Question
I am an experienced grower of orchids and now want to join the wonderful world of carnivorous plants. I would like to try growing a Nepenthes in a vanda basket. I thought a chunky orchid mixture for acidity and drainage mixed with peat moss for moisture retention might work for soil. Humidity would not be a problem as it would hang with some of my orchids. Have you ever grown one in this manner and does it sound like it would work?

Answer
Hello Sherry,

Welcome.

Just about anything that would contain the potting mix would work. I would worry that the Vanda basket might allow too much material to fall out unless you use long fiber sphagnum around the sides and bottom or place a small enough gauge nylon or plastic mesh as a liner to allow water to drain yet keep your potting mix in.

The potting mix would be similar to an orchid mix. You could use orchid bark, coconut husk, and ground peat (from sphagnum bog) in a 1/1/1 mix as that seems to provide a great medium for holding a little water in while draining the excess quickly. Such a mix in a vanda basket would probably require watering about once every 1-3 days though as the sides and bottom of the basket would allow evaporation to occur all around quickly. I tend to use regular plastic open pots with a large tray under the pot mainly just to trap excess water. I use large pots that are tall enough to keep the Nepenthes roots above any excess drainage in case I want to leave a little water in the tray during a vacation. That seems to work well for me. I otherwise do not allow much water to remain in the trays after watering. Nepenthes roots can succumb to rotting in too much standing water.

As for humidity, you really do not need to worry about that if you intend to grow one of the more common highlanders like N. sanguinea, N. ventrata, N. alata, N. ventricosa, N. truncata, and so forth as they are quite adaptable about humidity. I grow mine in 50 percent humidity directly in a south window on my living room coffee table. If you wanted to try the more difficult ultra-highlanders or some of the low landers you might need to make arrangements for not only high humidity, but also temperature variations as some of the more finicky Nepenthes like temperature drops at night as well as humidity levels over 70 percent or they might refuse to make pitchers and grow even more slowly than usual. One of the most difficult to grow is considered N. rajah. Many growers take it as a sign of extraordinary luck, experience, and skill to get one to produce a single pitcher for them. The easier growers are quite good houseplants that add a dash of color and interest as well as devouring the odd fly or roach on occasion.

Nepenthes will not really need any fertilizing, however; if they stop producing pitchers and refuse to make more, you can foliar feed them with a 1/4 to 1/8 strength water soluble orchid fertilizer lightly sprayed or wiped on their leaves once a month to once every two weeks at most. So long as a Nepenthes has pitchers it will get more than enough fertilizer from whatever insects die from curiosity. Bees, wasps, and ants in particular love Nepenthes nectar as it looks and tastes like honey or syrup. Bees can sometimes escape though as they can hover, an adaptation allowing them to survive to pollinate the Nepenthes later I suppose. Never allow fertilizer in the Nepenthes potting mix or near their roots. That will kill them.

In any case, your setup sounds good to me.

Christopher