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What is happening w/ my d. capensis?

emilias_garden

emilias_garden

Hello! I have had for the last year 4 plants of Drosera capensis 'alba'. They were big and beautiful. They were from 3 to 4 inches high. But sudenly something went wrong.

One of the plants produced flowers, and when the flowers went away and the plant died. Then the other 3 plants started to go thru a strange process: they stoped producing new leaves and then when they started to produce new leaves these leaves are like damaged. Bellow is a picture. The pic is not that clear, but i hope it can help to recognize what is happening to my plants.

DROSERACAPENSISALBA.jpg


As you see the leaves are damged, they do not have tentacles nor dew. Why?

I do not know if i am right, but i have in my mind a memory that i read somewhere that Drosera plants die after they produce flowers, is this correct?

Anyways, i would like to know what is happening with my plants. Does anyone knows? please, help!!!!!
 
these plants definately don't die after flowering. at first glance i thought it was U. llongifolia, then i real the message and i'm afraid i can't help you. i'd toss it and get a new one if it doesn't straighten up it's act
smile.gif
 
Hello JustLikeAPill! I wish i could have the strenght to thow away these plants. But i cannot, i am so in love with them i still there is hope in the bottom of my heart;0).

I hope i can find a way to make them fel better.
 
spray pesticide/fungicide just in case.

looks like aphids... sorta but not really.
 
Hello! I thought at fisrst that maybe was some kind of infection. But i looked very close, i used a magnifiyer and made some tests under the microscope, but there is no infection.

Is it possible that they are recieveing too much direct sun-light? They recieve morning sun-light, but some times the evening sun-light get thru the shade also. So i am thinking if this problem is a matter of too much sun. What do you think?
 
I'm very sorry to hear about your plants, Jorge. I can imagine this is pretty frustrating.
I recently moved my D. capensis outside and the sunlight burned the tentacles right off some of the leaves that had been produced indoors... they just dried up and fell off. So your too much sunlight idea could be correct. After a week or so my plants made a full recovery and are now putting out the nicest leaves I've yet to see from them, about a month later.
But by the time my plants lost their tentacles, the leaves were dead, too... I find it curious that the leaves of your plants are still green and active. Did those leaves ever have tentacles or were they formed bare? If I were you, I'd treat it with an all-purpose pesticide and leave it in a partly shaded spot outdoors away from other plants. It very possibly could have aphids - when my D. capensis got aphids, they put out deformed leaves for weeks before I found a single bug, and I was definitely looking for them as soon as the deformed leaves started to come out.
You could try chopping the top off one to try to force it to come back from it's roots. Submerging the plants as you would for aphids and other pests might be a good precaution as well.
Good luck,
~Joe
 
Hello Joe! Well about the leaves yes and no. Some of the leaves were born with tentacles, but then suddenly, one morning, they lost their tentacles, and since then all the new leaves are born without tentacles.

So it think I will follow the advice that you guys give me. It is possible that it is an aphid infestation. Anyways i will do some other tests under the microscope to be sure that there is no other strange thing on my plants.

I am very frustrated with this, my plants were very beautiful and big... I was so proud. I hope i can save them, well at least the 2 that are left.
smile_h_32.gif
 
UPDATE!

Guys, you were right. The problems that i have with my plants is an infestation of aphids. I looked my plants this morning and there were colonies of aphids.

Is there any natural way I can kill them? I do not like to use chemicals on my plants.

With my other plants (non-carnivorous) i use water with dish-soap, and this kills the aphids. But i am not sure in using this method with Carnivorous Plants.

What do you suggest???
HELP!!!!!!!!!
 
I've only had one minor aphid infestation on one of my non-CP plants.  I usually dunk them in water and/or spray their leaves with a dilute (50%) isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol solution.  This works great.

However, the leaves of CPs are more sensitive so I would forego the alcohol. I would also avoid using soap-based agents as these have been known to burn leaves of some CPs.  If you only have three small dews with aphids, I would just take a Q-tip, wet it with distilled water, and rub the top and bottom of the leaves to remove the aphids.

