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Lots of weird mutations lately

It seems that lately I've been having a lot of strange things happening to the plants, I wonder if it's because of the incident I ran into with using 30ppm water which accumulated. It took out a Nep and a cutting and almost took out 2 other Neps. Either that or I have radioactive water...

Some of you may remember the miranda pitcher missing the peristome and the upper half of it's wings.
IMG_1910.JPG


Well here is the latest pitcher to open (well at least try to):
This one is missing it's peristome all together and the lid is fused at 2 points, the normal back and this one on the underside of the tip of the lid.


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IMG_2294.JPG_595.jpg



Here is a Dionaea that just gave a mutated double trap:

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My capensis also decided to throw in a mutation:

IMG_2292.JPG
 
I suggest flushing the pots and moving them to a radio active waste free environment.
 
The flushing has been done, I've even repotted some. The ones that were really affected started to brown and stopped pitchering. The miranda on the other hand never stopped.
The VFT and the capensis receive rain water only so they were not affected, I guess it must really be a radioactive area :S
 
the nepenthes and drosera damage looks like a catapillar took a few bites
 
That my first reaction at as well, but both pitchers show the same symptoms, and the Neps are indoors. So a caterpillar would have a hard time finding its way inside.

As for the Drosera, just the tentacles are missing while the leaf is intact. This one is outside though so it could possibly a caterpillar though none of the other plants are damaged.
 
Double post, sorry lol stupid phone.
 
The waters ppm would have nothing to do with it as most ro units still put out water at that rating...its more than likely a chemical in the water such as chlorine...you always get mutations, regardless of where you live or the conditions, it just happens.
 
As for the nepenthes, it's either dry air or too much fluctuation in the humidity. 80% for a week, then 30% for a few days, back to 80%. In winter where my humidity will go crazy within an hour once the humidifier tank runs out, I get pitchers like that... where nasty all around unpleasant summer which has humid air, the neps seem to be more even in development.
 
Ya definitely could have been chlorine as the RO filter I was using could have just needed to be replaced. But I'm still stumped on the outdoor mutations. Those plants only receive rain water and occasionally distilled water.

As for the RH it's fairly stable (says the hygrometer) with a range of 20-30%. We'll see if the next couple pitchers develop normally or not.
 
  • #10
Yeah I'll stick with the RH is the cause of your nepenthes issues... bump that up and they'll be doing all crazy natural things.

Chlorine is very easy to remove, 24 hours of just sitting around and it will evaporate. If you have any type of RO setup it's removed very quickly. AV should be able to back up or debunk that very quickly. But I rarely... well never worry about chlorine.

As for the VFT's they do crazy stuff all the time! That's the fun about growing them... And the reason we have so many cultivars, give them any excuse and they will do something crazy. Become huge, become red, become fused tooth, become giants, become pom poms... and so forth.

VFT's seem to be on the cutting edge of being ready to adapt as a population. Next thing you know, they'll be spitting out traps from their flowers... oh wait they do that whenever they feel like it already...

<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/pofHW_lX-DvFSaVKjaUq1A?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_PMY_wtnw6jQ/SYvBdmda5OI/AAAAAAAAATU/PtwfR9U4reQ/s800/P9100850.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/nateniu/CaliforniaCarnivours2008?feat=embedwebsite">California Carnivours 2008</a></td></tr></table>

As for the sundew, I agree with the statement that a bug or something happened to it during development.

Once you start growing plants out doors, it's like sending someone off to college... they're in the real world. They can be superstars if they are in the right situation or be mugged while coming back from the bar. You can't baby them as you would in a green house, and you can't stop the wild life from enjoying your exotic collection either while you sleep.

omnomnomnom,
Nate
 
  • #11
Wow very cool pic Nathan! Those look like they're loving whatever conditions you're giving them. Did that flower stalk eventually die off? Or does it stay permanently since there is a new plant with no roots?

For the Drosera I had not thought about it being munched on DURING development and sounds like a VERY VERY possible and likely case. Scratch that one off the mutation list. Maybe I dont need to be worried about radiation after all XD
 
  • #12
Neat-o. Nice miranda. :)
 
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