FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Are you using any osmocote?

Tarzanus wrote:I have had similar issues with D. capensis when it got attacked by aphids. Do you think it's possible they caught aphids or mites?

I certainly hope not. I know that im not immune from that possibility, but i havent seen any other issues like this in any of my other plants that share this room with this one. I am looking all over for whatever this may be caused by though.

TisDro wrote:Are you using any osmocote?

Yes, i put a couple of 14-14-14 pellets in the soil about a week and a half ago. I read on another forum that feeding these guys bloodworms tends to lead to bad results and i didnt know that. Not sure how much truth there is to that, or if it was just someones misfortune with that particular plant...But yes, i gave it a couple of pellets and then it caught a few bugs in the room during the week..

Heres the link i was reading where someone had an issue with the bloodworms (a couple posts from the top)

http://ocps.proboards.com/thread/5394/soil-regia

Was curious if anyone here has experienced similar issues like that? I suspected maybe overfertilizing with the pellets as well. Earlier today i found a couple that i put in the soil last week and dug them out safely, and ran a rinse of distilled through the media...

Fishman wrote: Was curious if anyone here has experienced similar issues like that? I suspected maybe overfertilizing with the pellets as well. Earlier today i found a couple that i put in the soil last week and dug them out safely, and ran a rinse of distilled through the media...

I've pretty much fed mine nothing but blood worms for the last three months and they are growing like weeds! As I mentioned before, I have read that you should use the low phosphorous Osmicote, the "Outdoor & Indoor" formula 15-9-12. I have three pellets in my pot of two plants and I top water it whenever the pot starts to feel "light". The reason I top water it is because the osmicote is near the surface and I want the water to leach it down through the soil to the roots. The older leaves on Regia's turn black and die off fairly quickly, that is normal, they are constantly sending up new leaves to replace them. Yours looks like it is doing alright, as long as it is sending up new leaves, then it is probably fine.

midwestprospector wrote:

Fishman wrote: Was curious if anyone here has experienced similar issues like that? I suspected maybe overfertilizing with the pellets as well. Earlier today i found a couple that i put in the soil last week and dug them out safely, and ran a rinse of distilled through the media...

I've pretty much fed mine nothing but blood worms for the last three months and they are growing like weeds! As I mentioned before, I have read that you should use the low phosphorous Osmicote, the "Outdoor & Indoor" formula 15-9-12. I have three pellets in my pot of two plants and I top water it whenever the pot starts to feel "light". The reason I top water it is because the osmicote is near the surface and I want the water to leach it down through the soil to the roots. The older leaves on Regia's turn black and die off fairly quickly, that is normal, they are constantly sending up new leaves to replace them. Yours looks like it is doing alright, as long as it is sending up new leaves, then it is probably fine.

Sounds pretty similar to how i water mine. I just wait for it to feel not so heavy then in a couple days give it a good top watering. I finally bought some of the 15-9-12 pellets, but was waiting for the next time around to feed it. I was thinking maybe i was burning it, so as a precaution, i just removed them. Theres about 6 or 7 gnats and other assorted bugs on it right now so maybe thatll be good for a couple weeks i hope.

Fishman wrote: Theres about 6 or 7 gnats and other assorted bugs on it right now so maybe thatll be good for a couple weeks i hope.

It should be alright just catching food for a while, as long as it gets enough. I don't claim to be an expert on King sundews by any means, but I have read that unlike most other carnivorous plants, they can actually die from starvation if they don't get enough food. I feed mine about twice a week with a good helping of the rehydrated bloodworms. I usually put them about an inch down from the leaf tip, because I like the way it looks when they curl around them. Then the next time I put the food just below the curl and the leaf will curl down even farther. I use the "Tetra" brand that I get at the local pet store, so I can tell you for sure that particular brand is safe for Kings and VFT's. I don't know if other brands are safe or not, that is the only one I have ever used.

midwestprospector wrote:

Fishman wrote: Theres about 6 or 7 gnats and other assorted bugs on it right now so maybe thatll be good for a couple weeks i hope.

It should be alright just catching food for a while, as long as it gets enough. I don't claim to be an expert on King sundews by any means, but I have read that unlike most other carnivorous plants, they can actually die from starvation if they don't get enough food. I feed mine about twice a week with a good helping of the rehydrated bloodworms. I usually put them about an inch down from the leaf tip, because I like the way it looks when they curl around them. Then the next time I put the food just below the curl and the leaf will curl down even farther. I use the "Tetra" brand that I get at the local pet store, so I can tell you for sure that particular brand is safe for Kings and VFT's. I don't know if other brands are safe or not, that is the only one I have ever used.

Interesting stuff there... i am also an aquarium hobbyist, so i always have plenty of assorted fish foods on hand. I use Hikari brands and other high end products, so maybe what im using has a high concentrate of something in it that i will need to investigate further. I read that these guys like alot of food so i couldve slightly overdid it while trying to keep it happy, who knows.. today it doesnt look any worse so thats a good thing haha. Ive also seen my d. filiformis die back after it feeds too, turning brown or yellow, but only on the leaf where the food is put. My Capensis, and Scorpiodes dont do that, so thats a bit odd to me. Ill just watch it a little closer and see what i come up with. Thanks for the response!

Another update, as of today. This guy doesn't look too swell, but its fighting and it keeps sending up new leaves for me and that's a bonus! I started thinking maybe its being attacked by pests, but none of my other plants that surround it are in that shape, so i'm leaning on a combination of a few things: either soil got too packed and roots couldn't breathe, too much Osmocote a couple weeks ago, and maybe that packed soil i was using stayed a little too wet, (though i'm thinking its one of the first two). All of the criteria has been met as far as its growing requirements are, and its still getting these strange brown spots all over and the leaves keep dying off so I decided to repot it in a much looser mix. I doused the roots in Superthrive to help it out a little and now the soil is very porous, and drains very well. I leeched the soil and it looks like its hovering around 5ppm, so thats good enough. I got some Maxsea coming in Monday or Tuesday so I may experiment with a very weak mixture. Waiting for 10 d .regia seedlings to germinate now but i'm only into day #3, hopefully soon!

What temps are you keeping it in?

It generally stays about 75f during the day and then around 64f at night

Hmmm. Did you measure the temp directly under the lights? The temps sound fine, but if it were hotter, I would imagine that it would take longer for your regia to settle in.

The new growth is definitely a good sign. Do you keep in a tray? I've read its best to top water to prevent root rot. Plus it will flush the soil.

Benurmanii wrote:Hmmm. Did you measure the temp directly under the lights? The temps sound fine, but if it were hotter, I would imagine that it would take longer for your regia to settle in.

I havent actually, and that is something i am going to do today. I suspected the other day it couldve been something like that so i moved it further away from the lights. Its probably about 8 inches away now. I will definitely get a temp though. Thanks for that idea

TisDro wrote:The new growth is definitely a good sign. Do you keep in a tray? I've read its best to top water to prevent root rot. Plus it will flush the soil.

It came with a 4" pot when i first got it, and when i began to do all this troubleshooting, i decided to put it into a bigger pot. An 8-10" pot is what it is in now. I was thinking maybe during the day on its windowsill the soil may possibly be getting warmer than the plant would like, so i moved it further away from the direct sun and a bit closer to its artificial lighting. Now in the bigger pot the soil seems alot cooler during the day. I can water from below using the tray method as it has the place for it, but on this plant here, i only go over the top, around the sides and such, as to allow oxygen to reach the roots. (Or at least thats what my goal is).