If you wish to use an insecticide, malathion will work, but just make sure it's dilute and prepared from powder form (liquid retail insecticides often contain petroleum distillates which can burn the leaves of many CPs).

Good luck with your plants.
 
  • #10
Anything you do right now will have a side effect to this plant because it'll wash away the dewy drops.

It is recommended to use Ortho Systemic Insect Killer. It comes in concentrate in a small bottle. This stuff kills the bugs on contact, and also makes your plant immune to their bite. If a bug bites your plant, it will die. This stuff also protects up to 4 weeks.

Ortho is recommended by the people at Cobraplants.com They use this stuff on their plants and have not seen any harmful effects to the CPs. You can read more information about removing aphids here:

http://www.cobraplants.com/FAQ-7S.html
 
  • #11
I drown them for several days by putting their container in a taller one. Don't worry about loss of dew. The aphids are the bigger problem and every plant I have treated as such has recovered. I have read of too many horror stories from the use of chemicals. Hey, if your capensis dies from it - I'll replace it for ya! This has worked for my now blooming capensis as well as adelae & spatulata.
 
  • #12
I'm with Jim. Your plants will be fine under water for a few days but the aphids will not. Make sure you check any other plants you have as aphids can spread.

Good luck!
 
  • #13
Jim and PAK are very right, drowning is definitely the first thing to try. I've had to resort to insecticides recently, and even the ones that are CP safe seemed to stress the plants. You'll be much happier with the results if you submerge them.
~Joe
 
  • #14
How does drowning do in regards to their eggs?
 
  • #15
Hmm... not sure. I think that aphids are ovoviviparous (they retain their eggs and bear live young, instead of laying the eggs) so if you kill the adults the eggs shouldn't stand a chance. You could always drown the plants several times, until the aphids don't come back. Most people say to leave the plants submerged for three to seven days, and since aphids have such high fecundity I think that any unhatched aphids that were there when you first submerged will have hatched and croaked by the time you take the plant out.
~Joe
 
  • #16
Hey there! Well this afternoon I took a Q-tips and water and tried to clean the plant and cut off all the dead or severe damaged leaves. I think I killed all the aphids, but since they are almost microscopic and I am a little bit blind, even with my glasses, I will keep my eyes over my plants and if the infestation continues I will drown the plant into a large container.

I hope this can help, I really love these guys and I do not want to lose them. And obviouly I do not want to have colonies of aphids on my CP’s.
 
  • #17
[b said:
Quote[/b] (emilias_garden @ June 22 2005,8:15)]Hey there! Well this afternoon I took a Q-tips and water and tried to clean the plant and cut off all the dead or severe damaged leaves. I think I killed all the aphids, but since they are almost microscopic and I am a little bit blind, even with my glasses, I will keep my eyes over my plants and if the infestation continues I will drown the plant into a large container.

I hope this can help, I really love these guys and I do not want to lose them. And obviouly I do not want to have colonies of aphids on my CP’s.
Click to expand...
I'd just go straight to drowning the plant. I did so a few weeks ago, and I lost a few plants because I did not check them daily. Drown from 3-7 days, making sure everything is submerged. Make sure it gets light while submerged.

And pay attention to your other plants... they are likely infested, too. I've seen this a few times, and I've learned when I see such twisted leaves always to suspect aphids.

Aphids suck. No pun intended!
 
  • #18
Aphids seem to have an affinity to tropical sundews, the kind that do just as well to be left inside on a window sill all year long - capensis, spatulata, and adelae, in particular. That's just my observation.
 
  • #19
Heh, I have a D. Capensis "alba" as well but it's still a seedling and I haven't had any problems with aphids on any of my plants yet...I've never even seen an aphid before. I'm hoping my luck stays the same and I hope those darn things DIE DIE DIIIEEE!! Muwahahaha!..........yeah
 
  • #20
D. capensis is pretty good about coming back from it's roots. The other thing you may try is just to cut all of the leaves off and get rid them.  

JJ
 
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