FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I recently repotted my Nepenthes ventricosa and moved them to a new ten gallon tank. The top is completely sealed with a piece of glass. For lighting, I am using two 24" T8 fluorescent light bulbs (4100K, 17 watt) and one 18" T8 fluorescent bulb of unknown temperature and wattage. However, the leaves of the repotted Nepenthes are turning black. I have posted pictures underneath. The blackening is starting at the sides of the leaves, but the main stem seems to stay green. Could this be due to problems in lighting, root rot, or simply just transplant shock? Unfortunately, I cut off the tips of both the mother plant and the only side shoot for cuttings, so there are no growing tips left. Will the plant still survive? Also, since I placed the cuttings in the same tank, are my conditions good for rooting? Humidity is hovering around 90-100%. Thanks for any help!

First thing that comes to mind is shock or root rot. With shock, let the plant ride it out. If it's rot, not much you can do.
I'm sorry I can't help much, but perhaps the soil has fertilizers in it? Humidity and light seem good, but bad soil comes to mind however...Is that peat/perlite?

The soil is one part long fibered sphagnum moss to one part perlite to one part vermiculite to one part spaghnum peat. With root rot, wouldn't the base of the stem turn brown?

If that's root rot, then the plant won't stay the soil easily, the base will begin to be black and mushy...You'd smell it before then, though.
I was wrong about your soil, that's a good mixture. So, yeah, it's either rot or shock. Time will tell...time, or someone else.

Kevin
not sure why you cut the growing tip off, if your just re-potting the plant , not a good idea ? or were you attempting to do stem cuttings ? , should only cut growing tips off when doing cuttings only
here is a short vid I made how to do that http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF6sQPgLKhc
your cutting are going black mainly be because of the the way your going about the procedure you have taken, , to re-pot a plant should be just a matter of getting as much old mix of the roots gently as possible and putting the whole plant back into the new mix and firming it in and watering it in as well pretty much that's it , unless you intend to take cuttings , then that a different procedure as well , , so what were you going to do as the plant now is in total stress mode , looks like its survival is not good , but acting quickly now may be able to pull it back , just need to know what you want to do , make cuttings or transplant a plant with roots ??
J

I was trying to get stem cuttings while repotting the mother plant. The pictures show the mother plant (all the roots are there, but I just accidentally cut off both growing tips when making cuttings). What can I do to save it?

Ahh i see, ok it needs very high humidity over 80 % to compensate for leaf loss, the light will be ok , the mix needs to be quite wet to allow the stem to draw up moisture , to dry and it will die very quickly , keep misting the leafs as much as possible to try to keep them dying to quickly , it may work , as this needed to be done the instant it happened not days later , so may be ok may be not
top water only dont sit the pot in water at all either and put a fan in there to get good air circulation , this allows the plant to draw water up from the roots by water transpiration , which all plants need to do to live I use a pc fan low voltage cheap to get and easy to install


John

Thanks so much! Do you know if the black edges are from stress or if it's rot?

looking at the leaf blacking , its lack of moisture and being under too much stress , this happens when making cuttings and not having high humidity
J

Alright, thanks!

I've had this happen when I changed my conditions too quickly like moving from low to high light