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Nepenthes help Needed!

GrowinOld

Not Growing Up!
Hi All,

I need your help. Any ideas, advice or thoughts shared would be greatly appreciated.
I recently bought my first set of highland Nepenthes. One being N.Macrophylla and the other
N.Truncata Pasian. The Macro was extremely small, and for a couple weeks I was using frozen cold packs to decrease the night temps around the two plants. They were in my large terrarium with other lowland Nep's and all seemed well. I was finishing up my Highland Terrarium and where they were was only temporary.

Anyway, I recently moved the 2 plants to their new "Highland" home and within a week or so the N.Macrophylla has gotten a bit anemic looking. It's leaves are a shade yellower than they had been and got some brown "rotting" spots on them.

NMacro.jpg


I lowered the humidity slightly, (Humidity was previously identical to where they were.) as I thought that was the reason for the brown spots, however I am worried now about the yellowing taking place slowly.

I can't afford to loose this plant and don't understand why it is that now that I am giving it closer to the right conditions (mid-50's to 60 at night, mid-70's during the day) that it is giving me problems. I am considering temperature shock (like transplant shock), however don't know what to do about it. I don't want to "confuse" or "stress" the plant any more than it apparently already is. This thing is so tiny to begin with, I don't see that I have a lot of time or opportunity to experiment much with what might be wrong.

It did used to be in an east window, and has also been moved to the west window, however it has not heated above 81 degrees (as the east terrarium gets up to, also). I am also supplementing light with a couple short fluorescents just in case.

Any ideas what I might want to try next? Your input would be most appreciated.

Oh, by the way, the Truncata is doing fine and growing, while the Macro never showed any growth yet. I have one other plant that was tiny when I got it (N.Bicalcarata) but was quite a bit larger than the micro-tiny N.Macro is. The Bical took about a month or too to establish and has more than doubled in size in that time. So I know I am not totally inept when it comes to growing Nep's! Again, any ideas would be appreciated. ???

Thanks!
Paul
 
honestly, N. macrophylla is not a good choice for a first or second nepenthes. It is usually relegated to advanced-god like nepenthes growers.

That being said, i understand it costs a lot of money and you would hate to see it go. Being so small, it has a rough time adjusting, and probably will die in less-than-optimum conidtions. :( The only thing you can do is to try and keep everything stable. I dont think the spots are rot, but stress things. Keep the humidity high and the temps low and stable, and hold your breath!

Hope everything works out!
Frankie
 
And if all else fails, you can always try to trade it away.
 
cmiiw
most Hiland Nepenthes found in open area, windy and intense sunlight.
seems like your N. macrophylla dont like the high humidity in your terrarium.
 
Hey Paul - I have grown N. Macrophylla for 3 years. When I got it, it was as small as yours!

N. macrophylla absolutely loves humidity. You can't have too much humidity.

Frankie is right, your best bet is to keep the conditions stable. Maybe put a few heads of sphag around it too. Sounds like your conditions are even better than mine.

Don't trade it away, it's likely it won't take the shipping shock again too well.

Good luck!
 
Sorry to hear bout this, I know they are a very expensive plant. I know many people put there dying neps into a plastic bag and have great success keeping the temps and humidity up and recover great. Good luck and hope it recovers.
 
Hi All,

I need your help. Any ideas, advice or thoughts shared would be greatly appreciated.
I recently bought my first set of highland Nepenthes. One being N.Macrophylla and the other
N.Truncata Pasian. The Macro was extremely small, and for a couple weeks I was using frozen cold packs to decrease the night temps around the two plants. They were in my large terrarium with other lowland Nep's and all seemed well. I was finishing up my Highland Terrarium and where they were was only temporary.

Anyway, I recently moved the 2 plants to their new "Highland" home and within a week or so the N.Macrophylla has gotten a bit anemic looking. It's leaves are a shade yellower than they had been and got some brown "rotting" spots on them.

I lowered the humidity slightly, (Humidity was previously identical to where they were.) as I thought that was the reason for the brown spots, however I am worried now about the yellowing taking place slowly.

