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Growth Tips Dying?

Nepenthesis

Formerly known as Pineapple
I noticed yesterday that the growth tip on my N. lowii x campanulata was turning black. After freaking out, I hoped for the best -- at least I could resort to the basal, right? Just five minuted ago I found the basal's growth tip turning black!

I know the person I got it from is gonna see this, so just know it is/was one of my favorites and I cared for it well. It got the same conditions as 35-40 other Nepenthes, same watering and light. Lowii x spectabilis growing right next to it, also.

The leaves are great and solid, so I don't think it would be root rot. The most recent leaf was massive, even.

***So basically, what can I do to make it not die?***

The growth tips are both 1/2" or less out of the last leaf and they have dark gray tones mixed with a bit of green. No completely black areas, just tinted blackish on the growth tips.
 
Do you fertilize? I recently caused a nepenthes disaster in my collection with too much if the (apparently) wrong fertilizer.
 
Nope, hasn't been fertilized except a foliar mist twice over the course of like four months or however long I've had it. Plus, I do everything I did to it to every single one of my plants -- they all are treated the same. At this point I really don't want to worry about what caused it, but it may be over-watering because I do have all of my Nepenthes in trays of water. That one may have been more sensitive than the others, I suppose. It's no longer in the dish though.

I want to be able to help it not die, rather than focus on what may have gone wrong.
 
Its from the genes of campy, the tip of the growthpoint will look dark purple/black. It did that for me before I sent it to you, post a pic anyways.
 
hmmm never heard of that with campy
 
myles, it was quite evident on my lowii x campy when I had it, the tip of the growthpoint is a dark greyish purple, just like how pineapple described, look closely at your own plant, it might have it too.
 
I would never, ever let Nepenthes sit in trays of water. It's a recipe for root rot.
 
  • #10
but you said its from the genes of campy, so wouldnt campy show this? i dont have a lowii x campy

help threads without pics are lamesauce. i wanna know what it looks like

and paul is right. outside of some lowlanders, i wouldnt ever trust em to be sitting in water without issues
 
  • #11
Well the trait doesnt come from lowii so it would have to be from campy, Im not to sure about it but I think it only shows once the campy is larger. I have seen it on several different lowii x campys.
 
  • #12
Like Luca said, if the tip of the growth point is dark but gradually lighter towards the bottom, this is simply a feature of campanulata that is likely due to a confluence of meristematic cells. Relative to other species, campanulata rarely expresses anthocyanins, which could be a possible explanation for the almost translucent appearance of the shoot apical meristem.
 
  • #13
Exactly what they said. I was scared of my lowii x campanulata's growth tip dying, but then I sat back and waited and, sure enough, that turned into one twice the size of the others. Pics would help us tell if yours is a bigger problem, but I doubt it.
 
  • #14
why no pics...?

Bc it's dark now. :p

Plus I'm lazy. QAQ

Its from the genes of campy, the tip of the growthpoint will look dark purple/black. It did that for me before I sent it to you, post a pic anyways.

It better be just the genes lol! I REALLY hope it is because now I'm freaking out... I'll get a picture tomorrow if I remember, I haven't been on TF much recently due to busyness.

myles, it was quite evident on my lowii x campy when I had it, the tip of the growthpoint is a dark greyish purple, just like how pineapple described, look closely at your own plant, it might have it too.

Yeah, yesterday I took it from its place on the shelf and pulled the growth tip around and it didn't seem like it was flimsy, so I guess that's good.

Like Luca said, if the tip of the growth point is dark but gradually lighter towards the bottom, this is simply a feature of campanulata that is likely due to a confluence of meristematic cells. Relative to other species, campanulata rarely expresses anthocyanins, which could be a possible explanation for the almost translucent appearance of the shoot apical meristem.

Okay thanks for the deep explanation of it... Thank god I didn't kill it, I'd feel so bad. It's too pretty to die lol.

Exactly what they said. I was scared of my lowii x campanulata's growth tip dying, but then I sat back and waited and, sure enough, that turned into one twice the size of the others. Pics would help us tell if yours is a bigger problem, but I doubt it.

Okay, good -- that makes me feel really confident with mine. Calming down a lot now. :)

Thanks everyone! I'll post a pic tomorrow, or if I forget, I'll post an update in a few days/weeks. :)
 
  • #15
I recall watching a YouTube video where the guy claimed that if you get a black growing tip you should cut it off quickly, and keep cutting until you reveal a vine center that's not at all black -- otherwise you'll lose the plant. That's probably not always true, because I've had plenty of blackened growing tips where the damage stopped by itself and the plant continued growing from the next node down.
 
  • #16
Okay so as it turns out they weren't dying, they're both growing and getting ready to open... But I swear, parts of them were almost black at one point. Really strange.
 
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