Question
nepenthes & sprout
Hello,
First of all, I would like to thank you (and all the guys at AllExperts/Sarracenia
NW) for your amazing support (for lack of a better word) for your customers?br>
you help us with our individual problems/questions by delivering solutions
that actually work because they've been tested and found to work; deliver
high-quality carnivorous plants with simple, accurate, easy-to-handle
instructions (in other words, you "speak english") (oh and you do it all on
your own time, i hear?? thats great!!!); and you have an amazing website that
offers "best plant for you" suggestions, newsletters, giveaways... and just
looks nice. So i just wanted to say how amazing you guys are梚 could go on,
but it'd take up too much of this post.
OKAY
So I have this Nepenthes... N. Ventricosa. It's a nice-looking little plant. Got it
from Hirts Garden's. (bad idea梟ot good packaging. Only got it from them
cuz it was one of the few I wanted that you didnt have) But there seems to be
a little sprout emerging on the very edge of the little 3-inch pot. At first, i
was rather thrilled; i thought it had caught a seed in it's pot during the
sowing of one of it's neighbor's seeds or something! But on further thought, i
realized that i had no idea what this thing was. It certainly wasnt a nepenthes
梐t least it didnt look like it in it's immature form. Do you know what it
could be? I've included a picture.
Also, one of the plant's larger pitchers appears to have withered; at least the
top half of it. Should i cut off the pitcher? it;s been that way for a while now;
a week or two at least. and it only took it 4 or 5 days to get to the point it
appears to have stopped at right now. What should I do? Thanks in advance.
And one more thing... My sundew, my little Lance-leaf sundew, appears to
have stopped producing goo. It has about two new leaves unfurling right now
that have goo on them; but all the other leaves that once had goo on them no
longer have goo. I must admit, it makes me rather sad. There are a number
of carcasses on the leaves, but not any more than the "usual" amount I should
think. Am i doing somehting wrong? The only thing I can think of that may be
effecting the loss of goo is the water change: i had been using rain water, but
then switched to distilled water since my big 5-gallon bucket of rainwater had
been used to water the plants outside. Would the decreased acidity of the
distilled water have been enough to effect such a change? And if so, should i
continue watering with distilled water and wait for it to adapt, or switch back
to rainwater ASAP?
Thank you so much for your input! I live in Northern Michigan, by the way.
Jasen
AnswerHi Jasen,
Thank-you for the feedback. We always enjoy hearing that our efforts are found useful.
Ahh, I know that plant well. It is le Weed. It is a type of grass that grows in Chilean sphagnum moss. Get it out of there. It will develop a massive root system and make transplanting the Nepenthes very difficult.
As pitchers wilt cut them off when you can't stand to look at them anymore. Just leave the leaf intact. It'll live another month or two.
If your Lance-leaf sundew has be doing well, I find a couple of things will cause the stopping of mucilage production. The first is an unexpected dry period. Did the plant ever run out of water for a brief spell? The other is aphids. Aphids will sometime get into the crown of the plant causing damage. Because of the fuzzy nature of the plant they can be hard to see. Spray with an insecticide if you see some. Also, if the plant has experienced some significant change; being moved, change of light conditions, etc... that can have this effect. I seriously doubt the water would have caused this.
In any case, if after a couple of weeks new leaves are not producing dew and easy solution is just to cut off the entire top of the plant right to soil level. When you do this the plant will send up numerous new shoots, and you will get rid of any pests that might be present.
Good Growing!
Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.cobraplant.com
