FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Okay, so for a while I've noticed some holes in the leaves of my purple pitchers. The plant was doing fine, then all of a sudden I saw these holes.
And here's the worst of it, on a phyllidia leaf:
I was going to let the plant go on its own, without treatment, until two new phyllidia leaves rotted out and fell apart. At that point I knew I had to do something. I've since treated the plant twice with Fungicide 3, a neem oil product. I followed the directions of one week intervals, and have applied the product twice now. I had hope until I saw this... a hole in a new leaf!!
Do I need to try a stronger product? Is this mold or bug damage? I can't see any little bugs, so I don't know. The plant sits on the south side of my house and gets TONS of sunlight. It does get a little warm over there, but I keep the water in the tray about 1/3 of the way up the pot. From what I understand, this plant loves sun and doesn't mind the wetter side of things. Here's a picture of the setup:
Thanks for the advice!

That certainly looks like pest damage. If the neem didn't work, I'd try some acephate. Both Steve and I use it and it works great! See Steve's post here about how it works and where to get it:
http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/emerg ... tml#p68669

Thanks Matt! Acephate is Orthonex, correct? I'll reread that post.

This plant sits next to my grown fly traps. Should I go ahead and treat the VFTs now? Or what until they show damage?

cbennett4041 wrote:Thanks Matt! Acephate is Orthonex, correct?

No! Be careful to not use Orthenex. It works, but it will set the plants back a little bit. Acephate is the equivalent of Orthene (the predecessor to Orthenex). When Ortho reformulated after their patent on Orthene expired, they added some stuff to the mix that seems to do mild damage to flytraps.

cbennett4041 wrote:Should I go ahead and treat the VFTs now? Or what until they show damage?

Steve and I both give preventative treatments a couple of times a year. I'd say, if you haven't done so already, go ahead and spray all of your plants.

Thanks for the clarification Matt. I sprayed all the adult plants, including the pictured purple pitcher, with the neem oil one more time. We'll give one more try until I find some acephate. I'm going to look around locally tomorrow... if I don't find some I'll buy some acephate online.

What about the seedlings? I have about 100 in a 12 inch pot. They are no where near the affected plant (opposite side of the house). Would the neem oil or acephate hurt the little guys? I have a feeling it will.

cbennett4041 wrote:Would the neem oil or acephate hurt the little guys? I have a feeling it will.

I have no experience with neem oil, so I can't comment about it. But I sprayed ALL of my plants this year with a fairly heavy dosage of acephate (3/4 teaspoon/gallon) including all of the teeny tiniest seedlings I have and they weren't negatively affected in any way.

Matt wrote:... including all of the teeny tiniest seedlings I have and they weren't negatively affected in any way.

GOOD TO HEAR! Thanks Matt. Always saving the day.