Diagnosis help

[jeremyfishb]

Hello,
I'm not sure what's going on with a few of my plants and am looking for help or advice. Some look like they have some pest damage and a couple have fairly recent leaves, still with pitchers (at least partly alive), that are drying up from the sides of the leaves. My plants are all grown on shelves next to an eastern facing window in Seattle, under T5 HO lights (about 12-14 inches above). A humidifier runs most of the time and in the day humidity ranges from 50-70% and night from 60-90%. Temps are 72-78 in the day and 52-60 at night. They also get a misting before I go to bed, and all are grown in LFS/perlite/bark. They are watered about every 3 days or when they need it with distilled water. Here's some pics of the damage:

N. veitchii x platychilla with drying leaf:


N. glandulifera x burbidgeae with drying leaf:


and the pest looking stuff:
N. ventricosa, underside of leaf along rib (this guy just started making much smaller pitchers than normal too) :


N. spectabilis, underside of leaf-rusty stuff around glands (this is on a few of my plants but not most):


Thanks for any help,
J

 

[Whimgrinder]

How long have you had the plants?

 

[kulamauiman]

How recently did you get your plants? Recently transplanted, etc? Any changes or modifications to growing conditions?

 

[theplantman]

The side-browning is a bit weird; I'd cut it off as a precaution. My two cents is also that the last 2 photos are unrelated to the first 2. How is your air circulation? The plants in general look like they would benefit from a nutritional bump; they shouldn't be purplish or orange/yellow.

 

[jeremyfishb]

Thanks for the quick responses.
I got N. spectabilis last spring and the others I've had for a bit over a year. The N. veitchii x platy was just re-potted a few weeks ago. They did get a neem oil treatment around Halloween when we brought home a pumpkin, believe it or not, that had spider mites, it was one of those knucklehead ones. Just to be cautious, they were sprayed as according to the label on the neem oil 3 times over about a week and half. It has gotten a lot less bright for them too because of Seattle's winter weather but they're still under lights. I'm always paranoid about bugs but haven't actually seen any on the plants... Oh, and the rusty colored stuff on N. spectabilis has been there for at least a few months.

 

[jeremyfishb]

Thanks plantman.
I should have mentioned that they do get osmocote pellets in most of the pitchers. I usually put them in 3 or so pitchers in a row and then give em a break for a pitcher or two. Sometimes the osmocote instantly destroys the pitchers. Air circulation is Ok. The humidifier keeps air moving and unless it's super cold, they get an open window for the night. The leaves are dry most of the time.

 

[Whimgrinder]

I experimented briefly with Osmocote in pitchers and found all it did was cause damage without any perceivable benefit, so I terminated the experiment.
The rest of those discolorations and leaf margin browning is something I see all the time on veitchii hybrids, and sometimes others. I believe it is normal aging, as long as it on the older foliage, and not the new.

 

[jeremyfishb]

Thanks Whimgrinder. It's assuring to know that the browning on the sides of the leaves happens to others. The leaves it's happening on aren't the newest ones, but they're not that old either. I'll keep monitoring them and keep the forum posted. I'm still unsure about osmocote myself. For some plants, I've seen massive leaf jumps not long after starting treatment, but it's hard to know if it's because of the osmocote as there's no real control group to compare it to. The damage it causes to the pitchers sometimes is pretty annoying though. Do you fertilize your neps?
Any ideas on the possible pest damage?

 

[Whimgrinder]

The damage it causes to the pitchers sometimes is pretty annoying though. Do you fertilize your neps?
Any ideas on the possible pest damage?

Its not pest damage.

Yes, I fertilize my Nepenthes - through their roots. They're perfectly capable of absorbing nutrients through the root system, as long as you apply it judiciously; in small amounts. If you feel you must feed through the pitchers, use actual insects or dried bloodworms. And be aware that the more you put into pitchers, the shorter the lifespan of that pitcher.

 

[theplantman]

I experimented briefly with Osmocote in pitchers and found all it did was cause damage without any perceivable benefit, so I terminated the experiment.
The rest of those discolorations and leaf margin browning is something I see all the time on veitchii hybrids, and sometimes others. I believe it is normal aging, as long as it on the older foliage, and not the new.

Since water is necessary to move nutrients through the Osmocote membrane, I've found that keeping them in constantly saturated conditions (i.e. in pitcher fluid 24/7) facilitates "dumping," or the release of months of fertilizer within a short amount of time. So despite the fact that we're using a slow-release formula, the application of the prills into pitchers renders them short-release just because of the chemistry of the membrane. Whereas with root/soil feeding, as we both do, you're actually giving the plant a more appropriate and manageable quantity of nutrient salts over a longer span of time.

Paul's method is exactly mine as well. CP roots absolutely have the capability to utilize nutrients just as well as other plants. However, you also run into the fact that the low pH has a huge impact on the nutrients you're applying.

 

[jeremyfishb]

Thanks so much for your thoughts and information guys! Much appreciated!

 

[corky]

You maybe watering them too often, every three days could be keeping them too wet, I water mine every five or six days, I used to water more regularly but they seem to prefer my drier regime

 

[jeremyfishb]

Thanks for the tip, Corky. I'll try that out on a few plants and see how it goes...

 

[Tower]

I mist mine every M W F. The LFS sure does love it haha, oh and the springtails

 

[Nepcromancer]

I wouldn't worry too much about the leaf browning on the veitchii, the leaves on mine look very similar to that. I had some trouble with cold damage and thrips a while back, and I think that was part of it. But sometimes it just seems to appear for no obvious reason.