FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

This started growing out in my nepenthes ventricosa pot after I repotted about 6 months ago.

The ventricosa has not been doing well at all (though all my other plants are doing fine), so I wondered if it was possible that the moss was somehow responsible for the nep's continued decline? This moss is starting to show up in a few of my other pots, and I've been plucking it out systematically as I see it, but there was so much in the nep pot I never bothered.

It wasn't produced a pitcher in over 6 months; the end of the leaf always dies before one opens. It is a fairly young plant but was producing a pitcher on every leaf before. You can see from one of the photos below the closest I've come in 6 months to a "pitcher".

Nep's current conditions:

• 160W of T12 6500K lighting, 12 hours a day (was 13/day until yesterday, and was 14/day about a month before that)
• Temps: 65-78 F night/day
• Humidity: 45%-70% night/day
• Soil: Peat/perlite/orchid bark mix
• Fertilizer: 1/4 strength Maxsea (the new "standard" stuff) once per month (was twice per month until I dropped lighting to 13 hours). Pured over plant and into soil; I flush the pot with quite a bit of water 24 hours later.
• Distilled water only

I don't think I keep the soil too wet (it generally stays damp), but given it's got 33% peat in it, I wonder if I should water even less than I do now.

Any ideas?

It does look kind of sick. The wilted leaves lead me to think it is a root problem.

The MaxSea fertilizer you used is being promoted by Peter D'Amato for CP (he sells a lot of it!). I spoke with him about it when I stopped at California carnivores in september. (I also bought some). He recommends using it only as a foliar feeding. Any fertilizer that gets into the soil of a CP pot is going to increase the chances of root rot.
I would unpot the plant and examine the roots, then repot in a light airy mix (LFS and perlite) A dip in vitamin B1 may help if the roots are gone.

Good Luck
Brad

Yeah I agree with BradR. it seems that there is a problem with the roots. I'd pulled a plant from the pot and I checked in what condition are the roots.

yes ,it looks that way, some times a plant will just up and die for no apparent reason , but most times its got some bug or bugs ,or root rot or some other thing of many that can affect these plants ,,if its root rot not a lot can be done unfortunately if advanced , ,other that cleaning off all potting mix off the roots with a water spray gun reasonably gently , trim roots that are dead off and treat with anti fungal and re-pot in live shpag moss , this way you will know if the fertiliser is to strong or not as the sphag will react very quickly by going to slime on the top ,, and it also let you know if your water procedure is right all so by its growth and greenness, and the colour of the sphag ,which should be very green and lush , it works for me , but form many peoples posts on here and other forums, not every potting mix works the same for every body , its only a suggestion !but it have worked for me in the past ,regrowth can be slow from recovery if its works ,old stem may die off and a new shoot emerge or the main stem may just get going , but watch for any part of the main stem going black from the base , if that happens cut off the stem at the base and keep cutting up the stem till the inner colour of the stem becomes all green again,(any black in it will still keep going up as rot killing the main stem off as it goes up !!)this is a rot of the stem and creeps up the main stem, if not treated will go all the way up the the top ,( its not easy to detect and usually is to late once you have realised ), , then use as a cutting to reproduce a new growth, this has worked for me as well
J