Nep alta trimming it up

[richhy]

Hey guys,

I have a nep alta which has grown amazingly well on a windowsill in the uk with no real over care (appart from water but even still its not exactly rev osmosis!). The old pods are drying out and I have since cut them free however its grown a bit too tall for the space it has.

Image here
hylands.eu/images/plants/DSC00157.JPG

Am I past the ideal time for bringing this plant down a few inches and do I follow the usual rule of thumb where you should crop just above a leaf?

Ideally I'd like it to continue growing it so if there is another way of keeping it without taking so much window space that would be great!

[rainforest]

Welcome Richhy!
First of all I believe you own a Ventrata (hybrids of N. ventricosa x alata).
From the appearance of the the pitchers, I can say that you have a problem with balanced humidity. I would suspect that you have very wet soil conditions and a dry atmosphere. You will need to balance this situation so that your plant can adjust better.
May I suggest that when you water, the excess water is allowed to exit the root zone and if anything, perhaps incorporate the saucer that accommodates hanging baskets be used to catch and maintain some standing water for your plant.
While your plants appear healthy, the quick die-back of the upper pitchers indicate that something is wrong with your root composition. The nicely colored pitchers tells me that it must be receiving good light.
Perhaps some modifications to the growing "room" might correct a lot of problems and produce a plant with not only many perfect pitchers, but also side branches of shoots with pitchers as well!

Michael

[richhy]

Ah! This is all good stuff!

I will switch over to a pot and saucer as i'm currently using a pot within another pot and this maybe causing the water to not drain as well as it should.

After reading some of the stuff on this forum it appears my plant is drying out as you say. I was thinking of misting once again as I've grown slack of this as I was unsure if it was needed. Hopefully this will bring the humidity up. I could also place a full saucer of water under the plant during hot months causing a little more humidity although i'll have to decide wether I keep the plant in this room or move it outside during our hot summer. It depends on the plant really .. hopefully it'll do well outside as it'll get more live food out there than it will in my spare room!

Thanks for you help and time on this ... all feedback is appreciated!

[phissionkorps]

Hi there,

I've had a ventrata pitcher for me in 15% humidity, so I don't think that's a problem. Don't waste your time misting. It raises relative humidity slightly....for about 15 minutes.