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Burned growthpoints?

Exo

Tastes like chicken!
Some of my dews are making new growth that looks like it is dark and....burned.....what's up with that? The leaves come up all stubby and brown, almost like they were burned with fertilizer of something, but I don't fertillize them and I only use rainwater. I was wondering if low humidity would be to blame, but one of the worst off are two cape sundews....and they don't normally care about humidity. I have them about 6in away from some T5 shoplights, and the ones showing symptoms of this are my capensis, one of the spathulata, and the aliceae.

Anyone ever see anything like that before? ???
 
look like this? If not, then the following info is irrelevant.
Black_humic_acid_at_crown_of_Drosera_Natalensis_sundew.JPG


Here's a helpful quote from an old post here on Tf:
"The darkening growth point is caused by humic acids, and perhaps other solubles, wicking up and depositing themselves, first on the hairs and stipules of the leaf primordia, eventually covering the entire surface of the growth point and leaf primordia. My experience is that this can have a damaging effect on the growing point and can supress new growth. The easiest way to reduce this is to gently provide overhead watering with warm, purified water as often as necessary to reduce this precipitate. Another solution would be to use less peat moss, since it is a strong source for the most offending compounds, though other media ingredients may also be sources. It is also affected by temperature, ambient humidity, air movement, etc."

http://terraforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106361&highlight=water
 
nice to know! that's EXACTLY what i got on my plants in the past!
 
Yup, I've seen it too.

My Utrics have shown an appreciation for overhead watering; maybe I should try it on the dews.
 
look like this? If not, then the following info is irrelevant.
Black_humic_acid_at_crown_of_Drosera_Natalensis_sundew.JPG


Here's a helpful quote from an old post here on Tf:
"The darkening growth point is caused by humic acids, and perhaps other solubles, wicking up and depositing themselves, first on the hairs and stipules of the leaf primordia, eventually covering the entire surface of the growth point and leaf primordia. My experience is that this can have a damaging effect on the growing point and can supress new growth. The easiest way to reduce this is to gently provide overhead watering with warm, purified water as often as necessary to reduce this precipitate. Another solution would be to use less peat moss, since it is a strong source for the most offending compounds, though other media ingredients may also be sources. It is also affected by temperature, ambient humidity, air movement, etc."

http://terraforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106361&highlight=water

..........that looks identical to my problem.

so I water or spray the crown with RO water to prevent this?.....huh, I always thought that dews hated overhead watering.
 
I've only seen the black deposits form on D. aliciae, but if others have seen it on other South African Drosera I'll take their word on it.

You want to use lukewarm or barely warm water. Use an eye dropper or a straw and just drip small amounts on the affected parts (e.g. growing point). I use a jet syringe for a slight pressure wash.

Surely it rains on Drosera now and then. Occasional top watering shouldn't harm them, unless they are dry dormancy species. But then if they are dry dormant you probably wouldn't have this problem.

If the black markings doesn't wash off then look elsewhere, like temperatures and how damp you keep your media. Relative Humidity shouldn't be that much of a problem unless you are not keeping the media moist enough.
 
I've only seen the black deposits form on D. aliciae, but if others have seen it on other South African Drosera I'll take their word on it.

You want to use lukewarm or barely warm water. Use an eye dropper or a straw and just drip small amounts on the affected parts (e.g. growing point). I use a jet syringe for a slight pressure wash.

Surely it rains on Drosera now and then. Occasional top watering shouldn't harm them, unless they are dry dormancy species. But then if they are dry dormant you probably wouldn't have this problem.

If the black markings doesn't wash off then look elsewhere, like temperatures and how damp you keep your media. Relative Humidity shouldn't be that much of a problem unless you are not keeping the media moist enough.

My media is kept pretty wet, and the temps range from about 70-85F.
 
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