Nepenthes fertilizing

This is the owner of Cross Exotics…

A very photos showing how green Nepenthes can be, and with pitchers as seen, when fertilized.

I see many posts in groups asking about this or that leaf problem, the usual answer being "too much water," which of course is very scientific! Reality of course is many people then try to give less light, less water, etc… simply for the plant to die since that is not the real issue.

A while back I pushed heavily Magnesium sulfate, epsom salts, which appears to be relatively accepted now to green up the plants, including being used by a few nurseries now, to the point it is sometimes suggested that it was a thing in existence before in the US for Neps which is not factual… even nurseries like BE did not use it as an independent additive.

Due to the small market, few people have ever done extensive lab testing and trials for Nepenthes. I paid for a lot of lab testing independently of leaves, soil, etc – cutting off the best leaves to get the most accurate result etc. I also worked with Xavier Loubresse of the Paphiopedilum world in NL where he had exceptional Nepenthes due to the similar growing requirements and shared many tricks used in the commercial dutch production. For instance, he flowers N. robcantleyi 3 years after deflasking, and they are really full size plants that dwarf most people's…

Many people tried the orchid fuel I offer previously which is the base mix, and now it has a few improvements for the difficult species. Fertilizer is always a delicate subject and it is not easy to make a single blend for easy use. However many growers have had excellent results and it will now worker better on species that are very slow or pale in cultivation, I am glad to say…

For instance, reinwardtiana and stenophylla are incredibly slow plants in cultivation that are pale and small. Many say they don't want to grow them since they are common, I object since I see nearly none in cultivation despite them covering entire trees in situ! As for other species, truncata/veitchii always has brown lower leaf crisping from potassium issues, hot weather causes stunting of the growth point, too much maxsea in particular stops pitchers due to the imbalance, lowland species like amp or mirabilis are a sickly yellow color, etc… the list goes on. It is for sure all nutritional problems…