Devestation

[RamPuppy]

Well, as many of you know I have been very busy of late, and I finally had time tonight to wipe the dew from the inner wall of my terrarium, only to behold devestation.

There is a massive fungal infestation in my terrarium, it's horrible. Tonight, I clipped about pitchers that were a week ago gorgeous, now, infested with a fiberous fungus. It is has ensnared my prize Ventricosa X Maxima, growing right up the main stem, and jumping from leaf to leaf.

I cut out as much of it as I could, and was as sparing of the plants as I could be, but the devestation is horrid. It will be months, perhaps even a year before my plants recover. The whole right side of my tank lost about 50% of it's vegitation.

Pity me. I need it.

 

[fatboy]

Shoot RAM that's a bummer, specially as your terrarium was so awesome.
Sounds like you need some more air movement inside to stop that happening again?
There are a couple of current posts about fungicides, have a read and give your terrarium a good dose!

You have my sympathy.

FB

 

[unknownclown]

ouch man I am so sorry for ya Ram your tank was gorgeous and enough to make even non cp growers envious. Throw some superthrive in maybe that'll help, or some more pothos (?) to cover the bald spots?
Ugh that is just awfull!!!

 

[BigCarnivourKid]

I just check the photos of your terrarium.  It's a shame to lose something as beautiful as that, Ram.  I feel bad for ya.  I hope you can revive it and bring it back to its former glory or surpass it.

Again, you have my condolences and best wishes.

 

[Statik2426]

Ram, you had one of the best terrarium i've ever seen! I remember asking you about that N. Ventricosa X Maxima, it was just gorgeous! Hopefully all will recover faster than you think.
One of my S. flava produced 13 new growing points last year from the original two. Fungus took out 1 of the 2 large ones taking 6 of the babies with it.

I need to start using fungicide this winter, what brands do you guys suggest?

 

[Joachim]

Hi Ram,

I feel sorry for you and your plants. Hopefully you won't loose some of them! Pitchers will come back, that's just a matter of time.

From what you write I would suggest acting as soon as possible. If the fungus is in the soil I would recommend repotting your plants carefully washing away all the old soil from the roots. Single pots don't look as nice as your setup (you may have seen mine) but pests don't jump as easily from one plant to another.

Nepenthes are quite hard plants so spraying something against the fungal attac will be benefical and they will survive it. I have no clue what is available on the US market but others may help.

Fungus does thrive under very high humidity, stagnant air and low light levels. I would suggest if possible reducing the humidity below 80% and opening the terrarium a little bit to have fresh air moving into it constantly. A ventilator inside the terrarium might also help. Those ultrasonic humidifers of course do look great but from my experience Nepenthes won't need this extra humidity - and the plants get soft and are more easily attaked by fungus and other pests. I don't know about your lights but from the pictures I do remember this should be no problem at all (what I do remember is that I had to wait 20 minutes to see them... ;-) ).


I wish you good luck!!!

Joachim

 

[BigCarnivourKid]

Got to watch the water you put in ultrasonic humidifiers. If it's got a lot of minerals in it, they end up in the mist and will leave a grey white dust on everything.

 

[RamPuppy]

thanks for all the kind responses.

I use only distilled water in my ultrasonic, lasts longer that way.

Here is what I know. The CPU fan I had on a timer in my tank stopped working... from fiddling, I found that the timer got bumped up against a wall, and the time piece stopped moving, so it got stuck in the off position. that is how the stagnant air happened.

As for potting things up... not gonna do that, I don't have enough room for all the plants in pots, I have however, removed a goodly portion of the top layers of the soil and disposed of it. THe fan is up and running again, and I took the drastic action of pulling the plant bulbs out of my tank and putting all sunbulbs in for half the day. The fungus that was in there and slightly whitish was brown when I came home at 1.

Die fungus die! So I have switched the lights back out so they are not so harsh.. I am sure I will have a few burned leaves, but I am willing to deal with that to retard the fungus growth.

Phil and Jeff priority mailed me some clearys and banrot today, it will probably arrive tomrrow, at which point I will promptly mix it up and spray down the tank, and give a few good extra shots to the area where the fungus was most heavy.

Last night I went through and made sure all non-living material was out of the tank with the exception of my wood pieces and the soil. Got the bad soil out, I'll treat the wood with the fungicide, along with the rest of the tank, and then we will wait and see how things go.

I am going to buy a spray bottle at lunch to dedicate to fungal eradication.

On a brighter note, I got a box full of praying mantis egg cases in this week!

(DIE GRASSHOPPERS DIE&#33

(I wish they could get big enough to take out suzanne's squirrells&#33

 

[PlantAKiss]

Awwww...really sorry to hear that, Ram. I know the feeling. I've had that fungus that turns sundews red (no one seems to know exactly what it is). But the fungicide works well and quickly. I start getting new, green growth almost right away.

I feel for ya! But it will come back with time and you'll get to enjoy the new growth.

Suzanne