Weird Nepenthes infection [HELP]

[lance]

Hello y'all
Recently the majority of my Nepenthes started to produce pale, wavy leaves with wavy and deformed pitchers. Does anyone know what type of fungus, mite...etc caused this?? Im about to leave on a trip so I don't have time to get any special fungicide...etc but I do have Physan 20 and alcohol at my side... please help!

Heres some pics...

See what I mean about the pale leaves..
<a href="http://s1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd495/Lance_Plater/?action=view&current=DSC_0126-2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd495/Lance_Plater/DSC_0126-2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>


Deformed pitcher
<a href="http://s1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd495/Lance_Plater/?action=view&current=DSC_0127.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd495/Lance_Plater/DSC_0127.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

This is really troubling me as I don't see any bite marks or anything really... just what you see in the photos.

Edit: the plants are getting sufficient light and have been enjoying it ever since they were bought long ago.
- Lance

 

[Nepenthesis]

Alcohol really stuck it to every duck I knew with my N. densiflora x spectabilis... If there's nothing visible to treat, that would be pointless...

 

[mato]

Could be a lot of things:

Any condition changes? Could be humidity, lack of light, temps, etc.

Could be moisture stress. What sort of media ratio are you using?

Have you applied any chemicals recently? Sometimes fungicides can cause these sorts of problems.

I've seen this happen with thrips infestations, but there would be tell-tale signs if that were the case, such as protruding bumps all over new, unfurled leaves.

Lastly, my ventricosa did this when it was about to flower... but you'd see the spike.


All in all, I don't think you've got much of a problem on your hands. Likely just the plant adjusting to some kind of condition shift..

 

[lance]

Condition changes: Not any that I know of everything has stayed the same except it has gotten a bit warmer as summer comes along..the misters still work

Media: I haven't changed the media yet as they haven't needed repots. . . the watering times are still the same, but there is one thing about the water... for a certain unknown time the RO filter ceased up and the water tank was left to ferment, building up nasty stuff like algae oils. I fixed this about a week ago and now a new RO system has been placed in.

^Now that I think of it, I believe that this may have been the problem. Still, I have no idea how long it will take for them to recover.

I just took a look at the highland plants again and saw that they all have abnormally small tendrils. I still doubt the water was the problem though with the highlanders because they've been receiving water mostly through the fogger's distilled mist. Any idea what could be causing this? I doubt that it's the conditions due to the fact that they are still receiving highland temps and getting humidity since about a month ago. Could it be the humidity causing this?

 

[dashman]

Not an expert... but, there really isn't enough to go on here. The pics don't really show much.

Maybe a pic of the crown, any deformed leaves, the media.

To me it looks like you took a pic of a vine. Some nepenthes produce thinner and more dainty uppers. And some do better when propped up or are allowed to wrap around things to secure themselves before inflating pitchers.

If that's the case, there may not be anything wrong with the plant at all. The vine is just waiting to get a footing before it spends energy to grow further. You may see a basal form soon otherwise.

I'm not saying this is the case, as I really can't see the plant as a whole or what conditions it is growing in. Just taking a guess based on the pics I see.

 

[dsrtfox1942]

Personally, I highly doubt humidity is the issue, unless it was too high causing fungus. I have grown plants on my windowsill for years. New plants that have come out of a greenhouse or terrarium get accustomed to the lower humidity and do fine. I have never had an issue like this. Plants usually slow down, don't pitcher at all, then spring back.

 

[boxofrain]

have you looked closely within the soil? sounds like it may be fungus gnat larvae, they eat the small adventitious roots.

 

[Not a Number]

Or mealybugs in the roots.

 

[lance]

After looking at the roots I'm pretty sure its fungus knat larvae... they look small and kinda shiny... few weeks ago before this whenever I watered my bical hundreds of these things crawled out... now Im pretty sure why they spread so fast. Anyone know how to treat these? Would a 50/50 quick alcohol water soak do the job?

 

[dsrtfox1942]

Fungus gnat larvae are small maggot/worm looking things not shiny bugs.

