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Need advice on my N.Aristolochioides Black pitcher's.

  • #21
I don't know what systems you have over there for water quality. You may be able to take a sample of your water somewhere for testing, or your local water cleaning facility may have that information. I would start by calling the people who provide your water (the ones who also provide you with the bill) and asking them if they know what the PPM is, or know where you could get it tested.
 
  • #22
It's some of the best water in the world(that i read). In Sweden we have laws for sorting and recycling. So the purity it's absolutely top.

I live in Denmark, and I think our water situation is probably similar. While we too tend to be very proud of our water, which is very good drinking water as is (with no need to add things like chlorine), it is "hard" water, which means it has high levels of calcium for example. I know in some areas of Sweden there is quite a lot of iron in the water, too. So yeah, like others have said: what defines "good water" depends completely on the context - drinking water or CP water or whatever. :)
(I use rainwater for my plants)
 
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  • #23
It's very difficult to get a room down to 50f for the whole night with just an air conditioner, in order to grow these highland plants you must have a specific set-up designed for the purpose of giving them the exact conditions they require. A lot of beginner nurseries like to advertise that you can easily grow carnivorous plants on a windowsill but in reality that simply isn't true for some species (unless your windowsill coincidentally has the right conditions for HL neps.)

My AC can go down to 42-43F at the lowest. It's a small room, and yes you are right it takes a bit time to get the room so cold. Well i will at-least try it. Yeah it sure didn't sound like this hard there i bought this.
 
  • #24
I don't know what systems you have over there for water quality. You may be able to take a sample of your water somewhere for testing, or your local water cleaning facility may have that information. I would start by calling the people who provide your water (the ones who also provide you with the bill) and asking them if they know what the PPM is, or know where you could get it tested.

I'm have no clue either. Yeah sure i could give them a call and check that. Do you mean Parts per million?
Thanks
 
  • #25
It's some of the best water in the world(that i read). In Sweden we have laws for sorting and recycling. So the purity it's absolutely top. I can try distilled water! I'm all open for new methods!
I have plastic pots with drain witch i could use in my main pot. I can replant it when i get home from work! Do i need to flush the plant even thou I replant it with the plastic?
Thank you much for taking time.

Yes, I was researching and it may be very pure. I don't know how pure that is, because "pure" can mean anything when used as a marketing term. It is best to test your water with a TDS meter and if it is too high, filter it or switch to distilled water. I use a "Watermaker Mini" for my water, it's very cheap and connects to the sink.

So, the 3 problems right now we are looking at are:

1. Temperature drop at night. These plants grow in conditions where they get cold at night, so you absolutely must get them colder at night when you grow them. They will die if they do not get the temperature drop. I do not htink it has to be excessive, but it has to at least be a little bit so the plant feels comfortable.

Apparently, 7-18C at nigt and 18-27C during the day is good? According to The Savage Garden, around 24-27C during the day, 10-16C during the night. You don't have to hit this exactly, but that is the kind of temperature drops we are talking about.

2. Undrained container. Their roots will rot if they stand in water too long. This is why you must have a pot with drainage, you must let all the water fall out the bottom holes, and just let the soil be damp.

3. Possibly bad water. If the water is very bad, then it simply must not be used. If it is ok but not great, then when the water evaporates it leaves the salt and minerals behind. That means that the soil gets progressively more salt and minerals in it over time. When this happens you'll see your plants do very well for a while, then suddenly they will start doing very bad very quickly.

The drainage helps with this, because you can pour water in the pot and let it flow out the bottom. It will take out the salt and mineral residue as it goes. You can even do this with Distilled water (~0 TDS) every so often.


That is what I would suggest. Repot your plant in a plastic container that will fit in your ceramic container, treating the ceramic container as a giant saucer. When you do, I would wash the ceramic container out, and then pour water through the plastic container so that anything that built up is flushed out the bottom. I would do this until you think you have done it too much, then do it for a little bit longer.

Make sure you get the plants as much light as possible, and make sure they get a drop in temperature at night. When watering from now on (every 2-3 days), take the plastic pot out of the ceramic pot, water it until water drains out the bottom, wait until it is only dripping and not flowing, and put it back in the Ceramic container.

With any luck, they will recover.

Now, you asked about nutrition earlier... no. Do not fertilize your plant. Some people use specialty plant food but that requires a very specific type and technique to doing it. Later on, you can use certain types of fish food (which is dried bugs! :) ) and put them in the pitchers, but not yet.

