seedjar
Let's positive thinking!
So, I'm really sorry that I don't have pictures of this (they'll be up ASAP) but my Nepenthes alata has displayed some very strange growth in the past few months. Early last year it started productive growth, pretty much for the first time since I'd acquired it. Then something strange happened...
At first, I thought it was branching, and I guess that's what it was trying to do. It put out a cluster of buds around the top of the stem and popped out a healthy basal rosette. But the buds never really developed... they got bigger, but the leaves kept getting more deformed. They started out looking like Nepenthes leaves, sort of, but they had very narrow ends, just tapering to a curved edge with no notable tendril. Soon they tightly cupped the buds, never unfurling or reaching for light; they didn't even emerge in the long, rolled shape. The older leaves were so tightly pressed to the buds that newer leaves couldn't emerge, or got impossibly small. A few of these buds have failed, died, and turned brown, but they are so large and thoroughly attached to the stem that I can't pull them loose. The buds and leaves surrounding them prevent me from getting a clean cut at them.
All in all, it's not terrible. A few months ago, it managed to produce a healthy growth meristem near the top of the plant (until I accidentally snapped it off) and looks sort of normal... but now the basal rosette that showed up last year is doing the same thing! It starts with deformed leaves and eventually they don't even really look like leaves. I'm not really worried or anything - it's more of a curiosity. It might even be good, because when one bud fails, it seems like two or three show up to replace it shortly thereafter. Anyways, I was hoping somebody here could fill me in on what this is or what causes it.
To quote Kindergarten Cop - "It's not a tumah!"
...or is it?
Thanks guys
~Joe
At first, I thought it was branching, and I guess that's what it was trying to do. It put out a cluster of buds around the top of the stem and popped out a healthy basal rosette. But the buds never really developed... they got bigger, but the leaves kept getting more deformed. They started out looking like Nepenthes leaves, sort of, but they had very narrow ends, just tapering to a curved edge with no notable tendril. Soon they tightly cupped the buds, never unfurling or reaching for light; they didn't even emerge in the long, rolled shape. The older leaves were so tightly pressed to the buds that newer leaves couldn't emerge, or got impossibly small. A few of these buds have failed, died, and turned brown, but they are so large and thoroughly attached to the stem that I can't pull them loose. The buds and leaves surrounding them prevent me from getting a clean cut at them.
All in all, it's not terrible. A few months ago, it managed to produce a healthy growth meristem near the top of the plant (until I accidentally snapped it off) and looks sort of normal... but now the basal rosette that showed up last year is doing the same thing! It starts with deformed leaves and eventually they don't even really look like leaves. I'm not really worried or anything - it's more of a curiosity. It might even be good, because when one bud fails, it seems like two or three show up to replace it shortly thereafter. Anyways, I was hoping somebody here could fill me in on what this is or what causes it.
To quote Kindergarten Cop - "It's not a tumah!"
...or is it?
Thanks guys
~Joe