I can't afford to loose this plant and don't understand why it is that now that I am giving it closer to the right conditions (mid-50's to 60 at night, mid-70's during the day) that it is giving me problems. I am considering temperature shock (like transplant shock), however don't know what to do about it. I don't want to "confuse" or "stress" the plant any more than it apparently already is. This thing is so tiny to begin with, I don't see that I have a lot of time or opportunity to experiment much with what might be wrong.

It did used to be in an east window, and has also been moved to the west window, however it has not heated above 81 degrees (as the east terrarium gets up to, also). I am also supplementing light with a couple short fluorescents just in case.

Any ideas what I might want to try next? Your input would be most appreciated.

Oh, by the way, the Truncata is doing fine and growing, while the Macro never showed any growth yet. I have one other plant that was tiny when I got it (N.Bicalcarata) but was quite a bit larger than the micro-tiny N.Macro is. The Bical took about a month or too to establish and has more than doubled in size in that time. So I know I am not totally inept when it comes to growing Nep's! Again, any ideas would be appreciated. ???

Thanks!
Paul

I would tend to agree with the notion of some others on this thread in establishing a "consistent" climate and allow the plant to establish itself further. I wouldn't shock the plant at this stage or change any Tbs too drastically. I had a similar experience with a Nepenthes villosa quite a while back which arrived in a terrible state, but has turned around. The Euro coin is the size of a quarter . . .

NV.jpg

Nvillosa08.jpg
 
My advice is LISTEN TO JEFF!

I've seen his Macrophylla....or should I now say is MACROphylla.

That sucker is by far the largest of that species I've seen in captivity....best looking, too.
 
I find the brown tip of the growth point most troubling as well as the brown blotch on the leaf at the top of the picture. I am guessing damage from?? transit?? How long have you had the plant? If it's damage and a pathogen has gotten into the plant tissue and it continues to spread then there probably isn't much you can do. If the brown has not continued to spread further then you are probably ok if you just let the plant settle in and do it's thing. N. macrophylla is a slow growing plant. Particularly one so tiny will take a long long time to recover..
 
  • #10
Thank you !!!

Thank You!
For all the good advice and suggestions.

Perhaps what she needs most,
being so small...
is for me to be patient with her
and simply let her have time to recover.

I hope so!

Again, I do appreciate your help!
Thank you all!

If I can, I will post again in the future on this,
hopefully with good news and a picture of
my healthy, thriving little Macrophylla girl!

Paul
 
  • #11
Paul,

I can only really suggest what I'm doing to my Macro. As you saw the setup, my temp drops are not very drastic, maybe 8 degrees here in summer, 10 to 12 if I'm lucky here in the heat.

I leave just that little lids on my smaller neps though. I try to have a wind current at all times around my neps, but I think for small ones like these it's too much especially since they are just walking out of flasks. I don't feel these dime sized ones can barely take any fluctuation.

Also I just water mine roughly 2 times a week. Goal is to keep it moist but def not soggy.

How are you applying the frozen packs? Perhaps the cool packs are making things dip too rapidly or too far, especially if it's changing the soil temp. (ie the plant is sitting on the pack)


-Nathan
 
  • #12
Recovering!

Hi Again,

My N.Macro girl is indeed beginning to recover! At least thus far things are looking good.
Even in just a week in my Highland Terrarium with consistant environmental conditions is apparently having a good effect on her. A new leaf is enlarging already and is looking pretty good.

NMacroRecover.jpg


She still appears rather anemic, however she seems to be a tough little Macro after all.

BigBella, your little N.Villosa and it's progress is certainly amazing! A real demonstration of the vigor and fortitude of these plants. Even the micro-mini juveniles are proving to be tough little plants, when given the right conditions!

Seems the best condition she needed beside a nice new Terrarium,
was my being patient with her!

Thanks again to all of you.
Paul
 
  • #13
good to hear that it has recovered. that is truly an expensive plant and one of the most cherished and wanted species among all CP's. WOW bigbella. How long did it take for that villosa to grow to that size?? (comparing pic 1 and 2). Almost all plants available seem to be the size of the plant in your first pic. :(
 
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