Had this issue with a Veitchii hibrid. I forced it open with a toothpick and got it to eat a tiny Beta grain. Then I decided to look on how to do it. Well…
Hello, I have a quick question; If a pitcher captures little or no insects, will that pitcher die off quicker to save energy? And do smaller pitchers die off slower/quicker than larger pitchers? Thanks!
@@WindowsillNepenthes I haven't tried it but i get what you mean. What if you mixed it with water? I don't know if they would dissolve but then you could use a surringe (i don't know if that is spelled right) to 'Ingect' it into the pitcher.
Creative idea! I feed mine with maxsea with a syringe+needle. I feed al my CPs with that, so I can do the small pitchers at the same time. The big pitchers get an osmocote-like pellet once.
I use Powerfeed from Seasol and also add just Seasol liquid fert (but I don't really need to, I just have some laying about) at 1ml of each per litre for my Drosera and Flytrap seedlings and Pitcher plants every 2 weeks, a light misting. Growing like weeds. Now to grow some Nepenthes and Sarracenia before winter sets in.
Amazing video, feed small plants was always an issue, it always demanded long time cause I was afraid of damaging the plant. That's definitely something I'll be trying here!
I have been cutting the pitchers that are already half dead, but have not tried it on the tiny pitchers. So good advice 🙂. How often do you feed this way and how many pitchers on one plant? Thank you and happy growing from Holland 👍👍
I alternate months with using a few drops of maxsea or betta pellets on my baby pitchers. Bigger pitchers I use maxsea, osmocote, or re-hydrated bloodworms. I feed once a month with all Nepenthes. The one thing I've been experiencing though with my Ventricosa are small/deformed/ burnt lids. Sometimes lids are non-existent. 😟
@@WindowsillNepenthes Yeah I know. It's hard to pin point what causes the small lid syndrome. It's only been happening recently with a few newly formed pitchers.
When do you start feeding with osmocote pellets? The moment the pitchers are big enough to fit one inside? Also, do you wait with fertilizing like that until the plant has "lived in"? I got a small truncata last week and I'm wondering if I should start giving it osmocote already (the pitchers still juveline, but already 2 inches tall).
@@WindowsillNepenthes alright thats usefull! plenty of options. And its good for both young and mature plans ? You use it for both? :) Thanks anyway for the reply!
One thing I've noticed is all my newly opened pitchers have no fluids at all. I tried using the betta food pellet but since there is not digestive enzyme, the pellet ended up sitting in the pitcher for a week so I just took out the pellet again. The Nepenthes is in a bright room, RM approx.70-80% daytime and approx. 80-99% nighttime. The most vigorous one in the room puts out new leaves every week and many are growing pitchers(2 fully formed pitcher, 5 in progress) with huge root systems that outgrown an 8" pot in a year.
Newly open pitcher should have fluid except if it was repotted (roots don't provide enough water to the plant). Do you mean new plants that were shipped?
@@WindowsillNepenthes The most interesting thing is when I water the most vigorous one, the plant actually pause the leaf growing process every single time... lol. It is also the one that refuse to pitcher for a long time until I switch from white light to purple light and out came two pitchers.(Then I switch back to white light) So nowadays I just use minimal water, the soil is still pretty moist. But you should see the root system.. I'm not sure if it's the species or just the hybrid, but the root system has outgrown an 8" pot. I did give the plant some 'hard' growing last year.
I have been putting my scientific hat on and this is effectively a slow-release way of feeding nepenthes. The fish pellets will have to be biochemically broken down so the plant will have to "work" to extract the micronutrients from the pellet in much the way it would for insect prey. Using liquid nonorganic feeds the N-P-K is more or less free to be absorbed by the plants immediately as a quick hit. Use Osmocote with care as it sits in the pitcher liquid and releases its contents quickly, in the soil this is much slower. Osmocote in general gardening releases the nutrients on watering and after rain over a much larger volume of distribution. Cheers Adam
This is an amazing idea! I use osmocote pellets on my larger pitchers, but I do it sparingly since it tends to kill the pitchers off faster. Great idea to cut the top off ones already dying, I'll definitely be doing this. My ventrata has a couple new basals with teeny pitchers I was trying to figure out how to give them a boost. Your video was very helpful. Thank you!
@@adamkesingland968 i recently got a basal growing out of the main stem of the mother plant. I wasnt sure what to do with it. Since i recently read about root suckers on other plants. Wasnt sure if this would also apply here.
