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Arrgg....brown copper patches on new plant

I received my first Wistuba order about 2 weeks ago and the plants are having problems. The hamata katopasa had stem rot and probably will not make it. I contacted AW and he issued a replacement for this one (next spring). However, now the tenuis and another hamata have these brown copper patches that are getting larger. The patches on the leaves were smaller when it arrived but in the two weeks that I have had them, the patches have been spreading. Does anyone know what I should do?

And on a separate note, I have these tiny white insects that crawl really fast in the peat which my live sphag grow. There are webs some times. Are these spider mites? I have not been able to catch one since they run like speed demons. There are a few plants in that terrarium so I am afraid they might spread. They run around when I spray my plants, that is how I know they are there. I usually spray isopropanol to fix them if the infection is localized. However, I would rather not kill all my live sphag in the process if there is another means to solve the problem. I have read mixed reviews of using bayer 3 in 1 as an insecticide. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Jen

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Have you tried submerging the pots to drown them,i have been using neem oil with no ill effects
 
Neem, a healthy dose of Neem.
 
Have you experienced any ill effects with neem oil? Seems as if neem oil has mixed reviews. However, I do have a bottle at home that I bought to treat the hamata with. What is the diagnosis?
 
No ill effects at all just follow the instructions on the bottle,does new growth have these marks?or have you no new growth
 
Neem shouldn't negatively affect anything. Just don't breathe it in directly.
 
The new growth just started to open yesterday. From my brief perusal, it seems to not have any but the leaf has yet to open fully.

Corky, are you talking about submerging the pots that have the rust spots or the white insect problem?
 
Oh, and I do have other fungicides. I just received some Thiomyl that I am going to spray on my seeds. I don't know if I should use this on the plants. I see Rob used this in his study with Edwardsiana on ICPS. I also have a whole collection of fungicides that we use in the lab - generic and some newer generation ones. But I am reluctant to use it on them. I am trying to be conservative here which is not my style. :)
 
i mean the pots with the bugs,never know the bugs might cause the spots,my guess and it is a guess,is that the new growth will be fine,i hope so,but i would still dose with neem ,i do a couple of times a year and no bad has happened
 
  • #10
most of those spots look like physical damage to me not any sort of pathogen or insect damage. It could be from an insect but its definitely not viral, bacterial, or anything like that. Try Bayer Rose insecticide, that is the best thing I have used and it was recommended by our resident TF entomologist, kulamauiman
 
  • #11
The little white insects are in a different set of pots, ones that I have had for a few months.These insects are seen running in places where the sphag has yet to fully cover the potting mix. The little buggers could be under the live sphag as well, but I don't know if I should go dig for them..

I was growing lots of sphagnum moss in preparation for the Wistuba plants. Now, I have too much of the stuff plus the little insects. I did treat everything with a 1 month regimen of mosquito dunks as they appeared to be fungus gnats. In retrospect, I should have brought a specimen to lab to analyze. However, the mosquito dunks did not seem to take care of the problem. Months ago, I purchased some abemectin to nuke any mite problems that might visit me in the future. It is always good to be prepared.

The new ones from AW are the ones that arrived with the copper-brown blotches which have been slowly spreading. I emailed Andreas to ask his opinion. I am ready with the neem though. Surprisingly, the macrophylla arrived the smallest, and is the one that appears the least damaged.

I do plant cleaning with 1:3 isopropanol every few months.
 
  • #12
i've had those little bugs running across the soil before. I usually repot into fresh media when i see those. I would still give the bayer rose insecticide a try.
 
  • #13
do you do a soil drench + foliar spray at full strength?
 
  • #14
i've had those little bugs running across the soil before. I usually repot into fresh media when i see those. I would still give the bayer rose insecticide a try.
Just be certain that 1) the 'bugs' aren't springtails & 2) that they aren't mites if you're considering something w/ imidacloprid as the active.
 
  • #15
I think it would be wise to first diagnose the "problems" before treating the plants. The leaf spots look like abrasion/stress marks, which is to be expected after shipping from Germany. A certain amount of leaf stress is to be expected. On the other hand, the insects you describe sound like Springtails, which are detritivores and are, in fact, an excellent source of food for juvenile Nepenthes; I see young pitchers with Springtails inside them all the time. You may want to reconsider the need for an insecticide, if Springatils are the thing you are seeing. ID the creature first!
 
  • #16
They are always white and in the soil. I can tell they are colonizing when I see tiny webs in the soil. I have never seen anything black, except for a tiny worm that crawled out of a trap. As for red mites, I checked and there is nothing clinging to the underside of any leaves. I will catch some of the buggers and take pictures at lab tomorrow. This ought to be fun. If I was really serious, I would make DNA and perform some sequencing. But I already did that with my trichoderma explosion...... Hopefully the pictures will be telling. I don't want to lose any more sleep over fungus or insects.

I could use the imidacloprid and then a follow up with the abecmetin to solve that problem.
 
  • #17
I must agree with everything Paul (whimgrinder) says. If the damage does not appear on the new leafs then I would consider it some stress or damage. With the bugs Like Paul said I would ID the bugs before you start spraying a bunch of different stuff on your plants you may not need.
 
  • #18
Here are some pictures of the tiny insects. These were more greyish in color which I presume were the adults. Damn, they are hard to catch. They are fast sporadic jumpers. Good thing my chopstick skills are second to none. :) I believe they are springtails from the furcula. Most people seem to like springtails as sources of food for their CPs while others state they eat the root hairs of seedlings. If I don't have any seedlings around and only neps (smallest is 1''), I should be OK ?

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