How long does it take for a Nepenthes vine to grow?

Question

I am trying to grow (and hopefully breed) a nepenthes pitcher plant. In all the videos online I've seen people take cuttings from the nepenthes vines instead of the main stem. I was just curious how long it would take for one of these vines to grow on my own plant and if there was any way to speed up/ encourage the process.

Answer 1

From all the research I've done on the internet, Nepenthes take 5-10 years to become fully grown, so it takes about the same amount of time to begin growing like a vine.

To speed up growth, there are a few different methods:

• Coffee Method: Water your plant with black coffee once every six months.
• MaxSea: Dissolve MaxSea into distilled/rain water at a very high dilution, and put this in the traps, trying to avoid watering the roots.
• Put one slow-release pellet of fertilizer in full-grown traps for them to consume the nutrients.

I would be cautious about using any of these fertilization methods, as all carnivorous plants are very sensitive to excess nutrients in the soil. Do your own research! Good luck!

Answer 2

This depends on whether you are asking how long does it take to root and start to grow or how long before it starts to vine.

I have never rooted a Nepenthes, but I have grown them to become fairly large vines. Where I use to live I had the best conditions for growing them. If you can give them favourable conditions they will start to vine from the beginning. It took about 3 years for me to get a five foot vine from a potted plant. Nepenthes like lots of sunlight, but not direct light. I had frosted glass, actually that cling stuff you put on window to make them look like stain glass or frosted glass. I grew them it in a bathroom, the most humid room in our house. We fed it Koi pellet food. They do not like fertiliser. Their diet, the food they eat is much better than any fertiliser. Koi food is rich in everything your plant needs. Goldfish pellets will work, but not as well as Koi. Water with distilled, reverse osmosis or rainwater.

Provide your plant with the most ideal conditions. This is how you speed up the growth.