You mention using pebbles in your soil, which might be ok... I don't use them though. My Neps are in 100% sphagnum. Many do 1.1 sphagnum and perlite, others include bark and the like. The problem is that pebbles are basically little mineral pills.

I did find this man in Sweden's website for Carnivorous Plants: http://www.murevarn.se/

He may be able to give you information on how good the water is in your area.

There is also this bit of information I found: http://linnaeus.nrm.se/flora/kottata.html
 
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  • #26
My AC can go down to 42-43F at the lowest. It's a small room, and yes you are right it takes a bit time to get the room so cold. Well i will at-least try it. Yeah it sure didn't sound like this hard there i bought this.

Another issue with ACs is that they dry the air as well, highland nepenthes need cold AND humid environments.
 
  • #27
I live in Denmark, and I think our water situation is probably similar. While we too tend to be very proud of our water, which is very good drinking water as is (with no need to add things like chlorine), it is "hard" water, which means it has high levels of calcium for example. I know in some areas of Sweden there is quite a lot of iron in the water, too. So yeah, like others have said: what defines "good water" depends completely on the context - drinking water or CP water or whatever. :)
(I use rainwater for my plants)

I think it's pretty similar to. I didn't know that about hard water. Live really south. Almost next to DK.
 
  • #29
Yes, I was researching and it may be very pure. I don't know how pure that is, because "pure" can mean anything when used as a marketing term. It is best to test your water with a TDS meter and if it is too high, filter it or switch to distilled water. I use a "Watermaker Mini" for my water, it's very cheap and connects to the sink.

http://linnaeus.nrm.se/flora/kottata.html

I have now bought a TDS meter online. I did check out the Watermaker Mini and I liked it. But i will first test water before i buy.
1: The temp drop will get arranged tonight.
2: They have stood in a bit of water so i hope that i can save them now.
3: Yepp you are right, That is a thing that i will check today with my water company. How come they don't like minerals? Maybe dumb question.

I'm really grateful for all the good advice and the time you put in here! I have really learned much today!
I will replant it later and flush it like crazy! I maybe even add a photo later on in the days if it shown signs on getting better!
I only have sun here for like 10-12 H. I'm actually thinking of buying some extra light. And yes i can water it like that in the future!

At what stage should i wait to buy this fish food?.
Ohh i see, were i bought this he said that it was needed to get in air in the roots better. I can replant in just sphagnum if you consider this to be most optimal! As I have said, i gladly try new methods!:)
I will write to this guy and see if I get a reply.
Thank you for all that information! Really helpful!
 
  • #31
Another issue with ACs is that they dry the air as well, highland nepenthes need cold AND humid environments.

Do you recommend ultrasonic fogger?
 
  • #32
  • #33
Yes, an ultrasonic humidifier will provide the humidity the AC takes away.

Okey then this is on my things to get list. Thank you!
 
  • #34
3: Yepp you are right, That is a thing that i will check today with my water company. How come they don't like minerals? Maybe dumb question.

Carnivorous Plants grow in swamps and other areas like that. These areas have soil that has little to no minerals. That is why they capture bugs, in order to get minerals they need to grow. (Nitrogen, for example.)

As a result of this, their roots cannot handle minerals, they are specialized.


Someone else might know more about the light thing. I would continue giving it the same light for now while it recovers from the other stuff.
 
  • #35
This seems like a pretty long thread already. If you're only asking why the ends of the tendrils are black and not forming pitchers, I can give you a few examples of why this sometimes occurs: 1) the tip of the tendril is too wet 2) it is too hot (like when touching lights) 3) it was physically damaged 4) there is a steady stream of dry air flowing past it 5) pests 6) dry media (although they usually don't turn black from this).

The plant itself looks pretty healthy to me, but all of the tips you've received thus far are generally important to consider. It will benefit the plant overall to implement all of them. If your water was too hard, you would see black tips on the sphagnum before the plant suffered from it, but it's still a good idea to know the salt content of your water.
 
  • #36
I would add inappropriate pH and nutrition to that list also.
 
  • #37
"soft" water frequently has sodium. Just be aware.
 
  • #38
Indeed. The things to look for are distilled or reverse osmosis, anything else has no meaning on the safety for carnivorous plants.
 
  • #39
Depending on levels of snow you get, you could scoop the top foot or so, but never anything by the road or the bottom three inches, into a bucket and use that for water in the winter. I break icicles off my house for water personally. You can make reverse osmosis water at home by boiling it, and somehow getting the steam into a colder room where it turns back into water.
 
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