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Dryness persists

what do you guys make of this? they are in 90% humidity, 70+ degrees, and excellent light (all my other plants are thriving, including an itty bitty cape seedling).

its driving me crazy, and im starting to worry that my aliciea's flower wont open because its sick or something.

i thought it might be aphids as someone suggested so i went out and bought some orthenex, but all i could get ahold of was an aerosol can. if you guys see these and think pest, would aerosol orthenex be safe, or is there a better option?

these plants came from the same place at the same time. i have one other theory- might they need repotting?

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How long have you had them?

Thank god you'r U. subulata hasn't been affected!
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ehhh lets see i'd guess its been 4 or 5 months now
 
wow!

Wierd... maybe it's got root rot or something ? I'd repot. I don't see any pests but that doesn't mean they are there.
 
My aliciae looked like that for the first few weeks when I first got it until I got the lighting adjusted to make it happy. Can you give them more light? They appear to be in a terrarium, can you raise it closer to lights?

And don't Drosera often lose their dew when they are flowering?
 
Maybe they don't like the humidity.
 
is that possible? too much humidity for sundews?
 
My first thought on viewing the photographs of your plants was that nutrient deficiencies appear to be the basis of the difficulties your plants are having. Whenever there is a lack of natural prey, nutrient augmentation (fertilizing), is important. When feeding (fertilizing), be frugal initially and increase your feeding as the plants respond. Light must be kept high during feeding, and periodic spritzing of the leaves, with prey, helps speed the assimilation process and reduce the incidental damage done to leaves from microorganisms that are also utilizing the prey/food items.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Meaven @ Nov. 29 2006,1:37)]is that possible? too much humidity for sundews?
Depends on the the other growing conditions. I grow mine in direct sun from 7:30 am to 1:30 pm, outside, during the summer. Lots of airflow and humidity is almost always below 45%. During the winter, they are inside, in front of my south window. Humidity is between 30% and 40%. Not as much air flow, but more than what they would recieve in a covered terrarium. My plants have always produced plenty of dew (except when I killed them down to the roots by not watering them
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). After reading Joseph's reply though, I am leaning more towards his diagnosis. Because as bright as the light seems to be, the capensis hasn't developed a dark green color. It's kinda pasty looking ( in a plant sorta way). My plants get that pale green color if they are inside and don't catch very many bugs. I notice this in my pings especially. They also may not be getting enough of the right type of light. Just cause it looks bright to us, doesn't mean it's good enough for the plant.
 
  • #10
really... hmm. ok, i'll give the food a try. whats something decent i can find without a lot of work? right now i only got the crickets i keep for my neps, and those are obviously too big.
 
  • #11
My favorite thing to use is sold as food for tropical fish. It is called freeze-dried blood worms. I first rub it through a fine screen, like used to strain tea leaves from brewed tea. I then sprinkle just a little bit onto leaves that appear to have some functionality. Afterwards I lightly spritz to moisten the insect powder, but not wash it completely from the leaves. It is good for a little of it to reach the media and plant roots. In a week or two you should see a positive response. I've heard that others use the insect pieces whole and simply spritz to remoisten them. And they are also available in frozen form, just thaw.
 
  • #12
Bloodworm meal available thru aquarium suppliers is an excellent meal for your plants. Nutrition and/or lighting might need improvement, light tubes need to be replaced about every 8 months to be spectrally efficient. Repotting the plants might be another avenue; if there are nutrient accumulations in the mix this will remedy that potential problem. The pinkish coloration and dry appearance of the D. aliciae suggests that there might be a fungal infection, possibly due to overly stagnant air circulation. Cleary's antifungal product can correct this althoigh the old leaves will never recover their dew. Hope this helps, and good luck!
 
  • #13
I have heard of people putting crickets in a blender(hope they are dead), then pouring the slurrie through cheese cloth and using the juice to feed plants.
I bet it makes a heck of a margarita too!

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Cheers,

Joe
 
  • #14
If you're deathly allergic to bloodworms like me, petsmart sells freeze dried daphnia.

I like orchid fertilizer myself.
 
  • #15
whos gonna take the blame for not warning me how horrendous ground bloodworms smell? hmm? ANYONE?
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  • #16
aliciae is looking way better! its got dew back, and has resumed growth.

cap on the other hand still looks like crap, but i think the leaves that is has are so messed that they cant produce dew anymore..

i ground up some ever-so-stinky bloodworms in my mortar and pestel and made a paste... my aliciae and dielsiana DEVOURED it. i fed some to my VFT cuttings as well, they liked it very much. capensis just kinda did what it could... but it did consume the food, slowly. i also added an external heat lamp on the outside of the terrarium, raised the temp 5 or so degrees during the day, and *all* my plants are enjoying it. irritating however that the single heat lamp consumes more juice then all 4 of my flourescents =( thats gonna be expensive.
 
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