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I need a little Nepenthes help

I have two Nepenthes that I'm not sure if they're ok or not and would appreciate some advice/thoughts.

The first one is N. spectabilis. I'm not sure if I even need to worry about this one since the newer leaves are doing good. My concern is the older leaves seem to die really fast and turn brown like in the picture. Maybe it's in ok conditions but not ideal? I just feel like it's not doing as good as it can be.
Temps are 75-80F during the day and 66-69F at night. 80% humidity. Media is a mix of spaghnum, orchid bark and perlite. Bright non direct light for 10-12 hrs.
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Second plant which is worrying me more is the N bicalcarata. It almost looks like its developing a nutrient deficiency (chlorotic and brown edging of leaves). Any ideas on this one?


Thanks :)
 
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Not sure on the bicalcarata, temps are a bit low for the species though. The spectabilis looks ok. Probably just damaged sustained in shipping.
 
You didn't mention how long you've had either of these. Are they recent acquisitions.
 
Not sure on the bicalcarata, temps are a bit low for the species though. The spectabilis looks ok. Probably just damaged sustained in shipping.

Oh sorry, forgot to put the specs on the bicalcarata. It's growing outside where its in the high 80-90s with about the same humidity and a little more light than the spectabilis.
 
You didn't mention how long you've had either of these. Are they recent acquisitions.

I have had the bicalcarata for about 2 months, so not very long. When I received it, it was in very good condition and no signs of anything wrong. So I know it must be something I'm doing wrong. The spectabilis I have had for about 4 months and was also in good condition.
 
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I would say just acclimation and shipping stress on both plants. And to reiterate Paul's question.....how long have you had them ?
 
Also a side note of interest, the two plants on either side of the bicalcarata are also bicals that were purchased within a week of one another. All are growing in the same place and same media the only difference is the variety if bical and ages. The others seem to be doing good ???
 
A plant like spectabilis shouldn't be looking that poor after four months. It is looking like a plant that has no roots. How do you water it, etc. Hard to say what it isn't happy about, but its possible that 69F nights are too warm for long term health.
 
A plant like spectabilis shouldn't be looking that poor after four months. It is looking like a plant that has no roots. How do you water it, etc. Hard to say what it isn't happy about, but its possible that 69F nights are too warm for long term health.

I hand water it with rain water every 2-3 days depending on how fast it dries. I typically wait until my top dressing of sphagnum starts to look dry.

It could very well be it needs to be colder at night. I anticipate it to be in the low 60s during the winter time but since I don't have great control over the temps in my tank it's somewhat subject to whatever nature brings until I get my new highland space set up.
 
  • #10
I'd have to say definitely need a lower drop in temps for the spectabilis. Mine gets lows every night of around mid to high 50's F and is doing very well. When it gets warmer, the plant sulks. Sounds like the watering regimen should be okay though.
As for the bical, I don't know enough about that one to make a comment yet, though it might very well need a bigger pot too, as they have relatively huge roots systems.
 
  • #11
I'd have to say definitely need a lower drop in temps for the spectabilis. Mine gets lows every night of around mid to high 50's F and is doing very well. When it gets warmer, the plant sulks. Sounds like the watering regimen should be okay though.
As for the bical, I don't know enough about that one to make a comment yet, though it might very well need a bigger pot too, as they have relatively huge roots systems.

Hmmm I guess the big question is should I try and wait for colder temps and new highland set up? Or trade it now while it's still in somewhat tradable condition? Hmmmm what to do, what to do?

Anyone else in regards to the bicalcarata?
 
  • #12
As for the bical, I don't know enough about that one to make a comment yet, though it might very well need a bigger pot too, as they have relatively huge roots systems.

I would not suspect pot size to be an issue due to the fact that you have only owned the plant for two months. The brown spots look like typical sun damage, but the chlorosis is a little strange. Are any of those leaves new growth? I had some chlorosis on a larger raff a while ago. Turned out the media had decomposed to a brown mush filled with earthworms.

IMO the spectabilis doesn't look that bad. I think it's just shipping stress. If it starts to get worse you could always use ice bottles until conditions get better. During the peak of the summer I started putting a couple smaller plants in a cooler with a couple bottles just in case. Easily takes temps down into the 50s.
 
  • #13
I would not suspect pot size to be an issue due to the fact that you have only owned the plant for two months. The brown spots look like typical sun damage, but the chlorosis is a little strange. Are any of those leaves new growth? I had some chlorosis on a larger raff a while ago. Turned out the media had decomposed to a brown mush filled with earthworms.

