FlyTrapCare Forums

I received 2 bicalcaratas in the mail on Thursday. The larger one had some leaves damaged by the shipping process (one leaf was bent completely and I thought I would lose it, along with the best pitcher on the plant, now I'm thinking there is a chance that it will retain the leaf for now but it will have a deep brown scar across half of the leaf.) The other plant was much smaller and arrived with delicate/thin leaves but it looked healthy. Well, when I returned home from work on Friday, the little bical was VERY sad. 3 of the leaves had wilted entirely (they were just hanging there and looked crinkled.) The humidity in Florida is between 80-97%, depending on the time of day. The high temp was 91 and low was 74. It was not exposed to air conditioning nor was it in direct sunlight. All of my other Nepenthes, including the more mature bical, looked fine. I immediately put the little one under a clear plastic dome and, after a few hours, it perked up a bit. Even one of the wilted leaves decided to stand back up. I hope that it's going to be OK. Maybe it is experiencing shock from shipping? Maybe it is just being delicate because it's a bical and is adjusting to a new environment? If it helps at all, this is one of the Brunei orange clones. The other bical, that is doing better, is a seed grown.

The attached pic is the little bical after a few hours recovering under the plastic dome.

Sorry to hear that. Hope it recovers being looking for a bicalcarata myself where did you get yours.

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I would bag it and let it sit for about a month. Open the bag for about an hour a day. The slowly open it for longer till its acclimated to your conditions.

I got mine from Native Exotics but they don't have any more right now. They only got 2 during their last inventory update. There are some on Ebay. Bicals seem to be pretty hard to come by at the moment. They are beautiful plants and I thought that I lived in the ideal state for them (being hot and humid most of the year.)

The plastic dome seems to be doing pretty nicely at the moment, no further deterioration of the younger bical. If it looks like it needs more protection, I will certainly bag it up until it toughens up a little.

I would remove the tape from the top of the pot if you haven't already. Looks like there is one in the background with tape on it too? You want air flow through the media to prevent rot. Domes can work, but nothing really beats a nice big freezer ziplock. Just change the air daily. I had a bical that spent 13 days in a box in January courtesy USPS. The whole plant looked like the bottom leaves on your plant. I have a controlled lowland environment, but it still took a month + being bagged to get back on track. Bicals are surprisingly bullet proof in my opinion, but their weakness is definitely humidity. In my experience if a bical is in trouble, 100% humidity is key to recovery. The only one I've lost is the one I didn't bag. Just my 2 cents.

Good luck,
-@.

Thank you iamjack, I did remove the tape but I will also try bagging the plant to see if it recovers faster. It hasn't deteriorated any further so I am hopeful.

Good call! No worries. Yes, that is encouraging that it has not deteriorated any further. I'm sure it will be fine. If you can keep it above 70 while bagged even better. Once it recovers it ought to grow like a weed in the Florida conditions you described. It should be a beast in no time!

Happy growing,
-@.