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My nepenthes ventricosa x mira has lost two of the four traps it had when it shipped in but the leaves are still living, kinda growing, and are healthy. But I am wondering how long they will last.

Although one is a small insignificant leaf the other is the largest in the plant so if it died before the next leaf fully developed the plant would be devastated and growth would be stunted due to its small size.

I am just hoping to know as the pitcher died about nine days ago and I am relying on those two leaves staying alive at least another two weeks. I am sure the pitchers died from shipping as they had no fluid In them and being a small plant I couldn't refill them easily.

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    I don't believe you should be "refilling" them with liquid. What conditions are you growing them? Nepenthes are tropical plants and require a terrarium, unless you are in tropical rainforest type conditions - hot and humid.
    – winwaed
    Dec 18, 2012 at 15:09
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    While no one could answer your question of how many days your plant would last, if you are positive about the environment, you should not worry about it dying. And you shouldn't refill water into the pitchers, the extra water will upset it because the liquid inside is no simply water.
    – lamwaiman1988
    Dec 19, 2012 at 8:07
  • Sorry I didnt quite refill them I add a thin film of water into nepenthes pitchers to stimulate them to refill the refill themselves with their cocktail of enzymes. My plants are kept humid as they are in a terrarium but since they are highland species so if I kept them over eighty degrees they would all die. I have found that my diatas has kept its leaves for months after it loses a pitcher but it's bigger. I also never try and stimulate the plant to refill itself except after shipping
    – Connor
    Dec 20, 2012 at 12:50
  • I am also not worried about it dying as all the plants in the terrarium are doing well here is a list not including khasiana which is simply in a pot and seems happy. N ventricosa x Mira, N diatas, N sanguinea, and N ventricosa black form
    – Connor
    Dec 20, 2012 at 13:07
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    Yay all the leaves are still alive and it is actively growing having produced two new leaves since my last comment and two new pitchers
    – Connor
    Jan 22, 2013 at 2:32

2 Answers 2

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Pitchers tend to die much earlier than leaves.

I know this from personal experience. I've had pitchers die on leaves which last a month or more afterwards. I usually cut the pitchers off once they die (mostly because I think it looks better).

On another note, you do not need a terrarium to grow nepenthes. I have a N. maxima which I have been growing as a windowsill plant for a few months now, and it has been consistanly pitching. Just make sure that the medium is constantly moist and it's not getting burned by too much direct sunlight.

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Nepenthes live for 400 years before decomposing, if there are other things in the way of threats bugs, droughts, ect, they will not live much longer after the insatint

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  • do you have any references for them living 400 years? That's a long time..
    – kevinskio ♦
    Mar 12, 2016 at 22:40
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    Googling suggests that some Nepenthes are purported to have indefinite lifespans, and there are reports of some Victorian hybrids still alive. pitcherplants.proboards.com/thread/7272
    – Graham Chiu
    Mar 14, 2016 at 1:41

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