Hey Remy, how often do you feed them? Do you still use the beta fish food or opted to liquid fertilizer? How often, and how many pitchers per seedling? I’m feeling very impatient with the seedlings I have and wanna speed up the process a bit
@@WindowsillNepenthes Nice Remy. I appreciate your time sharing your experience! And also your videos. Love them. Keep it up man, thanks for replying 😁
@@WindowsillNepenthes I have good results with it. Nursed a N. x hookeriana back to life with it. It showed classic nitrogen deficiency. The others Nepenthes are responding with good growth. I prefer it because with the next watering all excess is washed away. You take a hydroponic fertilizer, eg Hakaphos, that dissolves completely and mix a low concentration. I started with 2 g per liter. Apply that every other week and get a feel how the plants react.
I think they will feed on them. I live in a country where one species of mosquitoes cause very serious disease every summer, and my Nepenthes plants help me with that. There is one known species of mosquitoes that can reproduce inside Nepenthes, that is endemic to (I don’t remember well and could be wrong) Southeast Asia that has developed a symbiotic relationship with Nepenthes plants and can survive their pitchers without being digested.
Those mosquitoes’ larvae are so exclusive to Nepenthes’s pitchers as their natural habitats that they cannot survive anywhere else, they totally depend on the plants, and even their relationship has a cool name, nepenthebionts. :D The mosquito species that can survive the pitchers are: Toxorhynchites rajah, Culex jenseni, Uranotaenia moultoni and (unfortunately) Aedes albopictus (as filter feeders), some Ceratopogonidae, several Chironomidae species (as detritus feeders). There’s a few others that seem to benefit from Nepenthes, but apparently will not care to reproduce in them to leave larvae. You can do this experiment yourself to see if the larvae survive or dies, but I suspect they will die at some point, even if not on larvae stage (maybe pupa stage). I say go ahead, kill them all :)
I am going to buy the betta pellets! What type of tweezers are you using? They seem perfect to be able to pick up individual pellets. Do you have a size or specific type of tweezer and scissor that you are using in this video that you can recommend?
@@WindowsillNepenthes yeah, it usually doesn't take too long. I used to try and do a foliar feeding with a q tip soaked in maxsea. But that was awkward and didn't work that well. It is better than not feeding the plant, and it will get it past the seedling stage. But it doesn't seem to be as effective as putting food into the pitcher. On a related note: if you have enough springtails, they will crawl into the small pitchers. But I don't know how much nutrition they bring in. They are pretty small
@@Plant_Parenthood Those ones"would" eat roots by accident. But again I can't confirm. There is this "sudden seedling's death" (before the first set of carnivorous leaves) that I'm still trying to understand.
Too much work. I just culture flightless fruitflies and dump them on the baby nepenthes and heliamphora. But I have a terrarium they can't escape from, not recommended for a windowsill haha
I’ve found a fish pallet few days ago that is even smaller than the ones you are using. Time to put it to the test ❤
Had this issue with a Veitchii hibrid. I forced it open with a toothpick and got it to eat a tiny Beta grain. Then I decided to look on how to do it. Well…
Alice in Wonderland comes to mind. The wicked Queen ♥️ screaming off with her head. Great video thx for sharing.
You are right! I should have used this scene
Hello, I have a quick question;
If a pitcher captures little or no insects, will that pitcher die off quicker to save energy? And do smaller pitchers die off slower/quicker than larger pitchers? Thanks!
For my understanding, pitchers die after a long time or when they captured.
An not fed pitchers last longer (but plant grows slowly).
@@WindowsillNepenthes understood, thank you for the information! It's a huge help :)
Generally no. Usually what mine do is they start drooling big gobs of nectar to try and attract more bugs.
You could also crush the pellets for those extra tiny seedlings.
Ok but it's still hard to put the powder inside the pitcher... and everything that will fall on the ground will mold. Did you tried it?
@@WindowsillNepenthes I haven't tried it but i get what you mean. What if you mixed it with water? I don't know if they would dissolve but then you could use a surringe (i don't know if that is spelled right) to 'Ingect' it into the pitcher.
@@ewanb8067 Yes you could melt the pellets and use a syringe :)
Could this method be used for Venus fly traps, too?
I'm not an expert on Dionaea but Betta fish pellet could work if you make the plant believe it's alive.
Creative idea! I feed mine with maxsea with a syringe+needle. I feed al my CPs with that, so I can do the small pitchers at the same time. The big pitchers get an osmocote-like pellet once.
You are right, I really need to find a syringe with needle sometime...
I use Powerfeed from Seasol and also add just Seasol liquid fert (but I don't really need to, I just have some laying about) at 1ml of each per litre for my Drosera and Flytrap seedlings and Pitcher plants every 2 weeks, a light misting. Growing like weeds. Now to grow some Nepenthes and Sarracenia before winter sets in.
Amazing video, feed small plants was always an issue, it always demanded long time cause I was afraid of damaging the plant. That's definitely something I'll be trying here!
