Tropical pitcher plant (nepenthes)

About Tropical pitcher plant (nepenthes)

Tropical pitcher plants, also called monkey cups, are climbing carnivorous vines from Southeast Asia, Madagascar and the western Pacific whose leaf tips grow into hanging pitchers that trap and digest insects (NC State). Most sold are easy hybrids grown from tissue culture or cuttings, best in a hanging basket in a bright, humid kitchen window or terrarium. Lowland kinds like it hot, highland kinds like cooler nights, and all need rain or distilled water and steady humidity.

Hardy outdoors only in zones 10-13 (NC State); it is grown indoors everywhere and can summer outdoors in bright shade where the air is humid, once nights stay above about 60 F.

When to plant

Timing is counted from your average last spring frost (and first fall frost). Sow & Tell works out the actual dates for your ZIP code.

Usually bought as a hybrid grown from tissue culture or cuttings, often in a hanging basket (NC State).

Growing it indoors

• Light: It wants bright light with a few hours of gentle direct sun, as in an east window or a lightly shaded south one (NC State).
• Water: Keep the mix moist but well drained, using only distilled water or rainwater, never tap water (NC State).
• Humidity: It needs high humidity; in dry air new pitchers fail to form or die back, so a kitchen window, terrarium or humidifier helps, and N. sanguinea copes best with drier air (NC State).
• Temperature: Lowland kinds like 70-95 F; highland kinds like 75-85 F days and nights in the low 60s (NC State), so keep both off cold glass and away from drafts.
• Feeding: It feeds on the insects it catches; if few insects reach it, give an organic fertilizer during the growing season, and never feed it meat (NC State).
• Repotting: The sources we opened give no schedule; NC State notes the shallow roots are brittle, so repot gently into fresh sphagnum or orchid mix.

Soil

Sphagnum moss or an orchid mix with added peat and perlite, acid (pH below 6) and well drained; never garden soil (NC State).

Pot in sphagnum moss or orchid mix with added peat and perlite, acid and well drained, never garden soil (NC State).

Feeding

• Growing season, only if few insects reach it: organic fertilizer. Use sparingly as a supplement to the insects it catches; never feed it meat (NC State).

Don't feed it meat or protein, and don't water with tap water (NC State).

Varieties (9)

NC State Extension names 7 species and 2 hybrids.

Pests to watch for

Aphids, Mealybugs, Thrips, Scale insects

Diseases and problems

Fungal leaf problems (poor air flow)

In the kitchen

Safety: Not listed as poisonous to people in the sources we opened; NC State tags it non-toxic to cats and dogs, and it is not on the ASPCA lists.

Pets: Not listed by the ASPCA (no Nepenthes entry; it lists only the unrelated California pitcher plant, Darlingtonia, as non-toxic to dogs, cats and horses); NC State tags tropical pitcher plants as non-toxic to cats and dogs.