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Heliamphora Trouble

  • #21
CT: I wouldn't personally bother with a top on a terrarium in England, IMO- it's not like we have a low to moderate humidity environment. You have damp sphag in the bottom and a warm tank, the humidity is probably going to be high anyway- especially considering ambient humidity outside of the tank. Maybe it's more necessary with helis, but I would be concerned if you are already have problems like Sudden Heli Death. The only time your house might become dry is in Winter if you have the central heating on constantly. If I were you I would get a humidity reader and test your tank- if it's humid enough without a top, maybe consider foregoing it. You will probably get a better temp-drop without a top, too.
 
  • #22
MH1 - I think you may be right. Over the last week it's been about 26C in the days so I've kept the lid open and although if I go out in the day humidity can drop to around 65%, temperatures only reach around 24C. I've always opened the lid at night to get the drop and I bought a fan today to run at night to further it. I think now the days are getting colder I will keep the lid closed in the day, simply because it allows me to keep humidity around 80% and get a decent temperature drop when the lights are turned off at night. But from now on I will definately keep the lid open in the summer months as I think the week or two of 28C days may have been what pushed my Heli over the edge. Thanks for the advice and concern!
 
  • #23
It's fine. Being helpful is what TF is for! Blistering heat of 17C for the past week over here- funny how different the weather is between North and South- even when there's a supposed 'warm spell'. Hope the heli recovers anyhoo! Also, from photos I've seen, Hampshire carnivorous potting soil always looks very peaty- If I were you I would be considering changing the media to a more heli-suited mix. But again, I say this only from photos, so I could be completely wrong. Good luck!
 
  • #24
Hi Tom,
Is the pitcher going brown at the base the newest? Is it going brown right into the base of the plant?
To me it currently looks more like indigestion. I quite often get the same sort of browning where this has happened. The dreaded sudden death causes the whole plant to collaspe where the pitchers shrivel up very quickly.

If the plant is in a heavy peat mix I would unpot it and wash away the compost in a bucket of water. Once done you can inspect the plant and see what the growing point (s) look like.

Good luck

bill
 
  • #25
I did that today and I'm afraid it did not look good, a lot of soft brown taking over hard green.. Also two of the pitchers with brown bases were begging to shrivel. I unpotted, washed the substrate off, removed anything brown and repotted it in a lighter mix with plenty of sphagnum. The roots look ok so I'm remaining hopeful that there's a chance it may survive, thanks for the advice and interest
 
  • #26
suite

Bonjour

the hygrometry is very very important for the heliamphora also 80-90% all the year seems to me very important with a good aeration .

if it is a fungus phytophtora or pythium (collar rot) for me you should rather get rid of the contaminated substrate.

jeff
 
  • #27
Small update:

After repotting there are no signs of browness which is great! It seems growth hasn't been resumed, although it's early days yet so I'm optimistic that some pitchers should come up some time in the near future. Here's a shockingly bad picture ^^

IMG_2949.jpg


---------- Post added at 06:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:40 PM ----------

Also pleased I managed to save some nice pitchers!
 
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