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New N. hamata, will it pull through?

Hey guys. So a couple days ago I got a potted N. hamata shipped to me in the mail and it was kind of crushed. The growth point was turning brown, the leaves had been flattened, and all the pitchers were crushed. :-( Since then, all the pitchers have been shriveling up up more and the growth point has turned brown. Here I took a few pics:

A pitcher the day I received it:

2012-06-01_15-52-16_140.jpg


Plant now:

2012-06-02_19-33-17_756.jpg


2012-06-02_19-33-48_864.jpg




Anyways, my question is, do you guys think it will pull through and is there anything I should be doing? Thanks so much.
 
I've received a couple of plants that have been squished in shipping. They all pulled through, but it took a few months before they started growing again. You may want to bag the plant and consider changing the media since it looks a little heavy (although this is entirely optional..). Also, don't fertilize or anything until it starts growing on its own.
 
That looks like peat+perlite with sticks mixed in lol...

Not sure if you would want to repot now or when its in better shape, but go 50/50 sphag/perlite. Sphag on its own is pretty airy because it holds shape pretty well (at least my Mosser Lee stuff does) and acts kinda like sticks, but its still soft. It makes it very airy unless I put live sphag on top. I wish you luck!
 
Yes, I think it will pull through, especially with a plant of that size. If the main growth shoot doesn't survive, then it should activate a growth node between one of the leaves and continue on. Right now it's hard to tell... but are those leaves wilted as you can tell? Hamata usually makes leaves its leaves facing down until it starts making upper pitchers which looks a lot like wilted leaves. . . Anyways, if they are wilted then you should bag the plant right away and let it slowly adapt in it's proper conditions. I also recommend changing the media to mostly sphagnum mixed in with some perlite and some peat because it looks a little condensed for hamata (especially since hamatas like sphagnum a lot).
 
This is the reason I don't like shipping things potted but many people think it's important to be shipped potted. It's just an accident waiting to happen having a "big" pot full of soil tossing about inside a box, a carefully "bare rooted" & bagged plant ships much safer.


That growing point looks bad but with any luck the meristem underneath is still OK, when that blackened looking leaf tries to unfurl watch it closely. With it damaged like that it may not properly unfurl by itself so you may have to snip that leaf off near the base so the following leaf can emerge easily. Don't do any snipping until the leaf unfurls however so you can see the position of the next leaf.

I would use a plant sprayer to wash all the dirt and perlite off the leaves anything on the leaves is blocking light, even specks, also gives a space for bacteria and viruses and pests to get a foot hold so it's best to wash the plant off after potting.
 
I agree with an earlier post that the plant should be bagged -- to reduce some transpiration stress to the plant as it acclimates. Nepenthes are far tougher plants than most believe . . .
 
Thanks so much for the quick responses, everyone :) It's all bagged up and, if it can hopefully turn a corner and start producing leaves sometime, I'll definitely repot it.

Pineapple, I've got no clue what it is haha. But yeah, definitely not the typical Nep mix I use... I use 2:1:1 sphag: perlite: orchid bark, or 1:1:1:1 sphag: perlite: orchid bark:tree fern fiber but same basic thing. I'd go with the first of those two for the hamata definitely. And that's definitely not what I received the hamata in. It feels rocky too, very strange. Thanks for the help!

swords, Yeah, I know, and the method of shipping was pretty bad. The guy just taped an empty tupperware container over the top of the potted plant. Then the plant got flipped in the mail and the soil crushed it against the tupperware. :censor: Anyways, the growth point is now getting black, so I'm going to hope the plant isn't lost. Will do with the cutting, but I'm worried that the developing leaves inside the unfurling leaf are also turning black. It's hard to tell, but I believe that's the case.

Lance, yes the leaves definitely feel wilted, very weak and droopy. It's bagged up and I'm hoping for the best! And yeah, I'll repot it once it's recovered a bit for sure. Thanks!

I took a couple pictures now that it's bagged. Please excuse the bad quality, I spent no time even trying to focus. :blush: Also, I've never needed to bag before. It seems pretty much one of the easier things to do, but if I somehow managed to mess things up, do let me know. Oh, and now that it's bagged, it probably won't be seeing the same temp drops at night since it'll remain fairly hot and humid 24/7, so should I be unbagging at night or something? Or just leave it as it is. The terrarium it's in gets cooled every night, but I dunno if that'll be enough. Thanks guys!

2012-06-03_16-00-37_794.jpg


And the black growth point, not lookin too hot:

2012-06-03_16-00-52_648.jpg
 
Yeah, the tip is looking worse now :( hopefully a side node from between the leaves below the growth point might activate.

I never use the soil or pots I may get Neps in, if someone does ship them to me potted (some nurseries do that just to save time & effort) I dump it out and bare root the Nep anyway. I only use potting media that I'm familiar with, for most of my Highland Neps I use live sphagnum moss in a net pot, if the pots are big (6" or more) then I will add orchid bark and chunky perlite or "rocks" clay grit media from the hydro shop to make sure the moss is open and airy enough in the larger pots
 
Ouch! is this the plant that was on EBay a couple weeks ago? you should leave the seller a nasty review.
 
  • #10
that sucks hope for the best
 
  • #11
Perhaps clipping off the pitchers could help save the plant's energy and let it focus on recovering instead of keeping those pitchers alive. I may be entirely wrong, so hopefully someone more knowledgeable will chime in.
 
  • #12
@swords: sounds good, I'm just worried about repotting when it's in such bad condition. I may wait it out and see how it comes back, if it does, before repotting.
@pebes: yes, it is. I paid more than I should have for it too :/ I think I may be getting refunded though so we'll see! Kind of a shame
@petmantis: thanks, that sounds like a great piece of advice. It's not like those particular pitchers are ever coming back anyways...
 
  • #13
Good news! The black growing leaf opened up (turns out it's not as black as it originally appeared it would be), and the inner developing leaf is nice and healthy! :banana2: Looks like bagging definitely helped. Hoping to get a pitcher within the next couple months from the new growth!

2012-06-12_15-34-27_262.jpg
 
  • #14
cheers to the good news :D
 
  • #15
Thanks myles!
 
  • #16
Looks clean and good, hope that there is a pitcher for you somewhere in the next few leaves!
 
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