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I don't know why they are doing this again

vraev

Carnivorous plant enthusiast
Admin
Hi guys,

Basically, my VFTs were in a terrarium for their first 8 months. then they started making these shock traps...basically the trap kinda prematurely dies and if it does grow..its growth is all wierd and distorted. Brad on cpuk suggested that it might be due to the water left in the terrarium. I then realised that I used a perlite underlayer for drianage and the water that accumulates under there must become toxic due to Mg release and lack of oxygen. THis was probably shocking the roots (according to Brad). Interestingly....it was probably true. I repotted my plants and after a month, all started making normal traps. This continued for quite a while with the plants starting to bulge with growth. But, suddenly....one of the typicals that finally started growing grew for a little while (2 months [rest were growing 3 months]) and then it started making shock traps again. 2 traps later...a normal trap and then since then its traps are all shock traps and now its almost stalled to very slow. Then my other typical, b52 and red dragon started showing symptoms almost at the same time. NOTE: these plants are all one beside the other. They started making shock traps as well.

Suddenly, the red dragon's growth tip in the center died. But, it made a new one on the side. THis one is now still making normal and nice regular traps. THe others still are growing for the center and still making shock traps.

NOW: considering a infection.

there is also a VFT cutting in the same very exact pot. its growing terrific. there is a vft pot with b52 cuttings and they are doing fine. Seperated from the ceph is a dentate which is doing great as well. its only the big plants which are acting wierd.

Now my hypothesis:

When I was repotting...for a blockage layer to the holes, I used lfs: cheap quality from local home depot:

img2213ed6.jpg

By vraev at 2007-05-02

Now, I am guessing that the old plants which are big...its roots are reaching this layer underneath its regular peat + perlite mix. Theyounger ones aren't there yet. So therefore maybe the old ones are showing shocktraps as probably this lfs is messed up.

NOW...a good pal here.. joosa was suggesting mealy bug on the VFT. I am having a bit of a scare of that same exact thing with my ceph on its old growth. I am not yet sure...but..interestingly the ceph pot is near all these old plants. but its also in contact with the younger ones.

---current: taken 2 mins ago----

B52: current:

1273465802_c6938bf4b5.jpg


Typical 1: current:

1272603505_99e3e16cd5.jpg


Typical 2: current:

1272607225_1088b18013.jpg


---pics of cuttings in typical 2's pot:

1035390648_9d72a07ac9.jpg

cuttng of the same exact typical 2

B52 cuttings... in a pot right beside the big plants

1035389088_458032ea63.jpg


Now..I have considered repotting. But, remember... my plants (the old ones) HAVEN'T HAD A DORMANCY YET. I got them last year near sept and skipped dormancy. I was thinking maybe I should wait till its over and then repot in spring again.

But, what if there is indeed a mealy bug infestation. How to find out? I cannot obviously see any signs. The signs of that on the ceph was like a white sticky WEB underneath the oldest leaf. However, all new leafs have shown no such signs.

I don't know what to do. I do have backups of my VFT's. The young ones (cuttings) are probably not going to dormancy this year. but, obviously...I would rather prefer that my old plants do well as well.

any help is welcome

thanks,

varun
 
full plant pics: from august 14th

B52

1035391832_fcbd1a1691.jpg


Typical 2

1034538491_bda3b30996.jpg
 
How's the air circulation?
 
Why are your cuttings not going to go into dormancy this year?

-Ben
 
If you think there may be a chance of mealybugs, why wait? Spray the plants with ortho.

Also, that LFS you are using, I use the same for my neps and haven't had a problem yet. It is cheaper but it seems to work well. In most HD and Lowes the options are that from the US or Chilean which is more expensive. I haven't seen a diff in growth between the two.
 
There is plenty of air circulation. They are basically kinda like window sill plants.

Hmm.....wow.... that completely rules out the theory of bad LFS if its fine for you. I mean I use higher quality stuff for my neps and they do fine.

Hmm..... I am totally stumped.

Well...teh reason I was thinking of skipping the cuttings is because, I wanted to have a backup if the dormancy doesn't go well as I might have to do a fridge dormancy method.
 
Hmm.....wow.... that completely rules out the theory of bad LFS if its fine for you. I mean I use higher quality stuff for my neps and they do fine.

Hmm..... I am totally stumped.

Varev, I am (was) using the same type of sphagnum moss that is pictured (Mosser Lee). I got mine from Lowes. All my temperate CPs are topdressed with it. My Sarr and Drosera have not shown any negative effects, but my most of my VFTs are sending up shock traps as well. Recently, I repotted these and got rid of the top layer of sphagnum. That’s when I found mealy bugs on the rhizome of SOME of the affected VFTs, but not all.

I don’t know what to think… The ones that had no mealy bugs are showing the same signs as the ones that do have them (which BTW, are the same symptoms yours are showing). Maybe the sphagnum is no good, and is playing a part in this… Either way I am treating all the VFTs with Ortho Systemic. I spray the foliage thoroughly and “top water” the insecticide on and immediately round the rhizome. Hopefully it will work.

Good luck with yours.
 
hmm.....I don't know. hmm.... it maybe that the sphag is ok for other plants but not for VFT's. becos why would offshoots ad cuttings show no effects and only the bigger plants show effects? :(
 
FWIW many people use this brand of LFS to line the bottom of pots. I use it. I have a few VFTs in pure Mosser-Lee LFS. The longest some of these have be potted with this LFS is from February. Some even have roots coming out of the drain holes.

Also the VFT I had for 10+ years as a wee lad was in live Sphagnum with perlite in the bottom of the pot. I never repotted it.

That said, soon after Manny posted about problems growing Sarracenia minor my S. minor which had be growing beautifully until then went downhill rapidly. Let's hope my VFTs don't suffer a similar "curse" ;)
 
  • #10
hmm.... well....would algae on the surface of the soil mean anything? there is also a lot of sheet moss or random mosses growing. I thought moss only grows with pure water...but algae normally come when water has lot of minerals.
 
  • #11
another point is that I have read on other websites that for some reason, long term, most VFTs don't do well in LFS. I don't grow mine in that media so I can't comment. Have you tried just repotting in peat and sand?
 
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