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Pest or Disease on Sarr Rubra?

PolishJeff

PolishJeff

Hey everyone,

The first two pitchers thrown up by my Sarracenia Rubra are spotted and a bit deformed. I've never seen this before on any of my Sarrs. What do you think? Here are some photos I took this morning. I hope you can see. I was thinking some bug decided to make a snack while my rubra was exiting dormancy, but I don't know. Any help would be great!

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Here is the whole plant.

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No pics are showing for me.
 
Hey your a bay area native! You a memeber for the BACPS? If not you should be :grin:. Anyway I can't see pics either.
 
not seeing anything either just quote and copy the links
 
I don't see anything alarming. Sometimes the first set of pitchers for the year come out a little funny. I had a pitcher develop about a month ago that came out oddly deformed. No pests to speak of and the next pitcher is just fine. If this keeps happening or gets worse then I would be concerned. Hopefully the next couple pitchers will be fine.
 
Those scabs or scars could be caused by thrips. I would isolate/quarantine the plant for the time being. Keep a close watch on it. Thrips are tiny and difficult to spot. Some even go through a phase where the borrow into and live in the leaf tissue. A systemic insecticide should control thrips. Check the label before buying and applying.
 
I had thrips last year.

Just in case you confirm that it's thrips like NoN suggested it might be, here's a few poor macros of them crawling on my sarrs, along with a life cycle chart I happen to have saved with those images. In actuality, these were no bigger than about 1 to 1.5mm long. Barely big enough to see with the naked eye...and they hide a lot.

Thrips are tiny, they don't jump, they move at a "medium pace" (they're not extremely quick but they are definitely not sluggish) and can often be found crawling in and out of the soil and on the pots themselves.

I used neem oil which killed them all in two separate treatments a week apart (I hit both the leaves and soil).
 
I agree with Frilleon...from what I can tell it looks like maybe a case of the inside growing faster than the outside of the leaf for whatever reason, so it split the outer tissue. Keep an eye on it, but I wouldn't worry.
 
  • #10
Let's see if this works.

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Thanks for all the replies already!
 
  • #11
Veronis said:
I used neem oil which killed them all in two separate treatments a week apart (I hit both the leaves and soil).
Click to expand...

When using neem, do you just barely spray the plant, or is it okay to drench the plant with neem?

I have never used neem before, and about 2 years ago I used Malathion and I guess I got a little carried away with the product and burned all the leaves from my CP's. I don't want the same thing to happen again. Thanks.
 
  • #12
I use neem all the time with no ill effects. One thing I have heard is you can get neem that is not pure neem. Make sure it's pure neem like Einstein oil. It's cold press 100% neem oil. I use this on a regular basis. I also use coco wet as a wetting agent with no ill effect either.
 
  • #13
Thanks everyone for replying so quickly. I'm going to do the atypical thing and wait for another pitcher to grow and decide then. But just in case, I bought a bottle of 100% neem oil if it turns out to be thrips. I'll also quarantine this little rubra for further inspection.

THANKS EVERYONE! I'll post an update in a couple weeks with results (promise).
 
  • #14
Make sure you follow the directions on the bottle, if it needs diluted or not. The first time i used neem in the garden I burnt my skin and a whole row of bean plants by not diluting properly.
 
  • #15
Thanks for the heads up Chez. I'll make sure to follow the bottle's directions!
 
  • #16
Rubra Update!

Being the persistent/paranoid Sarr grower I am, I've scavenged the plant for any sign of pest. I found a few of these guys running around. Thrip?

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  • #17
Methinks that looks like a thrip.

BTW, they bite. It usually ends in the demise of the bug- whether by poisoning (we aren't good for them) or by getting swatted.
 
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