How to Hang a Pitcher Plant

Pitcher plants are a type of carnivorous plant (they digest insects) so called because of their pitcher-like shape; they are also known as Nepenthes. The plant's main body is an elongated, tapering tube filled with liquid, and there usually is a lid-like feature on top connected to the main body by a thin connector that looks like a pitcher's handle. Pitcher plants can be grown in indoor terrariums and in hanging baskets.

Things You'll Need

• Pitcher plant
• Plastic hanging pot
• Sphagnum moss planting mix
• Perlite

Instructions

1. Remove the pitcher plant from the pot that you bought it in, and gently shake the dirt out of the roots.

2. Place the roots into your hanging pot, and cover with a mixture of 60 percent sphagnum moss and 40 percent perlite. This will provide the necessary drainage and won't be too mineral right. Because pitcher plants get their nitrogen from insects and meat, they do not normally need nitrogen-rich soils or fertilizer.

3. Shake or vibrate the pot to make the potting mixture settle down around the roots. Tamping the soil down will damage the roots.

4. Water the plant thoroughly, making sure that the soil is soaked. Distilled water, purified water and rainwater are best, but you can use tap water if it doesn't have a high salt content.

5. Hang the pot in a window with lots of light, but avoid direct sunlight, which can burn the plant.

6. Add a little less than an inch of water to each of the plant's pitchers. If the plant is unlikely to catch insects where you have it situated, add an insect yourself every few weeks.

Tips & Warnings

• Do not use clay pots with pitcher plants, as minerals can build up in the pot's walls that will harm the plant.

References

• Caring for Nepenthes, Tropical Pitcher Plants or Monkey Cups
• Botanique: Carnivorous plants