FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

So I have a question for you all. My two Capensis are turning a very pale yellow and getting black spots in random places and dying off quicker than they should. They have little to no coloring on each leaf and are seeming to have alot of new growth but I'm not sure they're doing so hot. Could this typically for this time of year or is something wrong? Also my Binata doesn't even live long enough to unfurl it's leaf. It just grows out to a point and then dies off. What am I doing wrong?? Everything else is going good, just not these three.

My light step up for my top shelf consist of:
(1) Warmest White, 2900 lumens, 40 watt
(1) Coolest White, 2900 lumens, 40 watt
(2) Warm White, 2600 lumens, (unknown wattage)

I also have a humidifier going at all times during their day time hours which are 6:30 am to 9:30 pm (15 hours on/9 hours off)

Are they getting to much or not enough light? Or is it something completely different?

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Those plants do look light-starved, but the lights you have listed sound plenty bright enough. Could you provide some details about the size of the grow space and how the lights are set up?

nimbulan wrote:Those plants do look light-starved, but the lights you have listed sound plenty bright enough. Could you provide some details about the size of the grow space and how the lights are set up?

Here's a current picture. They're on the top shelf of a standard size green house off of amazon.

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Hmm it's hard to tell exactly how much light all those plants are getting. Your other sundews look like they're lacking in a color a bit as well though.

It would probably help if you could get the plants closer to the lights (or the lights closer to the plants.)

What tipe of bulbs are the?

Hungry Plants wrote:What tipe of bulbs are the?

T12 for the biggest and the two clip on lights are CFLs

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nimbulan wrote:Hmm it's hard to tell exactly how much light all those plants are getting. Your other sundews look like they're lacking in a color a bit as well though.

It would probably help if you could get the plants closer to the lights (or the lights closer to the plants.)

I can drop the T12 lights lower. I'll do that now.

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I would try them about 8” from the plants

nimbulan wrote:Hmm it's hard to tell exactly how much light all those plants are getting. Your other sundews look like they're lacking in a color a bit as well though.

It would probably help if you could get the plants closer to the lights (or the lights closer to the plants.)

I lowered my T12s. Does this look more appropriate?

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Hungry Plants wrote:I would try them about 8” from the plants

I posted updated pictures with the light moved down. They seem alot closer than 8" away due to the build of the green houses.

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Well that will certainly help but I'm not sure if it'll be enough. How long have you been using those bulbs?

The light is fine, but you're soaking them too much. I hope they are not sitting in that water basin 24/7 which I believe they may be judging by that green slime growth (cyanobacteria). If you can, I would repot it into fresh sphagnum with a bit of perlite, and keep a water tray filled to 1/2 an inch, and let the water dry completely and sit "dry" for a day or two before filling it again. Under artificial lights sundews don't need be kept in as much water as I'm seeing in the pictures.

I'm not seeing any cyanobacteria, just a lot of algae. That's normal when growing in a water tray with LFS (one of the reasons I tend to use peat.) It's nothing to worry about though, just unsightly. The plants definitely do not mind being that wet - I've even had D. capensis growing in a water tray with no soil at all for extended periods of time.

I agree. Looks like a lightning issue to me. I use 4 T12 lights about 6 inches above my capensis and it’s basically just enough light to keep the with good color. And it’s just about impossible to give a capensis too much water.

Yeah but it's a Light & water combo issue here. I have not seen capensis (or any sundew) grow well if they are that wet with insufficient light. Might be fine now that he lowered the lights, but I would still let that tray dry between waterings until they recover so that they don't rot in their weakened state.