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N. 'Bloody Mary' ailments

  • Thread starter mb8493
  • Start date
Hi, i bought a friend a nepenthes bloody mary (ampullaria x ventricosa i believe) and its been doing fine however hes worried as the last week or two the leaves and pitchers have been going dark brown black. I said not to worry as my otherwise healthy bloody mary is crisping and dying off both leaves and traps its just naturally dying off but after he sent me a photo im not sure. The leaves that are dying on his are very dark to my brown and i noticed his new growth in the middle is suffering aswell. If anyone has any idea (see photo) id be grateful for some advice.......new to this site, how can i post a photo?
 

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:welcome:
Moved your post to its own thread, it will get more attention here than as a reply to a post from 2013.
To post photos scroll down past the "submit reply" button and click on "manage attachments" in the pop up window click "add files" in the upper right then "browse" select the photo and click "open" (you can repeat the browse-open to add more photos). That window closes back on the old window click "upload". Once you see the photo show up in the bottom pane, click "done" and the photo is added to your post.
Also make sure to include the conditions the plant is in: temperature, humidity, watering method, light source etc
 
Thank you!

Good morning guys, i apologise im a bit slow on this thread, ive got some more pictures ill upload with this. Can anybody shed any light on what its ailment might be from these? It must be situational as its the same species which is planted in the same medium (original carnivorous compost it came in then surrounded by sphagnum moss) as i have two of which are flourishing. Hopefully the pictures are thorough enough, any help is appreciated!
MartynIMG-20190113-WA0005.jpgIMG-20190113-WA0006.jpgIMG-20190113-WA0007.jpgIMG-20190113-WA0008.jpgIMG-20190113-WA0009.jpgIMG-20190113-WA0010.jpg
 
Any information about how your friend is growing it? Is it possible he is over watering or using mineral rich tap water etc?

I have never had a nepenthes do that, so I am not the expert at all to ask, but seeing as you weren’t getting any responses I wanted to at least get the conversation started on what all the conditions are that the plant is being cultivated in.

Any info you can share would help the most.
 
Conditions

Thanks Odysseus! Well he's using distilled water (type you get from a garage for car batteries, or use in a steam iron) i was using the same with no issues though ive switched from that to rain water now after having a water butt installed. To be honest he was neglecting to water a bit until i said you need to make sure the sphagnum is moist to the touch, again the same as mine :-\ interestingly mine is in with two sundews and all seem happy. It was fine all through last spring and summer i just wander if the drop in daylight over winter has anything to do with it
 
It doesn't look too good. My guess would be that it is getting too much direct sunlight. The leaves also look a bit wilted which makes sense that it would be drying out in the sun. If your friend could find light that is more indirect and give the plant some more water/humidity, then it could be saved.
 
It doesn't look too good. My guess would be that it is getting too much direct sunlight. The leaves also look a bit wilted which makes sense that it would be drying out in the sun. If your friend could find light that is more indirect and give the plant some more water/humidity, then it could be saved.

Agreed, with Zcons. Knowing he may have let it dry a bit makes sense. Maybe put a shallow water tray under it and let it fill up halfway. Then have him let the tray dry out before watering again until the tray is halfway filled up. Much easier to keep a nep wet enough without worrying when you let the tray dictate when it needs it again.

Just as long as the tray is shallow and he isn’t drowning the plant. 😃

HighlandNeps.jpg


Another note is that live sphagnum Moss is a good indicator of getting too dry before the plant suffers. Add live sphagnum to it and when it starts looking dry give it an easy top watering and let it drain. Do it again next time the moss looks drier.

Good luck to him! The nep can come back.
 
I see a plant sitting on a windowsill, with a heater/radiator immediately below the sill. That tells me the plant is likely experiencing a mix of hot and cold draughts as the heater comes on and off. The heat is likely also drying the air excessively (I bet the RH is below 30%) and that is about as Nepenthes-unfriendly as it gets. Keep in mind these are wet, cool rain-forest plants that normally experience near-100% humidity 24/7 and temperatures that swing between 45F and 75F. (Often less than 70F) The lack of humidity can be extremely damaging to Nepenthes. Fix that first, and address the hot/cold draught.
 
Neither ampullaria or ventricosa are going to experience low temperatures commonly in the wild, and though hybrids tend to be more tolerant it probably won't want temps below 70 either.; most Nepenthes might be cool highland plants but even most of their habitats still at least get to the 70's regularly during the day With ampullaria as a parent this is one cross that might do okay with sitting in a tray (most Nepenthes do NOT like wet feet, and should be kept just moist in an aerated soil mix, though plants in household humidity will tolerate the trays better than greenhouse plants), and with ventricosa it will tolerate lower humidity, but moderate moisture and high humidity are both going to be wants for it to do best, and daytime temps in the upper 70's to low 80's F at least, with a fair drop at night, and humidity of at least 50%, preferably higher.
In the photos the crisping leaf edges typically are due to some sort of unwanted extreme (can be frost, sunburn or water burn, extremely low humidity that cause similar looks), and if it's sitting by a radiator then it's definitely going to be a combo of sudden humidity drops and heat increase that it's currently hating. On a windowsill it might also be experiencing temp swings as the sun comes up and goes down too.
 
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