How to know if a nepenthes gets too much light 😓 The mistake I did. 

I bought a grow light for my carnivorous plants and they all liked the strong light except for my Nepenthes ventricosa, I couldn't tell but now I can definitly see that the light is too strong! Thanks for the great informative video, my ventricosa thanks you.

Hi Remy, don't forget the light spectrum is also a factor here. All led white lights are based on blue leds with a yellow phospher converting some of the blue light to yellow/green. Cheaper lights only have these colors in the spectrum, with almost no red light. Better (high CRI > 90) leds have phosphor which also creates some red light. Grow leds are usual mauve. They combine blue and red leds and generate very little yellow green light. Clearly green plants reflect green/yellow and use blue and red. So potentially grow leds are more efficient (ie more useful light and less useless heat). The problem with grow leds is they don't suit our eyes, so the plants look dull and Grey as no green/yellow light reflecting off the leafs. So some white light is better so you can look at your plants! So the spectrum of your lights matters too...😮 Last thought...lux meters measure light visible to the human eye. Ie mostly yellow green, less red and blue. So although lux is easy to measure and of some use, it would be misleading to measure the lux of a red/blue grow led and compare it to say sunlight or white led light with a completely different spectrum. So lights for growing measure the useful bit of the plant colour spectrum and a different measure which is called PAR I think...

I’ve also noticed my leaves getting too red with red splotches. I know that Gayas leaves turn reddish, but they’re supposed to lose that redness and become green. I think. So instead of my light being directly overhead of my plants I moved my light more towards the back of my greenhouse and kept my plants in the center. To cut down on the light. The leaves still become reddish, but mostly lose that redness after they’re grown. I’ve also noticed my Veitchii x lowii x Mira have never had a problem with The leaves turning red. I guess the Veitchii is more tough that way. My Veitchii is in a regular pot as opposed to a netted pot and whenever I water it, I let the water run through the pot. I give the pot the good old lift test to see how heavy it is. It stays pretty good for almost a month. Let it dry out just a little bit and then water it again. And I have been fertilizing my nepenthes twice a month with 5 mL of Maxsea fertilizer in each pitcher. All around good results so far.

Helpful. Thanks Remy.

Really helpful! Thanks!

I read somrwhere that when a nep gets way too much light but isnt quite burning yet, it can still prevent the plant from pitchering. Is that true? If so it explains.. alot lol, i got a nep that grts so much light its leafs stay a deep red permanently, 7+ hours of direct sunlight a day, humidity around 67% yet it hasnt pitchered in ages. Im starting to wonfer if the light im giving it is too strong

Hi! I just got a decent sized nepenthes alata and a small nepenthes black miracle, but have getting a ton of mixed information how to set them up! I live in WI and and trying to get them to thrive into next summer when they can go outside potentially in the garden my landlord is allowing me to build

Perhaps I missed it. But what type and wattage lights are you using in that setup?

Hi, I have a N. platychila x veitchii. It used to be under a grow light and it grew very slow. I moved so I put the plant on my new windowsill which is a south facing window, without grow light. The direct sunlight which can be present for 5-8 hours burnt the leaves and the one pitcher heavily. I moved it to the left of the windowsill where the direct sunlight is maybe 4 hours and starting from early afternoon. The plant has not changed ever since and doesnt grow anymore. Its been 6 weeks. Do you have any recommendations? Can I keep it where its now? Still lots of sun but less especially during lunch time or should I move it to another window which is still south but due to the angle it has way less sunlight. Only in the evening a few hours. Or should I just wait and observe? Also can the plant adjust to its old spot where it got burnt and gets 5-8 hours direct sun? Any tips would be appreciated.

your blue light is a great factor here, blue light spectrum brings out purple colors or colors in leaves in general if you switch to more reddish spectrum light your leaves wont turn red/purple trust me