N. alata

[elarwhis]

My N. alata "highland spotted", which I've had for ~3 years now, is no longer pitchering. It is growing well and looks healthy otherwise. When a new leaf grows, the tendril ends, instead of flipping up in the usual way, curve backwards toward the leaf. Sorry, no pics, but here's a drawing that might help:

I first noticed the problem ~9 months ago(?) The plant started to slow its pitchering, producing pitchers every other leaf, then every third one, and so on, until it stopped altogether. I've tried everything I can think of, from raising humidity levels, changing watering frequency, to changing the growing medium. Even tried superthrive. Nothing has helped. The plant has always been in good lighting.

Any suggestions?

 

[BigCarnivourKid]

Neps sometimes quit pitchering if over fertilised. Supertrive's not a fertilizer though. Has anything else changed? Humidity? Air circulation?

 

[SydneyNeps]

Also, some fungal infections and other pathogens can cause deformations, slow growth and stop pitchering. Many of these cannot be accurately identified without sending a sample to a lab.

Hamish

 

[Tony Paroubek]

Is it vining? If everything is normal and it is happy and healthy and in the vining phase, then it may want something to grab onto. I have a few plants which ramble all over the place but only occasionally produce a pitcher. More often when the tendrils find something to grab onto.

 

[elarwhis]

Thanks for the replies

BigCarnivourKid - none of the plant's conditions changed until I started trying various things to get it to pitcher again.

SydneyNeps - I seriously doubt that it's any sort of infection/fungus. It looks perfectly normal, aside from the lack of pitchers.

Tony - It's not vining yet, but I'll try giving it something to grab onto anyway and see what happens....

 

[schloaty]

I'm with Tony on this one....Even though it's not vining.

I have some neps that like to grab even though they're not vining yet. My albomarginata was like that even before it started to vine.

 

[Treaqum]

It may be starting to vine. Some basal pitchers will want to grab something or they will not grow. Even though they mayonly rap around the stick once.

 

[SRiannaJr]

I had a similar problem with my N. alata. I live in Rhode Island and it thrived out on my deck from may until October. I then moved it indoors into a terrarium due to the weather. To make a long story short it stopped pitchering with humidity around 65-70%. I moved it to a different terrarium where I could maintain a 90% humidity and it pitchered like a mother! I noticed similar results with a Judith Finn.

Lack of pitchers is most of the time due to humidity. Always try the most likely thing first.

Steve