New nepenthes wilting

[lee1dew]

Hello all,

I received some small (5" across) bareroot rafflesiana yesterday, and promptly put them in 4" plastic pots using pft's soil mix and distilled water. I wet and mixed the soil down into a muddy consistecy, filled the pot, dug a hole, placed the plant in, and evened the soil out. This is my first time potting and growing nepenthes.

I placed them downstairs near the window to slowly break them in (very little direct sunlight). Temps are probably around 60 degrees, and the weather report says humidity is 78% for my area. The plants are in water trays with maybe a quarter inch of water in them (drained out from the soil mix, no tray watering).

The problem is that they're wilting. I did some searching online and found out that it's a sign of distress, but when I read the list of do's and don'ts for nepenthes, it seemed like everything a person needs to do to get a bareroot going is a don't, and that once they're wilting, they're as good as gone.

I know that growing bareroot nepenthes is not a good idea for a beginner, but the plants were given to me free of charge. I'd hate to see them go to waste. Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[srduggins]

Take them out of the water, no direct sunlight and put them inside a clear bag with close to 100% humidity. Flourescent lights would help. Keep them above 70 degrees but below 90. Sounds like your soil mix might be a little too dense. The roots need air to survive. Is there any perlite or large chunks in your soil mix? If you can manage this for about a month, the plants should survive. Give them some periodic air flow every couple of days and look out for mold/fungus.

 

[Capslock]

Hey,
How bad are they wilting? You can expect there to be some shock from the ordeal they've been through. It can take several months to acclimate. 60 degrees, off the top of my head, sounds too cool for N. rafflesiana.

My advice would be to put a light atop it where it is now, just a simple compact fluorescent bulb. It will get it gentle light, and a little more warmth while it's on. Then just let it be, and it should come around.

Capslock

 

[lee1dew]

Thanks for the replies guys,

srduggins,

The soil appears to be a moss/perlite mix:

http://exoticgardens.zoovy.com/product/SOIL

capslock,

They seem to be wilting pretty badly, though this is the first time I've seen a CP wilt, so it's relative. The weather report says 68 degrees right now. I'm actually in Daly City, so the conditions should be pretty similar to yours.

 

[Cindy]

I agree with srduggins about the medium sounding a little dense for neps. Could it be root rot? If the medium is wrong, the roots die and the stem rots from the bottom up. You can't really tell until it's too late and by then there is no way to save the plant other than taking some cuttings.

 

[Tony Paroubek]

I would deffinately go with what the others have suggested. Orchid bark mix with a nice handful of Long Fiber Sphagnum added would do well. Keep the humidity high. The baggie method suggested would help. Nice bright light but no direct sun and increase the temperatures.

Another fellow recently got some N. rafflesiana and they did not adjust well either.

T

 

[D muscipula]

I have two raffs, and one grew too big for the terrarium.  I took it out, and it wilted as you're describing, because the leaves were used to very high humidity and had no protection against drying out.  However, it recovered (slowly) and has acclimated to the windowsill, where it survives and even pitchers with temperatures occasionally below 60 in the winter and some pretty low dips in humidity.  The pitchers don't last long, but it does pitcher--slowly.

My guess is that your plant came from an environment of ~100% humidity and has no cuticle to protect the leaves.  They wilt very easily under those circumstances.  I think your plant will recover, although it may lose the old leaves.  You definitely don't want it sitting in water in the meantime, though. It doesn't use much water without leaves, and will be susceptible to rot.

 

[lee1dew]

Thanks for all of the replies. I've had the raffs in plastic bags since last night and they seem to be recovering nicely. The leaves look much fuller, nowhere near as bad as they did yesterday afternoon. I'll keep my fingers crossed and will hope for a quick and full recovery.