Give it a try ;)
I have been cutting the pitchers that are already half dead, but have not tried it on the tiny pitchers. So good advice 🙂. How often do you feed this way and how many pitchers on one plant? Thank you and happy growing from Holland 👍👍
I'll give 1 small betta fish pellet every 2-3 weeks on tiny pitchers. And I try to put some water with liquid fertilizer with it.
Moi j'utilise des grillons séchés que je découpe en petit morceaux, alors oui c'est un peu dégoûtant parfois mais ça marche aussi :)
I started to do this on Cephalotus and Nepenthes to force them to grow a long ago 😂 glad to see I'm not the only one
Also, wonder if they would be good for Cephalotus. I have tried it today on some of my rhizome cuttings!
a little brutal but I still can't, my heart won't let me :(
another extremely helpful video! thanks!
My pleasure 😊
Brilliant idea 💡 👏 I will start going through my smaller pitchers tomorrow. Thank you so much for your advice 🙏
i thought that was my idea i started doing that a long time ago;) ..i even cut a heatlhy small pitcher open sometimes if the opening is too small .
Same! Some people do it but nobody ever talk about it 🤣 Nepenthes taboo?
@@WindowsillNepenthes hehe looks like that, anyway i was suprised seeing a video about it 👍
I alternate months with using a few drops of maxsea or betta pellets on my baby pitchers. Bigger pitchers I use maxsea, osmocote, or re-hydrated bloodworms. I feed once a month with all Nepenthes.
The one thing I've been experiencing though with my Ventricosa are small/deformed/ burnt lids. Sometimes lids are non-existent. 😟
The lid problem is due to stress. But that could be a lot of things ;)
@@WindowsillNepenthes Yeah I know. It's hard to pin point what causes the small lid syndrome. It's only been happening recently with a few newly formed pitchers.
When do you start feeding with osmocote pellets? The moment the pitchers are big enough to fit one inside? Also, do you wait with fertilizing like that until the plant has "lived in"? I got a small truncata last week and I'm wondering if I should start giving it osmocote already (the pitchers still juveline, but already 2 inches tall).
Osmocote is when the pitcher is 2 5 inches.
Hey Remy, any type of fish food will do the work as Neps food? or does i have to be a specific type?
I use fish pellet for betta fish as its animal based protein (from shrimps).
@@WindowsillNepenthes alright thats usefull! plenty of options. And its good for both young and mature plans ? You use it for both? :)
Thanks anyway for the reply!
@@ConstantinBoca When pitchers get bigger I switch to Osmocote. And take pellets not the flakes.
Helpful video! Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
One thing I've noticed is all my newly opened pitchers have no fluids at all. I tried using the betta food pellet but since there is not digestive enzyme, the pellet ended up sitting in the pitcher for a week so I just took out the pellet again. The Nepenthes is in a bright room, RM approx.70-80% daytime and approx. 80-99% nighttime. The most vigorous one in the room puts out new leaves every week and many are growing pitchers(2 fully formed pitcher, 5 in progress) with huge root systems that outgrown an 8" pot in a year.
Newly open pitcher should have fluid except if it was repotted (roots don't provide enough water to the plant). Do you mean new plants that were shipped?
@@WindowsillNepenthes The most interesting thing is when I water the most vigorous one, the plant actually pause the leaf growing process every single time... lol. It is also the one that refuse to pitcher for a long time until I switch from white light to purple light and out came two pitchers.(Then I switch back to white light) So nowadays I just use minimal water, the soil is still pretty moist. But you should see the root system.. I'm not sure if it's the species or just the hybrid, but the root system has outgrown an 8" pot. I did give the plant some 'hard' growing last year.
I have been putting my scientific hat on and this is effectively a slow-release way of feeding nepenthes. The fish pellets will have to be biochemically broken down so the plant will have to "work" to extract the micronutrients from the pellet in much the way it would for insect prey. Using liquid nonorganic feeds the N-P-K is more or less free to be absorbed by the plants immediately as a quick hit. Use Osmocote with care as it sits in the pitcher liquid and releases its contents quickly, in the soil this is much slower. Osmocote in general gardening releases the nutrients on watering and after rain over a much larger volume of distribution. Cheers Adam
I would have taught that pellets being made from krill, it would be like insects.
@@WindowsillNepenthes krill are really small prawns. They are crustaceans and Arthropods (sea woodlouse?)
@@adamkesingland968 that's what 🐳 eats, some micro to tiny shrimp.
@@WindowsillNepenthes I did hear a Foodie once say no one would eat a prawn if it lived on the land. It would have too many legs and scuttle around.
This is an amazing idea! I use osmocote pellets on my larger pitchers, but I do it sparingly since it tends to kill the pitchers off faster. Great idea to cut the top off ones already dying, I'll definitely be doing this.
