What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Yellowing Leaves

  • #41
GrowinOld said:
Hey Gill,

Read thru things here again, & was wondering if the simple route of rinsing off the plants, soaking & rinsing routine a few times & then re-planting with new media & pot (& then isolating it from other infested pots/plants) resulted in eradication, or if the "buggers" returned in time.

If my memory does not fail me nematodes are notorious for laying eggs in hundreds of thousands, thus simply washing the plant and repotting it will not help in most of the cases to eliminate this specific issue completely. There is a very high chance that few eggs will survive on the roots and the whole thing will re-bounce.

I've checked the plants periodically after replanting and have not seen the worms yet, but I will not be surprised if the nematodes will return soon. The plants are also kept a bit dryer then before, that might be discouraging the worms too...

Starting to sound paranoid heh :) This whole thing with nematodes complicated everything. I need to leave the town for a week soon and need to set up the drip irrigation system for the plants. Because of the space limitation need to figure out a way to fit several trays onto one small shelf: cram infected plants into one tray (they have different pots' sizes), isolate clean new plants in another, put repotted VFT's into a third one... Earlier it all would have fit into two big trays and be done.. Arghhhhhh so I want those worms out!



Im not sure if all this experimenting with the worms is an attempt to fix the original problem (the yellowing of leaves) or if its a "just because" experiment..an attempt to kill the worms simply because they are there, and perhaps they might be harming the plants..

IMO the yellowing of the leaves probably has nothing to do with the worms..the problem is obvious..
its because they are being grown indoors.

Scot

The experimenting was an attempt to kill the nematodes in the soil. I suspected that they might have something to do with the leaves discoloration, but that is about it. I bought two plants from a single nursery and they both had the nematodes. Without realizing it I spread them to each plant in the tray (since then I keep those plants isolated from the rest of the collection, some of them I can't replant, such as pygmy sundews). So trying to kill two birds with one stone:
figure out the problem with VFT's leaves that were yellowing and then simply drying out
and figure out a way to eradicate nematodes from the infected plants...

So you may be right that there was not enough light but that does not explain why after repotting the plants bounced back and are doing great.
 
  • #42
I'm new to this. This thread doesn't seem too recent, but I'm going to respond to it anyways and c what happens.

I would really be interested to know if you were able to get rid of the nematodes entirely without damaging plants. If so, how?

I've only ever had troubles with nematodes infesting butterwort containers. They are dangerous with butterworts because they seem to carry and/or make the plant more susceptible to diseases like crown rot. It seems like crown rot can take out a "ping" in a matter of days. No fun.

The best way to handle nematodes is apparently prevention---- by doing things like sprinkling the plant with freeze-dried bloodworms to encourage beneficial fungus such as trichoderma harzianum which creates a hostile environment for nematodes. Or whatever. But the question is, what are you supposed to do once you get an infestation? If they lay so many eggs that re-potting doesn't get rid of them, and most pesticides/nematicides that are good at killing nematodes are also good at killing carnivorous plants--- then what else is there to try? AAAgh.

Thanks!
 
  • #43
Morrigan,

Unfortunately they are present EVERYWHERE! There is no way you can get rid of them. As you said you can only suppress them to a degree.

A good example I ran into just two days ago was when I was re-potting set of pings from one tray that have been growing in totally inorganic media that was unfortunately not properly washed (aps was not washed properly) and had a layer of Cypress on the bottom to prevent the media from washing out. I first noticed a smell of anaerobic decomposition (H2S) from the pots a while ago and then algae on the surface. In addition the pots were kept wet.
So when I scooped out the ping and got just 1cm layer of soil with it, I noticed ~1cm long white hair thin nematode in the soil. After I dumped the ping into a shallow container with water to remove the soil I found little pieces of APS and finer pieces sand wiggle around. Upon closer inspection there were dozens of the nematodes in all size ranges. HOW THE HELL DID THEY GET THERE? APS, sand and perlite and even Iron oxide additive were kept dry prior to mixing. Cypress mulch? It is a tree bark. How the hell did nematodes get in that?

Anyway. I suspect that these namatodes that I got in the pot are of the variety that live off the decomposing organics in the soil and don't attack the roots. Pings were young and healthy. No root rot, bunch of fresh white roots. But also some dead roots too. I replanted everything into a fresh media making sure that I add some dry Trichoderma granules into the hole for roots.

In addition I find nematodes in every soil/pot I have. I got some Utrics that came in LFS and there were nematodes there. I received a couple of plants and potted them into fresh washed peat : sand,.. plants had no contact with other plants and were kept separate (peat and sand were chemically treated with 1% peroxide for a week). In a month I saw nematodes in the washed out water. So basically there is no way to get rid of them and I bet that EVERYONE here if they look carefully into what washes out from the pot, that is kept moist, will find them. Roundworms are the most diverse and arguably the most numerous species that adapted to nearly every environment available. So... I just gave up.

P.S. I tried several chemicals and biologic means of controlling them. Nothing worked, so now I can only hope that trichoderma will keep them somewhat at bay :)
Or maybe its time for that fungus that feeds off of them, the ones that form traps in the soil for nematodes?

P.P.S Oh yeah those VFT are fine :) Still have yellow leaves sometimes but I think it is a natural process.

P.P.P.S I just reread what I wrote about spreading the Worms. Oh I was wrong :) they were there all the time anyway. Even in the isolated plants that were kept separate I still found nematodes. So... Scottychaos was I think pretty much right. VFT love outdoors and should be kept outside anyway.
 
  • #44
Did you try pouring CO2 (dried ice) on them? Or, would that not affect the eggs...
 
  • #45
It would not affect nematodes either.
 
  • #46
Thanks for the reply. It's a little disheartening to find that they seem so widespread and indestructible.

\
P.S. I tried several chemicals and biologic means of controlling them. Nothing worked, so now I can only hope that trichoderma will keep them somewhat at bay :)
Or maybe its time for that fungus that feeds off of them, the ones that form traps in the soil for nematodes?

I've read a little about the fungus that makes traps in the soil--- but I didn't know if it was commercially available, or which kinds of nematodes it feeds on. Do you know if this stuff is available, and of help against those pesky worms?

Thanks again!
 
Back
Top