What's wrong?!

[brinkerh420]

I got these plants a few months ago, and now they have just started to grow well. There are only 2 or 3 plants in question. Their traps "burn" when they are halfway grown. Here are the damaged ones:

These are two other plants a few pots to the side of them, growing healthily and making gorgeous new red traps.

Thoughts?

Thanks,

Will

 

[Physalaemus]

How close are they to the lights? It kind of looks like the plants are drying out at the tips.

That being said, did you recently increase the amount of light they're receiving? It looks like they're shifting from wide leaves (good for low light in high humidity) to long thin leaves (better for high light, low humidity).

 

[Dexenthes]

Almost looks like some kind of mineral or nutrient issue maybe in your water. If they're seed-grown it could also be that those individuals are just funky variations. High light could also be a problem but I've never known VFT's to get too much light before. . .

 

[Physalaemus]

Dex,

I didn't mean to imply that VFT's don't appreciate high light, but a plant that has been grown in dimmer conditions makes leaves that are adapted for dim conditions. For VFTs, this means the wide, flat green leaves with fluffy margins and thin cuticles. If you stick a plant with those leaves in high light, the leaves singe at the tips and dry out.

The plant will almost immediately start making leaves for its new environment: long, thin leaves, sometimes erect (especially in late summer/ fall after flowering is long over and the threat of eating their own pollinators is gone), that turn red and have thicker cuticles.

As the damaged leaves in question are all "lower light" leaves, while the new leaves are healthy, high light leaves, I inferred that light levels changed recently.

 

[Dexenthes]

Yeah, no you're right. A sudden change in conditions could definitely have this affect. I suck at VFT's anyway. I haven't ever kept on alive through two seasons.

 

[brinkerh420]

I did give them a change in light, but the others got a change, too, and they just kept on chugging along. They are also in the same water tray for the mineral issue. I will check in the next few weeks to look for new leaves.

Thanks for the help,

Will

 

[brinkerh420]

Noticed something else today, it's pretty amazing, actually.

Is this a mutation, it starts at the base, but the new leaf also looks a bit funky.

And some AMAZING new veins on my Akai Ryau:

And open wide!

Will

 

[brinkerh420]

BUMP!

Anyone have opinions on the mutation?

Thanks,

Will

 

[scottychaos]

not really a mutation..more like a deformity caused by environmental conditions..
what are they growing in?
are you sure you didn't get perlite that had fertilizer in it?

and the overall container looks a bit iffy to me..
is that some kind of compartmentalized "peat pot" type thing?
if so, there could be all kinds of funky contaminants in that material..
looks to me that your plants are reacting to..something..

I would repot into nice clean plastic pots..
just use pure peat, pure LFS, or peat with a top dressing of LFS.
(peat and sand mixtures are fine too, if you like)
IMO there is no need for perlite..

Scot

 

[richjam1986]

It COULD be a mutation. Don't rule that out.

 

[scottychaos]

It COULD be a mutation. Don't rule that out.

well yeah, possible, but extremely unlikely..
especially given all the other issues with the plants..
it's far more likely, in this case, to have an external environmental cause, not something genetic in the plant.

Scot

 

[brinkerh420]

Thanks for the help. I will repot this week with new soil.

Will