenthes in a mix of peat moss or coco coir/perlite. Some put them in pure new Zealand sphagnum moss. Myself, I have a mix that I use consisting of peat moss, sphagnum, and perlite, and they seem pretty happy. Sometimes I mix in pool sand. The important thing to know with nepenthes is that they do like their substrate to be slightly damp but never waterlogged. They also do require quite a lot of light. They are Vining plants so they will do good in hanging baskets as their pitchers will have weight to them and eventually as they grow their vines will get quite long.
I have some of my nepenthes under t5s (the smaller ones that are not big enough to put in hanging baskets yet) and my larger nepenthes in south facing windows. They get watered more often than most of my house plants, sans my other carnivorous plants (looking at you, sundews and pings) and they do like the higher humidity.
It sounds a little intimidating at first but they are a little less finicky than other carnivorous plants, luckily. If you’d like to try them, look up nepenthes ventrata/alata! They are most people’s beginner nepenthes as they are much more affordable and less picky than other hybrids :)
If I had never owned a plant before (I have, I currently have like 30 lol) how hard are these to keep alive? Nepenthes in general not just this stunning beauty in the post.
Nepenthes are carnivorous plants, and as all carnivorous plants go, they do need special care. Water them with only rain water or distilled water, never tap. They need a soil mix that has no added fertilizer (so stay away from miracle gro). Some people put their nepenthes in a mix of peat moss or coco coir/perlite. Some put them in pure new Zealand sphagnum moss. Myself, I have a mix that I use consisting of peat moss, sphagnum, and perlite, and they seem pretty happy. Sometimes I mix in pool sand. The important thing to know with nepenthes is that they do like their substrate to be slightly damp but never waterlogged. They also do require quite a lot of light. They are Vining plants so they will do good in hanging baskets as their pitchers will have weight to them and eventually as they grow their vines will get quite long.
I have some of my nepenthes under t5s (the smaller ones that are not big enough to put in hanging baskets yet) and my larger nepenthes in south facing windows. They get watered more often than most of my house plants, sans my other carnivorous plants (looking at you, sundews and pings) and they do like the higher humidity.
It sounds a little intimidating at first but they are a little less finicky than other carnivorous plants, luckily. If you’d like to try them, look up nepenthes ventrata/alata! They are most people’s beginner nepenthes as they are much more affordable and less picky than other hybrids :)
I’d also suggest spectabilis x ventricosa for a beginner nepenthes! I have one and it lives on tap water and looks fantastic.
Saving this! Thank you that was a great intro guide