smaller new leaves in my nep

[agustinfranco]

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Hi all:

I've had this alata X ventricosa for a year, and all of the sudden it is giving me smaller leaves 1/10 the size of the older ones. the older leaves look fine. At first i thought, it may red spide mites??, but I can not see any physical damage to the plant only that the newer leaves are very small. Could it be lack of feeding??.


The plant only had one pitcher and i fed it 2-3 months ago (winter time). Since then the pitcher rot, and  the plant is producing new ones, but they are still small and unopened. I look forward to anybody's comments. Thanks


Agustin

 

[cephalotus88]

i have had this problem with my ventricosa and hamata. It seemed to be due to the lack of well, bright light and too much humidity (yea, there can be too much humidity lol) try placing the plants under brighter lights.

 

[Jmenprkr]

mine did that for two leaves then i got one or two (i forget) laaarge leaves


happy holloweeen

 

[lithopsman]

Agustin,
It would be easier to diagnose the cause if you could tell us what, if any changes occured in the growing environment... Generally, that has to do with light or humidity, if the plant is in natural light, the changes in day length may be causing that... GOOD LUCK!!  

 

 

 

 

 

[nepenthes gracilis]

That might be mite damage. (I hate rhyming why I don't intend to!

)
Anyhow, a dramatic change in humidity or temperature could cause that too, light would only cause a burn and would take a while to show. It could decrease the leaves but I think climatic factors are involved here.

 

[Jmenprkr]

is it an acclimating plant

 

[agustinfranco]

Hi all:

It's been in the same spot for a at least 6 months. It receives natural light supplemented with fluorescent light bulbs. However, it is worth mentioning that the natural photoperiod may have increased, because winter is over and spring is here. there has been also a steady increase in temperature. From a max of 72 F during the day now to 76. I don't particularly think that's a dramatic change in temperature.

What is the best way to know if in fact there are mites in my plant??. I looked under a magnifying glass, but I saw nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe i am overreacting!!. Thanks for your help. Colleagues!!

Gus

 

[nepenthes gracilis]

Hmm if you see no mites, then I guess it's no mites. Maybe it's just a freak occurence?

 

[swords]

I will go with Mite damage because I had the same thing happen with my N. alata since the time it arrived the leaves just got smaller and smaller. The internodes of the plant did as well. There were no mites visible but going by what Joachim Danz showed in a post as mite damage by unseeable mites a few weeks ago I beleive I had the same thing. I simply threw the plant out because I didn't want to risk subjecting my entire collection to one cheap plant ($14) that arrived diseased.

If you don't throw it out and want to treat it with some kind of miticide I would at the least keep it seperate from all my other plants. Also, do not cut into the leaves or stem of this plant and then your other plants with the same knife or shears. Because if whatever this is turns out to be a viral disease then it can be spread in the sap of one plant to the next (like Nepenthes form of AIDS). If you must use the same blade dip the blade in rubbing alcohol and burn it off with a candle (or wipe off on clean towel) before cutting into the next plant.

Good luck!

 

[Joachim Danz]

Hi,

mite damage on my N. lavicola looks like this:

Cheers

Joachim

 

[agustinfranco]

Sorry Joachim:

Based on your picture, I just see three main things. one of the leaves on the left has a white blotch. the lower leaves are eaten away, and the new leaves are red but small. so I am not sure what i am supposed to be looking at??

Thanks

Gus

 

[The Griffin]

Bag it up and spray it. Of course I say that, but when I got an infestation on some mirabilis years ago, I chucked them like Swords did.

 

[agustinfranco]

Dear all:

Something amazing happened to this plant. after convincing myself that there were no spider mites on it, 'cause i could not see any, I pulled out the plant out of the pot and guess what?. the bugger did not have much of a root ball.

Typical case of root rot? perhaps. Before i continue describing my saga with this alata X ventricosa, i would like to let you all know that i was treating my plant with a soil conditioner under the name of "trichoflow" which is trichoderma fungus (this fungus is supposed to prevent root rot). Anyway, i changed the media from pure sphagnum to sphagnum and coconut fiber and in 6 weeks, 5 growth points start appearing on this plant. I pulled it out again and guess what....a new small root ball is growing!!.

I just can't explain what happened, but if it was the trichoderma, it should works wonders. I was originally expecting the plant to turn black and die like most of them do when they have no root ball and root rot is suspected.

 

[nepenthes gracilis]

I've had "bad batches" of sphagnum where even the most easiest Nepenthes will do poorly in. However down at Mike Catalani's he had/has an N. tentaculata growing as an ephipyte after it aborted the root system due to root rot, yet the rot stopped and it now grows with no root system. Go figure!

Currently I've had a problem with my N. rajah....well I solved it today. I've waited since this past spring to see pitchers on it! Well, I got sick of waiting so I popped it out of it's pot today and guess what was in the pot? earthworms!!! Rotten little buggers! So I got rid of all the soil in the pot and the worms and repotted in fresh media. I assume they came from the wild sphagnum that I collect. Now it's in a brand new pot with mostly new soil and I've elimated most of the detris so if there are any worms left in the soil (most were near the bottom of the pot in the soil due to the extra moisture) they will not be able to fed. The excessive amount of leaves and twigs and grass particles were keeping them alive I suspect, so I used Chilean Sphagnum for this soil mix....I hope I get pitchers now. No problem with leaf production (probably from the worms nutrient rich castings supplementing the plant) but no pitchers were being produced, or they were but didn't form all the way. So wish me and the plant a better new start!

 

[agustinfranco]

Hi Dustin:

Of course i will wish you the best for your rajah or any other Nepenthes you have hidden somewhere, and i mean it from the bottom of my nepenthes dependent heart!!. There is always something new to learn when one grows these beauties, no matter how many years experience one has.

By the way, what is with Mike Catalani. Is he still around. He's been quiet for the past year and half. Is he still in business??

Gus

 

[nepenthes gracilis]

Hi Gus, yes Mike is "closed" for the time being. He was in the process of renovating his house, then reselling it to move away from the city to a more rural area in which to start his business much bigger. He didn't have alot of his prized personal plants in the ghouse and I got the "bargain of the year" so to speak from him because he had to get rid of as many plants as possible before he moved. His plans were to move, build a smaller ghouse to house the plants he will be keeping in it, then purchase a large open field which will be converted to be an eventually huge Nepenthes nursury in the furture, I am guessing another 3 or 5 years until we see that. But yes, he is alive and kicking, just very busy for the time being.