IMO the spectabilis doesn't look that bad. I think it's just shipping stress. If it starts to get worse you could always use ice bottles until conditions get better. During the peak of the summer I started putting a couple smaller plants in a cooler with a couple bottles just in case. Easily takes temps down into the 50s.

Thats funny because I actually put an icepack next to the plant just a little bit ago and moved it to the "cooler" side of the tank. We shall see what develops. I'd really like to keep it since its a great species and always makes cool hybrids.

The bical leaves are all old leaves. The one leaf pointing directly left is sort of a new leaf. It was starting to unfurl when I got it. That leaf is making a pitcher though and doesn't seemed to be hindered in growth. I don't think its pots size either, but I'll double check tomorrow for any media or root issues.

Do bicalcaratas need peat in their media mixture? I read at one time that some grow in more of a bog area. Anyone else grow bicals that might have insight?

This bical is the 'Brunei Orange' variety if that helps any.
 
  • #14
I have Bicalcarata x Ampullaria. Very slow grower and I've heard that bicals like very hot and humid conditions. I'm using 1:1 LFS/perlite for the hybrid.
 
  • #15
Bical can grow in peat/perlite mix, but it does fine in LFS as well. I don't see one is better than the other. The dark spots are likely due to the change to high light level. New leaves should adapt. Not sure about the chlorosis. The pot is ok for next 2 years growth.
 
  • #16
Hi there! I have had and successfully treated this issue (burned leaf margins) on my bical. I believed it to be potassium deficiency (it's a very big, vigorous plant and needs a lot of nutritional support for its tissues, and actually I am suspicious that all the nectaries on the leaves may consume potassium as well) and gave it some dilute potassium nitrate and the leaves turned perfect and green. It doesn't heal the damaged leaves but the new growth will be healthy and it does take about a week to notice healthy growth. Funny story--I have a banana in the same greenhouse and noticed this marginal leaf burn for a long time. I fertilize it all the time, but apparently bananas are monstrous consumers of potassium, which is why everyone says they're rich in it. Anyway, I laid a couple massive tablespoons of pure potassium nitrate in there (it's in a big pot) and BAM, totally green and perfect leaves. Same pattern on Nepenthes, same treatment, except I used I think 1/16 or 1/8 teaspoon per gallon. I am almost positive a normal garden liquid fertilizer will work at 1/8 or 1/4 teaspoons per gallon. I have used up to 2 teaspoons (~400 ppm Nitrogen) of 20-10-20 liquid fertilizer on all my Nepenthes with no burns whatsoever and no problems. Applying in cooler temperatures (i.e. before nightfall) is much less likely to burn and since you're in Hawaii you might want to strongly consider this. While they don't need even half of that (over time I have learned that they like about 100ppm bi-weekly), I still just wanted to throw out there that I've pushed these plants to figure out their limits. Over 400 will kill almost any plant.
 
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  • #17
As for the other Nep, I am thinking immediately that it's sunburn but am not sure. Does not resemble any kind of nutrient deficiency at all. I am wondering--was the plant moved at all recently, whether by you or knocked over by animals? It looks to me that another leaf of something developed over the area that is burned, causing the leaf to look slightly paler than the others and making it more prone to burn. Tropical sun can probably easily do this if so. Did it develop in the shade, or perhaps a tree dropped a leaf on it? Also--did that particular leaf develop in your care or the original grower's? It is likely that something like I described above happened at the nursery, since often plants are crammed together. Was the nursery in the tropics or temperate zones (i.e. how strong was the sun there?). The plant may have been shaded there, been removed and shipped to you with that weakly developed leaf, and been prone to burn from the very beginning. The rest of the plant, IMO, looks perfectly healthy, nice thick sun-adapted leaves, and I don't expect you should have future problems as it grows out. Hope this helps!
 
  • #19
Thanks everyone for the info! :) I'm going to see how the new leaf developes on the bical and go from there.
I moved the spectabilis to the cooler side. I'll see if this helps any, but if not it might be up for trade ;)
 
  • #20
N. bicalcarata is notorious for disliking change. Probably just the original leaves showing a bit of adverse reaction to the change. If you start seeing the same symptoms though on leaves produced in your care then there is clearly an issue to be concerned with. Perhaps as suggested, some sort of nutrition thing but with N. bicalcarata it could be environmental also. Yes it's also possible that the much smaller seedlings next to the larger plant are not as affected. They tend to be more forgiving than the large size plants of this species.

Oh woops forgot to mention the N. spectabilis. Looks like that one leaf has typical sunburn. It also appears to have moisture stress.. the offcolor green, the somewhat curling under of the leaf edges etc.
 
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