Nepenthes Merrillana Cultivation

Nepenthes merrilliana is a lowland to intermediate plant, being found from near sea level to 1700M.

Cultivating Ease - Easy / Medium

Type - This plant grows very well as either a lowland or intermediate.

Temperature - I usually keep mine on the warm side at all times, growing it as a true lowlander. Day temps in the high 80's to low 90's, and night temps in the 70's to 80's.

Humidity - The pitchers on merrilliana do not seem to appreciate a fluctuation in humidity, therefore I would recommend keeping the humidity above 80%.

Light - Shaded conditions to full direct (diffused) sunlight.  It grows very well in a large chamber under lights.  Once the plant reaches 8" or so in diameter, it seems to do better with much more light.

Moisture - Keep the plant moist. Do not keep the roots very wet for long periods of time. Growing the plant in a deep pot of sphagnum moss that is kept moist work very well.  I have found reports that this plant needs drier soil conditions to be false. The soil should be constantly moist. The plant can die from being rootbound, regardless of the soil moisture level. N. merrilliana needs a very deep pot to continue to grow larger in size. Once the plant becomes rootbound, it will begin to grow smaller. You should transplant into a larger pot before this happens.

Soil - Long Fiber Sphagnum

Size - The plant can grow to a very large size, and can sport some of the largest pitchers in the genus. It is a compact grower for quite a while, so it does very well in chambers under lights. The leaves can hug each other closely and cover up the soil in the pot completely, making watering the plant difficult from above.

Details: Merrilliana is a beautiful plant which will eventually reach very large dimensions. Earlier reports of this plant being difficult just isn't true. Reports of keeping the medium dry is also not true. You do need to grow it in a deep pot. For this reason, I recommend using long fiber sphagnum (or peat) as the soil mix. Any other soil mix which is more open will have problems retaining enough moisture in a large deep pot. This plant dies from being root bound, not from being overly wet. New leaves are often a brown or tan color, changing to olive green later. The pitchers are extremely sensitive to low humidity drops, and when the plant is transplanted.

Propagation -  Very easy from rooted cuttings. TC plants also grow rapidly into larger plants.

Forms - I only know of the typical form. However, back in the 80's, plants of N.x merrilliata (merrilliana x alata) were being sold as true merrilliana. Possibly originating in Europe, this hybrid was apparantly distributed heavily in the US and Australia.