My ventrata has a couple new basals with teeny pitchers I was trying to figure out how to give them a boost. Your video was very helpful. Thank you!
If the basals are attached to the mother plant they will get nutrition from the mother plant. Cheers Adam
@@adamkesingland968 i recently got a basal growing out of the main stem of the mother plant. I wasnt sure what to do with it. Since i recently read about root suckers on other plants. Wasnt sure if this would also apply here.
How often do you feed and do you feed all the pitchers and at the same time?
I feed all the pitchers once a week. ;)
Hey Remy, how often do you feed them? Do you still use the beta fish food or opted to liquid fertilizer? How often, and how many pitchers per seedling?
I’m feeling very impatient with the seedlings I have and wanna speed up the process a bit
I spray with liquid fertilizer once a week, solid food is every 3 weeks because it's a pain to do ;) and I feed every pitcher except the last one.
@@WindowsillNepenthes Nice Remy. I appreciate your time sharing your experience! And also your videos. Love them. Keep it up man, thanks for replying 😁
Exactly what we do also.
Why not use a hydroponic fertilizer? Simpler and better control.
Because I don't know how to do that...
@@WindowsillNepenthes I have good results with it. Nursed a N. x hookeriana back to life with it. It showed classic nitrogen deficiency. The others Nepenthes are responding with good growth. I prefer it because with the next watering all excess is washed away.
You take a hydroponic fertilizer, eg Hakaphos, that dissolves completely and mix a low concentration. I started with 2 g per liter. Apply that every other week and get a feel how the plants react.
That was supposed to be 2 g fertilizer per 10 liter water.
Ya gotta crack a few eggs to make an omelette! 😆
French expression haha
Well I'm glad to know there's somebody else that does that I do that in East Texas
N’importe quoi
Tu peux développer? Qu'est-ce qui est n'importe quoi?
Yeah, just ordered some betta fish pellets. Cheers Adam
Will mosquito larvae be good for outdoor nepenthes? Whether they live or die in the pitcher?
I think they will feed on them. I live in a country where one species of mosquitoes cause very serious disease every summer, and my Nepenthes plants help me with that. There is one known species of mosquitoes that can reproduce inside Nepenthes, that is endemic to (I don’t remember well and could be wrong) Southeast Asia that has developed a symbiotic relationship with Nepenthes plants and can survive their pitchers without being digested.
Those mosquitoes’ larvae are so exclusive to Nepenthes’s pitchers as their natural habitats that they cannot survive anywhere else, they totally depend on the plants, and even their relationship has a cool name, nepenthebionts. :D
The mosquito species that can survive the pitchers are: Toxorhynchites rajah, Culex jenseni, Uranotaenia moultoni and (unfortunately) Aedes albopictus (as filter feeders), some Ceratopogonidae, several Chironomidae species (as detritus feeders). There’s a few others that seem to benefit from Nepenthes, but apparently will not care to reproduce in them to leave larvae. You can do this experiment yourself to see if the larvae survive or dies, but I suspect they will die at some point, even if not on larvae stage (maybe pupa stage). I say go ahead, kill them all :)
I am going to buy the betta pellets! What type of tweezers are you using? They seem perfect to be able to pick up individual pellets. Do you have a size or specific type of tweezer and scissor that you are using in this video that you can recommend?
The tweezers are for small welding and the scissors come from a pharmacy. Nothing fancy here 😆
Pinching the lids off of the pitchers doesn't cause the plant any stress?
I don't think so. It's like a small part of a leaf broken. :) I believe it's harder to us 🤣
yep, i do the same. Either that, or i use a syringe to inject maxsea directly through the lid
And it's only for a few month, soon they are big enough to feed them normally 😃
@@WindowsillNepenthes yeah, it usually doesn't take too long.
I used to try and do a foliar feeding with a q tip soaked in maxsea. But that was awkward and didn't work that well.
It is better than not feeding the plant, and it will get it past the seedling stage. But it doesn't seem to be as effective as putting food into the pitcher.
On a related note: if you have enough springtails, they will crawl into the small pitchers. But I don't know how much nutrition they bring in. They are pretty small
@@Plant_Parenthood I probably have a few but I heard they can damage the fresh seedlings' first roots... but hard to tell.
@@WindowsillNepenthes Interesting... I have heard that about fungus gnat larvae but I have never heard that about springtails.
@@Plant_Parenthood Those ones"would" eat roots by accident. But again I can't confirm. There is this "sudden seedling's death" (before the first set of carnivorous leaves) that I'm still trying to understand.
Too much work. I just culture flightless fruitflies and dump them on the baby nepenthes and heliamphora. But I have a terrarium they can't escape from, not recommended for a windowsill haha