Sad neps

[antechron]

Ok, this has been going on for long enough now and I'm really hoping that the brilliant minds of terraforums can give me a solution.

A few of my neps are starting to act very sad, here are some pictures.
reinwardtiana

sibuyanensis

ventricosa

Nep that for the life of me I can't remember which it is (good luck IDing it)

Also, until recently my Inermis was doing great... now it put out a leaf that looks like this...

Ok, now you have the sad pictures :-(. Here are the conditions. Daytime is about 75F and 75% humidity. The plants are 9.5 inches (were 7 inches until i thought the plants were getting burned.) The night-time temps are around 55-60F with 95%ish humidity. They are under t8 lights for 16 hours per day. As you can see, the shpagnum on top is dry, but the medium under it does not seem to be. I don't know what the potting medium is as they were given to me potted... but i'm open to suggestions if you think it could be that...

If you need more info Plz ask, if it helps a plant I'd be more than willing to tell.

Thanks!
-Isaac

 

[Rball]

cant see photos...

 

[carnivoure12]

-

 

[Exo]

Move the lights to about 10 inches away and change the soil to something with better drainage...like a perlite/lfs/bark mix....and water it often.

 

[Rball]

im having simular experience with some of my nepenthes new growth points.....exo is it just cus my lights are too close?

 

[Exo]

im having simular experience with some of my nepenthes new growth points.....exo is it just cus my lights are too close?

I've seen it because of lights that were too close...soil that is too wet and dense...soil that has too many salts built up.....and underwatering.

 

[Jimmy]

Your media looks a bit too dry in those pictures...

Could you check under the leaves? If there are splotches of brownish discoloration, you could have a pest problem. And those can be difficult to kick.

 

[antechron]

There are no brown patches. The only bugs i see are the little white things that live in the soil. Are they an issue? I've been using neem oil just in case for the last 2 weeks I think. I just repotted 2 of them in some really loose airy mix of LFS, perlite, a little orchid bark, and some vermiculite. I'm going to have to water it a lot more. The old medium looked like mostly APS with a little orchid bark, and a tiny bit of LFS. the soil was moist and drained very well... but wouldn't have been my choice.

More questions?

 

[Dexenthes]

I think you might have a pest problem. The picture of sibuyanensis looks particularly noteworthy.

But some of the others don't look like pest issues... It's hard to tell though.

What kind of water are you watering with? Any strange chemicals or minerals that might have accidentally entered the soil or your water cycle somehow?

But those black dots on the sibuyanensis look very mite-like. Try scraping them off with a knife.

 

[antechron]

I use RO water. I don't think that anything strange is happening with the water. Only some of my plants are doing this anyway, so I don't think it is the water because that is a constant across the board... I'll try scraping the black dots when the lights are back on in the morning and report, though I'm not sure I am seeing what you are seeing. I think the black dots I see are like the little divits that secrete nectar...

 

[Dexenthes]

You're right. I did not know that sibuyanensis had the foliar nectar glands, but after reviewing photofinder, I see that they are pretty prominent!

I still think, though, that some of the white specs on the deadened leaves are sign of a pest of some kind, maybe meal bugs. Also some of the browner fleks around the base of the growth point look suspicious.

The strange growth of the leaves on the inermis does not resemble any sort of mite problem that I have experienced, and definitely looks like some kind of mineral, or fertilizing issue. Maybe a root problem of some kind. Have these been recently repotted correlating to the disfigurement?

Also as exo said, if the lighting is too powerful that wont help any either. If your using bulbs that give off hotter reddish light and they are too close, then these growth tips could definitely be having the life cooked out of them.

 

[Jimmy]

Yeah, I don't trust those brown spots on the growth tips. Mites can just suck the life out of your plants like that. I've never used neem oil, but I have used a permethrin-based insecticide to remove mites from my windowsill Nepenthes. It took a few applications, though... and the undersides of the leaves are usually the most susceptible to mites, but they also like the new, soft tissue at the growth points.

EDIT: Mites would also account for rapid loss of old leaves...