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Help!

I guess word has gotten out around my neghborhood that I have CP's, so today a neghbor comes by and gives me a Nep. I have NO idea what kind it is but there are 2 large dead wooden stems and about 3 small green stems. There is a LOT of foliage but I would say 80% of it is dead. I dug around in the soil and it seems lighter that peat and not all that drainy. Also what scares me the most is that it has those little styrofome balls in it
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The owner said that it was an indoor plant kept in the bathroom. So I'm assuming it was getting tap for a LONG time. OMG how can I save this plant without killing it? Should I put it in my terrarium? Outside? I already know i need to get all that potting mix out of it. I plan to switch to strait LFS. Any help would be awsome.

-Rail
 
Your now the village expert ;>

Ok.. well.  I am guessing it is a Deroose hybrid.  Probably N. Ventrata or N. Miranda.  I am also guessing that there is alot of brown stem with some green leaves way at the top?  If that is the case then not much you can do about that until some basal shoots form.  A fresh potting mix will do it good.  Just be careful not to break too many old roots.  There is nothing inherently wrong with a peat mix with some drainage material added.  Nepethes though usually respond well to fresh mix if it is done carefully.  You can try gently rinsing some of the old mix away once you remove the old pot.  If it is a solid block of roots then try not to break many roots and just put it in a larger pot with fresh mix around the outside.  You can bury it a little deeper too but it isn't necessary.
Some clean water would be good but don't work yourself into a frenzy over the previous tap water.  The more common Nepenthes are pretty tolerant.  If there is encrusted calcium on the surface of the soil.. THEN there might be a problem!

The main thing to keep in mind is the plant came from indoors in a bathroom.. it is NOT adjusted to high light levels.  You need to take extra precaution so as not to burn it.  I would recommend that you carefully do increase the light levels though.  Odds are it is in rather poor shape because of the insufficient light it most likely has received.

Oh yeah.. leaves browned all the way to the stem can be clipped off. Stems with no green leaves on the top can be cut back.

Some pics would be handy too if you have any to post.
Tony
 
OK sorry for not having any pics, I have a digi cam but i'm too lazy to go out and buy a battery for it. I took it outside and removed it from the pot... after one look I ran to my neghbors house demanding what he planted it in and where he got it. Turns out it was a N. Ventrata he got bareroot off E-Bay. He told me he forgot what it was he planted it in and said the plant has never really looked healthy. He said it sat in his bathroom for about 8 months and he watered it solely with tap. By the way it looks I'd say it was just barely clinging to life. So I rinsed as much of the old soil off the roots as possible and repoted in LFS. Now it sits right beside my terrarium in my room. It's only been a few hours since I got it but so far no more leaves have turned brown or wilted.

Also it has a lot of leaves that have brown spots on them. Not on the edges but in the middle of the leaf, should I cut these?

-Rail
 
I would not go cutting leaves off right now if they have any green on them. I think the plant will need to make use of whatever healthy tissue is left. Even if a leaf has lots of dead spots the green areas will help the plant photosynthesize. Once the plant has recovered and is growing vigorously with healthy new leaves you can consider removing the old ones. I would in the meantime monitor those leaves and watch that there is nothing spreading and that currently healthy leaves don't start showing similar signs, which might indicate a pathogen.

Tony
 
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