I Am Obsessed With Pitcher Plants, And Propagating Them is Much Easier Than You’d Expect – Discover My Two Tried-and-True Methods

I’ve long had a fascination with carnivorous plants as they are not only beautiful but evolved over thousands of years to attract and trap pests in ingenious ways. It has led me to get a growing collection of carnivorous plants on my windowsills at home, with an expanding roster of pitcher plants, venus fly traps, drosera, and pinguicula.

The fascination doesn’t stop there. As I am overly ambitious, I have several packets of different Sarracenia seeds in an effort to expand my collection and propagate more pitcher plants. Seeds are one way to propagate a pitcher plant, but admittedly, cuttings offer a quicker and potentially more realistic route to go down if you want more plants.

Knowing how to propagate a pitcher plant from cuttings or seeds requires care, attention, and patience. The journey may be fraught with potential failings and disappointments, but when it goes right, the result is a glorious payoff. This guide looks at how to propagate a pitcher plant from seeds and cuttings, and features tips from leading organizations in the world of carnivorous plants.

Can you propagate a pitcher plant?

You can propagate a pitcher plant from seed or cuttings. The most common pitcher plants are Sarracenia, Nepenthes, and Heliamphora, and the best methods of propagation differ depending on the type.

If you want to expand your collection of carnivorous plants, you can choose to purchase seeds to sow, buy new plants (such as this attractive, deep-colored Sarracenia Purpurea Venosa Purple Pitcher at Amazon) or take cuttings of existing ones.

Each offers different benefits in terms of cost and time, but there is a great satisfaction that comes from propagating your own pitcher plants.

How to propagate a pitcher plant from cuttings

There are two ways you can propagate a pitcher plant from cuttings, namely from rhizome cuttings and stem cuttings. The route you take depends on the type of pitcher plant, and we look at both below:

Propagate a pitcher plant from rhizome cuttings

‘Pitcher plants can easily be propagated using rhizome cuttings,’ claims the Carnivorous Plant Nursery, adding that plants do need a ‘large mature rhizome’ for this method of propagation to be successful.

It is Sarracenia (North American pitcher plants) and Heliamphora (South American pitcher plants) plants that are best propagated from rhizome cuttings, as they grow from large rhizomes. It is best to divide plants at least every three years once they have developed a mature rhizome, and to do the task in the spring, just as the carnivorous plant is starting to burst into growth again.

Remove the plant from its pot and shake off some of the old soil. You should be able to break apart the rhizome with your hands into sections with a few growing points on. Then cut off the remains of any old pitchers before potting them up.

Fill a pot with a bag of specially-formulated carnivorous plant compost (such as this Carnivorous Plant Soil at Amazon) and make a hole in the soil in which to plant the rhizome piece. ‘Leave the top of the rhizome uncovered, and in a few weeks new growth buds will appear at the cuts,’ says the Carnivorous Plant Nursery.

Make sure your new plants are labelled and water them with rainwater or distilled water, rather than tap water. It is recommended to harvest rainwater when you grow carnivorous plants to always have access to this resource, and there are ways to harvest rainwater without a traditional gutter if you don’t have one.

Propagate a pitcher plant from stem cuttings

Nepenthes (tropical pitcher plants) aren’t suitable for rhizome cuttings; they need to be propagated via stem cuttings. The International Carnivorous Plant Society (ICPS) claims: ‘Cuttings can be taken at any time of the year, but the cuttings taken when the parent plant is actively growing seem to take faster and have greater success rate.’

To take these plant cuttings, pick a tall stem and remove the tip with a few sets of leaves and nodes using clean, sharp pruning shears, garden snips, or scissors. Cut a stem section with at least two nodes on, and plant it into a small pot, which the ICPS advises should be filled with a ‘50:50 mix of sphagnum moss and perlite’. The experts add: ‘The medium must be damp, but not sopping wet or sitting in water.’

Place the pot into a plastic bag to prevent it from drying out, and place it in a warm, bright place with indirect light. You do need patience, as it can take months to root. Keep the soil moist, only using rainwater or distilled water, and, once roots develop, don’t pot them into traditional soil for container gardening, which contains extra nutrients that may damage the pitcher plant’s roots.

How to propagate a pitcher plant from seeds

Growing pitcher plants from seed is a slow process, and you must be prepared for germination to take a few months and to wait years for the plants to reach maturity. If you are up for the challenge, the first hurdle to overcome is to give the seeds an essential period of cold stratification.

To provide this natural cycle of cold that seeds need to germinate, place seeds onto the surface of moist soil or sphagnum moss, either in a bag, a plastic container with holes in the lid, or a pot, and put this into a refrigerator for around six weeks.

After stratification, place the seeds over the surface of a mix of peat and sand and lightly mist the container. ‘Put the pots with seeds in plastic bags or under a humidity dome under LED lights,’ recommends the ICPS. ‘Don't put the bags or domes in direct sun. A temperature of 70° to 80°F is ideal.’

‘After the seeds germinate and you get a few true leaves, the pots can be removed from the plastic bags or from under a humidity dome,’ they continue. ‘The pots with the seedlings can also be put in a greenhouse. A sunny window is not enough light.’

It is beneficial to use grow lights on plants to supplement natural light levels, especially during the first few years of their lives. The grow lights need to be on for 16 to 18 hours per day for at least the first year after a pitcher plant germinates.

One caveat to the above advice is that Nepenthes seeds do not need cold stratification and can be sown directly onto a medium of chopped sphagnum moss. You can get Long Fibered Sphagnum Moss at Amazon, which makes a great substrate for pitcher plants.

However, it does not make it any easier to propagate a pitcher plant this way. The seeds are only viable for a very short time, and can take up to a year to germinate, making Nepenthes ever more challenging than growing Sarracenia or Heliamphora from seed.

FAQs

Can I root Nepenthes in water?

You can propagate a pitcher plant in water rather than a soilless growing medium, but it is not a guaranteed way to get new plants. Take stem cuttings as outlined above, and place them in a container filled with rainwater or distilled water with the button node submerged. Put the container in a warm spot with indirect light, and you can cover it with a plastic bag to increase humidity. Change the water every few days (not changing the water is a common water propagation mistake to avoid) and look for the cutting to produce tiny roots. Once it has around half a dozen roots that are 1-2 inches long, pot it up into a pot filled with sphagnum moss.

Venus flytraps (Dionaea muscipula) are probably one of the most well-known carnivorous plants globally and definitely make unique indoor plants to enjoy. When it comes to propagating a venus flytrap, there are three different options available. You can separate offshoots and divide plants, take leaf cuttings, or grow them from seed. This in-depth guide reveals how to propagate a venus flytrap and goes into detail about all three ways you can get new carnivorous plants to enjoy.