Sick Hamata! Needs help bad!

[JMatt]

I have a very sick Hamata! I think it has got some kind of fungas or something?
It's been growing in a tank with plenty of air circulation, but lately I have been having a hard time keeping the humidity high. It's been 20 to 30 percent. I have a fogger in the tank, but it does not keep the humidity high for long. I have a new light over the tank and thought the redness (at first) was just the increased light on the plant. The temps have been a bit warm during the day too, 85 being the highest and getting down to 65/70 at night. Whatever it has doesn't seem to be affecting the pitchers, but the growth in the leaves is getting much smaller. It was a very healthy plant at one time, but something is dragging it down. I have been spraying it with a fungacide I think was called Imunox? Can't find the bottle right now. It works great for my Sarracenias, but I don't think it's doing anything here. I am thinking of trying Zyban. Oh, I also found some spider mites on the plant. I sprayed for them too. I think there gone now. All the other plants growing in the tank have been sprayed for pests and sprayed with a fungacide. None of them show any signs of this happening. It just keeps on slowly getting worse? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
JMatt

 

[Nepenthusiast]

Looks like rust spot...how much light does it get?

 

[Dave S.]

Hi Jeff,

I agree that it is a fungus. My N. macrophylla was hit with it awhile ago. I cutoff nearly all of the leaves and used a cinnimon to prevent it from spreading to the new growth. I have used a 3 in 1 fungicide/miticide/insecticide product by Schultz with OK results for nepenthes.

 

[JMatt]

Right now it is outside away from my other plants. It gets 3 to 4 hrs of full morning sun.
The light setup for the tank it was in is a Sunleaves Pioneer IV. It has 4 two ft T5 vitalume bulbs. It says it puts out 7,600 lumens. The plant along with all the other plants sit about 4 to 5 inches under it. It does seem much brighter than the old light I was using. That was just a shop light with 2 four ft grow bulbs. The tank is two ft wide, so the shop light hung over and was not that effective. I do have Mylar around three sides of the tank to try and increase the light.

 

[JMatt]

I am trying Zyban now. it is a contact and systemic fungicide.
Do you think it's has something to do with being too hot and low humidity?
JMatt

 

[Dave S.]

Do you think it's has something to do with being too hot and low humidity?

Yes, I think that could be it. I think when they are stressed, they are more likely to develop it. This kind of fungus only happens with my highlands during the summer months.

 

[JMatt]

Figures!
Doesn't look like this one will be going to the show this year.

 

[musamusa1975]

I had the same thing happen to my ramispina. I just moved it into a terrarium this month so it is a bit warmer during the day, but fairly cool at night. Much more humidity than the windowsill it was on before. Not sure why it should be stressed, but the leaves look just like JMatt's. Does anyone know if there are fungicides that you would NOT want to use on nepenthes?

Michael

 

[chloroplast]

Hi Jeff,

Sorry to see that your plant is sick.

I agree with Dave that it's likely to be a fungus (perhaps one of the rust fungi). I've had this infect some of my neps in the past and had to do what Dave suggested, cut off the affected leaves. Fungicide didn't seem to prevent the rust from spreading to new growth.

I would quarantine the plant--this fungus can quickly spread to nearby neps. There's a virus that causes red spotting on neps but based on the circular, orange-colored spots, I'd guess fungus is more likely than virus. Either way, keep the plant in isolation until it's healthy again.

As for the new growth getting smaller, I think that this is just a stress reaction to the fungus/viral infection, spider mites, high temps, and the insecticide/fungicide you've been spraying on it. That's a lot for a plant to take all at once. The foliage should revert to normal size once the plant gets healthier.

Hope this helps. As I said on the phone, I've lost a couple neps and a heli this summer to the high temperatures and so I know how it feels......

See you on Saturday,

Ken