Truncata problems

[Parasuco]

I think that my N. truncata is going downhill healthwise...

The very first pitcher died, this seemed unusual to me because it started to die starting with the middle. Now the other pitcher is begging to turn ever so slightly yellow, and the leaf is even yellower, but not quite entirely yellow. The leaf with the biggest pitcher, wich is second to newest is still deep green near the midrib, but as you approach the tips of the 'heart' it is a slight lighter shade of green, verging on neon/yellowey... I don't think this is normal. It's in the exact same conditions that it's been in for months. The ONLY thing that I can think of is that I was away for about a week, and I think my dad forgot to turn off my lights...

Can anyone else help me? What do you think I should do?

 

[wickedthistle]

Heyla Parasuco,

I'd just slowly bring the plant up to the conditions it liked before you went away, it sounds like your dad did forget the lights, so when you came home it might have burned the plant a bit. A word of advice - truncata recovers as slowly as it grows! I did some wrong to my truncata half a year ago by dropping half of my talk lid directly on the plant (crunch) and it's just now starting to pitcher from one of its crushed leaves. As long as it doesn't get drastically worse now that you're back, just be patient and say kind words to it

 

[Parasuco]

No serious damage was done. Just a SLIGHT yellowing. Thanks!

 

[swords]

Yellowing leaves can also be caused by an Iron or Magnesium deficiency, especially in older leaves.  
A half tea spoon of Epsom salts dissoled in a gallon of R/O water and heavily misted on the leaves will give your plants a boost of Magnesium sulfate. Remember to mist the plant heavily with plain R/O the next day to get the unabsorbed salts out of the plants pores and off the leaves.

 

[schloaty]

Hey swords,
Do you recommend this for all Neps (or most), or just Truncata?

 

[swords]

Personally, I fertilize all my neps, utrics & sarrs as well as feed them bugs - I figure why not give em the best of both worlds!

 I do not fertilize my VFTs, pings or sundews because I've done so before and it always ends in disaster.

I usually do a foliar feed about once every week or two but usually once a month I also do a pot flush with my fertilizer mix. Be sure the day after you fertilize (either pot flush or foliar spray) that you do a follow up foliar spray or pot flush with plain R/O or distilled water to remove any excess nutrients that the plant did not absorb in the past 24 hours or so as it is the excess mineral salts which is what damages the plant.

My fertilizer mix is rather light but "better safe than sorry" I guess

To 1 gal R/O water at 70-75*F I add:

1 ml eyedropper of Yamato Green aquarium plant trace elements (Mg, Cu, Co, Fe, Ca, etc.) this product contains all the micro nutrients plus a bit more Iron than most companies use. Trace elements are responsible for proper leaf color, leaf shape, and all the little things that an actively growing plant needs for proper growth.

1/4 tea spoon Growmore urea free orchid fertilizer for the N-P-K needs of the plant(i.e growing and flowering). This has some trace elements too but I use a seperate product to add a more complete diet of micro nutrients.

The NPK is the most "dangerous" fertilizer to apply because it is the stuff that will burn your plant if the excess is not used by the plant or washed away. Urea Free is said to be a different kind of nitrogen than the nitrogen used in standard fertilizers. As it was explained to me, the normal NPK fertilizers require some sort of bacterial activity to activate the nitrogen, and since orchids and neps are grown in almost setrile media (or rather "nutrient devoid") compared to standard potting soil which contains microbes and all other manner of "bacteria" these don't have any of those micro organisms to activate the nitogen. This could be a sales pitch as my plants did fine with regular orchid fertilizer, it's just "what I heard".