help me identify my nepenthes

[plu604]

Hello guys.
I managed to rescue a Nepenthes from one of my friends, who knows almost nothing about carnivorous plants.
Poor guy was watered with tap water, is sitting in common soil, no humidity... I guess the light was enough, nothing more.

Now I am trying to make it feel better.
But first I must know whether it is a highland/lowland/hybrid species.

I will show you some (heh, many) pictures. I photographed its only pitcher, its leaves, and a strange, brown spot on its stem. What could it be?
The end of the leaves dried off, I guess it's because of the lack of humidity.

Also, as I never had Nepenthes before, I would like to know more about them, from basic things to a very detailed guide. Literally everything is appreciated. Thank you in advance!

Here come the pictures, click on them to see them in higher quality:

[alfdc]

Maybe other more experienced hobbyists can give a definite positive ID but IMHO it looks like a ventrata (ventricosa x alata hybrid). You should wait for the pitchers to grow just to be sure.

[plu604]

Of corse, when it gets bigger, I'll post some new pictures. In the meantime, I'd appreciate some information about growing these plants, and also something about that brown spot I photographed.

[rocketcaver]

Do you know where your friend got it? I must say that it looks healthier than I expected when I first read your post. The brown spot... hard to say. Looks like the stem got damaged somehow. It will probabnly heal over. Keep an eye on it. Is it still in regular soil or have you repotted it?

[plu604]

Yes, when I saw the plant I was surprised too. Unfortunately I don't know the plant's origin. My friend received it as a gift.
It is still sitting in common soil, in a day or two I will get the last soil ingredient then I will repot it.

[manders]

Very few, and I mean practically nobody can identify a hybrid correctly even when it has pitchers on it unless its a common garden centre hybrid like ventrata. Most probably thats what you have but until it has decent pitchers on it its impossible to say.

Tap water is often fine for neps unless its poor quality tap water. Whats common soil? Everybodies is different and neps sometimes do grow in clay soils. On the other hand peaty / perlite mixes / spaghnum are what most people tend to go for.

If its not pitchering, and it is a ventrata then lack of light is probably on of the reasons, they need some sunlight to pitcher well.

[nepenthes99]

It is not a ventrata, the wings are rather large and bristled. My opinion is that it is some kind of hybrid. The leaves look like ventrata, maybe ventrata x maxima?

[manders]

Ventrata is a hybrid, its too small to tell what it is, the pitcher morphology is no use in identification in this case, you need fully developed adult pitchers not something that is immature and probably distorted due to growing conditions.

[plu604]

A small update. It's pitcher is still too small to identify, but I find it interesting how it develops, thought I might share it with you guys.


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