Hmm I'm pretty perplexed by what's happened to my plants in the last month. Ever since I posted pics of my outdoor collection in the Greenhouse/Terrarium thread, I've come back to a progressive die-off of many of my Sarracenias and Dionaeas. Many of the tall Sarracenias suddenly shriveled from the base near the rhizome while many of the VFTs just died completely back. Water hasn't changed, it's been pretty hot, but otherwise nothing's dramatically changed in terms of care.
Couple of factors I was thinking about.
1. Insect/fungal attack? But why would some pitchers be ok and not the others? I don't see any either. I've uprooted some to check and they look ok. No sign of mealy bugs, thrips, or even sooty mold.
2. Drop in humidity? I live in Houston where it gets pretty humid, but there were couple of weeks when it didn't rain and it felt like a desert. But with humidity drops, I would expect pitchers to die from the top down rather than bottom up. And the sundews (usually first to go) are still glistening with no problems.
3. BP oil spill? LOL, I was playing around with this idea just suddenly. Would that have affected rain to the point it became more toxic in general?. But the rest of my garden plants and some CPs still look ok. Anyone else around the Gulf coast experiencing some weirdness?
It really seems like a chemical/water mineral problem. The plants look as if somebody sprayed pesticide randomly on them and they're dying of a slow poison. I will post pics when I have a chance. Thanks.
---------- Post added at 07:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:35 PM ----------
Here you can see the rhizome of this pitcher turning brown
Flytraps were much healthier a month ago. Flowers were all cut off.
Couple of factors I was thinking about.
1. Insect/fungal attack? But why would some pitchers be ok and not the others? I don't see any either. I've uprooted some to check and they look ok. No sign of mealy bugs, thrips, or even sooty mold.
2. Drop in humidity? I live in Houston where it gets pretty humid, but there were couple of weeks when it didn't rain and it felt like a desert. But with humidity drops, I would expect pitchers to die from the top down rather than bottom up. And the sundews (usually first to go) are still glistening with no problems.
3. BP oil spill? LOL, I was playing around with this idea just suddenly. Would that have affected rain to the point it became more toxic in general?. But the rest of my garden plants and some CPs still look ok. Anyone else around the Gulf coast experiencing some weirdness?
It really seems like a chemical/water mineral problem. The plants look as if somebody sprayed pesticide randomly on them and they're dying of a slow poison. I will post pics when I have a chance. Thanks.
---------- Post added at 07:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:35 PM ----------
Here you can see the rhizome of this pitcher turning brown
Flytraps were much healthier a month ago. Flowers were all cut off.