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!

P. moranensis getting munched on?

I have a weird thing going on with my moranensis. I repotted it recently and now, all the old leaves are vanishing. I'm not talking shriveling up, I'm talking big circular holes appearing in them and spreading out. It almost looks like they're melting.

It really looks like something is eating them but when I remove those leaves and look, there's nothing.

I'm down to the odd looking crown of new leaves that are right in the center of the plant (god, I hope it's not trying to hibernate) and am kinda worried, if it is something that's biting it to death then it's about to hit the major part of the plant.

Is there anything other than bugs that would cause big circular holes to appear in my Ping's leaves?
 
Possibly just adjusting to new conditions?

When I get a new plant from a nursery or a trader my plants often do what you mentioned the bottom leaves will die off and thier will be a lot of new growth in the middle. I just got a Sierra maztecas and it did the same things. All the leaves under it died fast and shriveled up. Now thier is a kalidascope of ping growth in the center.

you would need to provide pictures for a better hypothesis.
 
Sure:
Ping.jpg


The plant is about a year old now. I have recently repotted it (moved it out of my pygmy pot) and recently got a new lighting setup. Before, it was on a windowsill, now it is under 4 T8 bulbs next to the windowsill.

I can't imagine the T8 bulbs are putting out enough light to sunburn the plant... can they?

Ping2.jpg


This is the plant itself. It is approximately 1 inch across, down from about 5 inches across before the move. I have not fed it -- the most recent growth spurt that prompted the repotting was after feeding it dried and crushed bloodworms -- since it started getting these weird dots.
 
I just noticed I have similar... browning on the tips of my D. Dichotoma "Giant", but new growth appears to be doing fine. Maybe it's just the sudden change in environs?
 
Kinda looks like an old, drying out-ish leaf to me, not necessarily burnt.

-Clue
 
Looks like damage from fungus gnat larvae to me.
 
Are you getting water directly on the leaves when watering? The leaves seemed to melt on mine, as you described, when I would get water spray on the plant.
I learned the hard way not to do that. lol
 
I would also suggest fungus gnat larvae as a possibility in that wet peat mix you have. Look for little clear black headed larvae on the compost first thing in the morning. If there are enough of them, they will eat live material such as ping seedlings or old leaves. The closer the leaves are in contact with the compost, the more likely they will eat the leaves.

On large plants, leaves that fungus gnats feed on are usually close to decay anyway and it doesn't affect the plant at all. In fact, when they turn into the adults, they feed the plants so I believe them to be beneficial. It is with seedlings and young plants that they can be a problem.

When I see a problem with these larvae amongst seedlings I use a pair of tweezers to take them off the surface each morning and put them onto the carnivorous leaf of a bigger ping. Alternatively, a suitable soil drench insecticide might be a solution. Be sure to identify that this is the pest first, though!

When conditions are changed for plants, old leaves are often discarded by the plant. As long as the central new growth is healthy then things are usually ok.
 
Should this plant be in a more perlite-heavy soil? I am thinking of picking up a Yucca Do 1713 and everything I'm reading is saying essentially to use pure perlite or a very heavy perlite to peat ratio (2 or 3 to 1, for example) on mexican pings.

Would re-repotting help? I have plenty of perlite.


Edit: It's not a winter rosette, is it?
 
Back
Top