 

[lance]

So far nothing seems to have happened and the signs have gotten worse. So far, I am able to nail down a few major side affects as well as some weird "bite marks" I have seen.

If you can see those black dots appeared just a few days ago. They seem very similar to the nectar glands on N. glandlifleria. On the other side of the leaf all there is is a bump.

<a href="http://s1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd495/Lance_Plater/?action=view&current=DSC_0235.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd495/Lance_Plater/DSC_0235.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Side affect # 2: Some growth points have been completely obliterated (snapped off) by a simple brush-by of a leg...etc which wouldn't have done anything to the un-infected plants. (side affect # 1 was the brightening of the leaves)


<a href="http://s1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd495/Lance_Plater/?action=view&current=DSC_0237.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd495/Lance_Plater/DSC_0237.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Side affect #3: Pitchers open up way too early or turn brown and die before developing... yes, in the second picture those pitchers have nearly turned completely brown.

Early opening pitcher...
<a href="http://s1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd495/Lance_Plater/?action=view&current=DSC_0238.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd495/Lance_Plater/DSC_0238.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Dead pitchers
<a href="http://s1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd495/Lance_Plater/?action=view&current=DSC_0240.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd495/Lance_Plater/DSC_0240.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Does anyone know what this is? I am leaving in two days and would like to leave the plants healthy or at least on the road to recovery while in the hands of my parents... the least they can do is keep the plants alive for two weeks.

 

[Nepenthesis]

Really weird... Make sure it doesn't get to the other neps. Isolate the ones that have it. It may be an internal disease that would be hard to treat, so the plants may end up dying since there aren't any external visible pests to see... Sorry, I'm being extremely negative, but there are some plant diseases that are internal, that's what I mean to say. Not sure of any meds for that that wouldn't kill neps... Good luck with recovery.

 

[lance]

SO far Ive treated the plants with 50/50 water alcohol and washed them off right after... I don't know what this will do but this has worked for me mostly in the past 5 years so I hope the culprit is gone.

Pine: I doubt that it's internal due to the bite marks Im seeing but who knows I sure have never seen this before.

 

[Nepenthesis]

Okay, this is weird... I was just out in my greenhouse putting sphagnum around two large nep pots. On a new leaf, I knocked the tendril clean off from the leaf. No stub left. It just detached. I thought of your issue. I kinda see what you mean now by you damaged the tendril from just knocking it with your leg. To my knowledge, mine is a healthy plant, so maybe that would have even happened on one with no troubles?

 

[lance]

It shouldn't separate that easily... only small plants and plants fresh out of TC do that because they don't really have much strong tissue holding the stem and leaf up. I really have no idea what is the cause of your plant's tendril snapping and the weird infection Im seeing unless someone thats willing to help replies to this...

 

[pebes]

Lance- any update on this? I had some similar problems with some of my neps and I found some very small inconspicuous bugs when I examined a leaf under a microscope. Turned out to be thrips.

 

[Dan796]

you could use a full plant and soil drench of Neem oil and water,
it makes the bugs/larva stop eating and reproducing.
they die within a few days to a week.
Neem oil is all organic, and non-toxic,
and has a mild systemic effect in the plant.
So it keeps on going for a few weeks.

 

[Dan796]

Be sure to do a follow-up treatment within 7 -14 days to get any hatchlings!
Some bugs can reproduce as quickly as 7-14 days after hatching!

 

[lance]

So far nothing has happened since. After I sprayed the plants with Bayer, the deformities went away & growth returned to normal. I was able to find out later that the nepenthes viner that was producing yellow leaves was positioned directly under a mister, causing the peaty soil to become over-saturated. I believe that the pest I was dealing with was either thrips or mites (I experienced a mite problem shortly after with my highlanders where the undersides of the leaves had bite marks in them). There were also some small white bugs on my N. X Predator roughly a year ago that caused the plant to produce some deformed leaves. However, the pests were located in the sheathes of the emerging leaves & were exterminated easily (with Bayer). Hope this helps!