Nepenthes Gracilis Cultivation

Nepenthes gracilis is a lowland plant being found mostly in shaded jungles. It is a very easy plant to grow under lowland conditions.

Cultivating Ease - Very Easy

Type - This plant is a true lowland in every sense of the word.

Temperature - Keeping it warm at all times will make it grow extremely fast. Although it can tolerate intermediate temperatures, it should be kept between 75 and 95 degrees farenheit for optimum growth.

Humidity - Should be very high at all times. Does not grow as well and the pitchers are greaty reduced in low humidity. Humidity should be above 75% at all times for optimum growth, and will grow faster if the humidity is higher than this.

Light - Shaded conditions to lighted conditions. I use diffused light and keep it out of direct sunlight, although in the wild it does grow in full sun.

Moisture - Keep the plant wet. Do not let the soil dry out, although I have had plants to come back from the roots after a temporary drying out of the soil.

Soil - Long Fiber Sphagnum

Size - The plant can grow to a significant length.   The vine is notorious for dividing as it grows, and you can  end up with many growing points off of one stem. The plant will also send out multiple stems, each of these dividing and subdividing.  It is an ideal candidate for larger grow chambers (4'x4'x8') under lights, or in a stovehouse in a shaded position. You will have to prune this plant frequently, as it grows faster than grass when it is kept hot and humid.

Details: The key to this plant is keeping it warm with very high humidity. It will pitcher well under these conditions. It is one of the few lowlands that does much more poorly in an intermediate setup. It will grow under intermediate setups, but the rate of growth, pitchering, and size are greatly reduced in this setup.

Propagation -  Taking cuttings is easy, and rarely fail. Rooting the cuttings in water can also be performed. So successful are cuttings, and so quickly the plants grow, that this plant is primarily mass propagated by cuttings. This is an ideal plant to make your first attempt at Nepenthes cuttings.

Forms - There are several varieties of gracilis. Some of the common ones are:
Green form - (Interior spotted with purple)
Red Form - Pitchers are a "black cherry" red color
Nigropurpurea . Deep Purple/Black - (The outside of the pitcher can be so darkish purple that it looks black. Even the vine and leaves are very dark in color.)
Sport - Produces squat bulbous pitchers with shorter leaves. Possibly a hybrid.

  
N. gracilis "green"              N. gracilis "sport"