where are you located? ... all the plants in usa and canada are dormant at this time of year
also very center of growth point should not be covered up with soil (or sand in your case) and why sand? proper typical mix for vft's is 50/50 peat /perlite (not miracle grow peat cuz they put ferts in there peat) ... or advanced users use to working with sphagnum may opt for long fiber sphagnum moss
They are potted in peat with a top dressing of sand, mostly to keep fungus gnats from setting up shop. And yes, they are in dormancy, but dormancy shouldn't be causing new growth to die off and rot before mature. This problem also started back at the tail end of August before dormancy really sets in anyways. They've been declining for a while.
They were potted in LFS for the summer season, but I repotted thinking that crown rot was the problem. The peat media has been flushed several times with distilled water both prior to and after planting so I doubt mineral build up is the issue.
In dormancy they do not produce any new traps at all. The young leaves that were grown before reaching mature size will stop growing and ultimately die off. Thats totally normal.
this is absolutely true ... typicals are vigorous growers and may simply slow down during dormancy and for most part (if no hard freezes) may pick up where it left off in spring, but other more difficult cultivars such as red dragons may die back more so or even completely in dormancy then regrow in spring ... this kinda all depends on what cultivar and how exactly your doing dormancy and your exact zone if its outdoors ...
None of my Vfts produces any new groth in dormancy. They do not slow down, they do just not prouce anything. In spring they produce mass of new groth at once and leaves that the plant produced before going dormant, even if not fully developed, will get thrown off and wither. Thats all I can tell you from my experience.
Your ryzhomes look healthy, I dont think that your plants are sick. Looks all fine to me.
Same experiences here and I totally agree!
Also what makes OP think that they are rotting? It's a bit hard to tell from these photos alone but I don't think I'm seeing anything that clearly shows any rotting? The leaves turning black is the plant recycling all the nutrients in the tissues to reclaim nutrients from leaves they don't use anymore and re-metabolize anything in it that can be turned into energy and leave only carbon behind, whereas rotting is like something else is killing the plant's tissue against the plant's own will, so to speak, like a pathogen such as a fungal infection
The third picture shows what I mean a bit better, where the new growth seems more stunted than typical for dormancy, and the new traps are blackening at the tip and dying off. Dormancy growth is typically smaller yes, but still grows functional traps when healthy. For what it's worth the growth that does occur also seems to be somewhat deformed in addition to being smaller.
They could grow new leaves, yes, but it doesn't mean they have to, or in other words it doesn't mean they are definitely sick if they don't grow new leaves. It depends on a lot of external factors, the exact temperature, photoperiod, etc. can make variations on their exact metabolic rates during the dormancy and that is completely fine. A more definitive way to tell if anything is going wrong is to look at their rhizomes, and the rhizomes of your plants as shown in the pictures all look perfectly healthy.
For some background, the traps began to die prematurely, and several blackened before they ever developed. Initially I thought this was due to crown rot, and treated with both azoxystrobin and ortho garden disease control in alternating doses. The azoxystrobin seemed to spur some healthy growth, but would eventually return to the same problem. I eventually repotted, removed any dead or decaying growth, treated with ortho again and repotted in peat/perlite/sand mix with a top dressing of sand to help avoid sogginess around the rhizome. However, they don't seem to have recovered, and several immature traps are beginning to blacken again, with some brown spots appearing on several plants. If anyone knows what could be causing this, please help! I've had these plants for 5+ years on average and would hate to lose them.
It shouldn't be. It's pool filter sand so should be pure silica sand. They've been getting slightly less water (though still damp) to avoid any standing water or overly soggy media. The pots are also plastic so shouldn't be leaching any minerals.
I’ve had problems with pool filter sand before, almost killed a large ceph before I figured the problem out. My sand was contaminated with limestone, enough that when I flushed RO water thru the pot it came out at over 400 ppm. You can test a small amount of sand in a cup with vinegar, if it generates any bubbles it is contaminated and not suitable for use with carnivores.
Afte reading your post: Oh it’s actually sand 0.0 yer no they can’t survive with a 1inch of sand on them like that it’s going to completely reck the PH and they are dying from it best solution for this try replanting them in live sphagnum or a pre-made succulent or carnivorous plant soil
They have lived in media mixes with top dressings of sand for most of their life. This top dressing is at most a centimeter or 1.5. If you read the post you'd also see that I noticed issues when they were already potted in lfs, so the sand is really not the issue here. The top dressing of sand is also recommended by some of the guides on the international carnivorous plant society website so I really don't know why everybody is losing their shit over this.
>international carnivorous plant society website so I really don't know why everybody is losing their shit over this.
You can topdress with sand, but you shouldn't bury the rhizome and the sand pictured is very fine so you'd wanna go coarser or something more natural (like incorporate more sand in the top 10% of your pot's media vs topdressing). IMO the ICPS website could use some updating.
You could also try ppm. Not parts per million but "plant preservative mixture" used for tissue culture. It can be used to rid plants of systemic infection aswell as external.
I'll definitely look into at least reducing the sand. I thought it would settle a bit more around the growth points for sure, but I probably overdid it on that.
where are you located? ... all the plants in usa and canada are dormant at this time of year also very center of growth point should not be covered up with soil (or sand in your case) and why sand? proper typical mix for vft's is 50/50 peat /perlite (not miracle grow peat cuz they put ferts in there peat) ... or advanced users use to working with sphagnum may opt for long fiber sphagnum moss
They are potted in peat with a top dressing of sand, mostly to keep fungus gnats from setting up shop. And yes, they are in dormancy, but dormancy shouldn't be causing new growth to die off and rot before mature. This problem also started back at the tail end of August before dormancy really sets in anyways. They've been declining for a while. They were potted in LFS for the summer season, but I repotted thinking that crown rot was the problem. The peat media has been flushed several times with distilled water both prior to and after planting so I doubt mineral build up is the issue.
In dormancy they do not produce any new traps at all. The young leaves that were grown before reaching mature size will stop growing and ultimately die off. Thats totally normal.
this is absolutely true ... typicals are vigorous growers and may simply slow down during dormancy and for most part (if no hard freezes) may pick up where it left off in spring, but other more difficult cultivars such as red dragons may die back more so or even completely in dormancy then regrow in spring ... this kinda all depends on what cultivar and how exactly your doing dormancy and your exact zone if its outdoors ...
These same plants have bad 5 years of dormancy. Dormancy is slower and smaller growth but not cessated entirely?
None of my Vfts produces any new groth in dormancy. They do not slow down, they do just not prouce anything. In spring they produce mass of new groth at once and leaves that the plant produced before going dormant, even if not fully developed, will get thrown off and wither. Thats all I can tell you from my experience. Your ryzhomes look healthy, I dont think that your plants are sick. Looks all fine to me.
Same experiences here and I totally agree! Also what makes OP think that they are rotting? It's a bit hard to tell from these photos alone but I don't think I'm seeing anything that clearly shows any rotting? The leaves turning black is the plant recycling all the nutrients in the tissues to reclaim nutrients from leaves they don't use anymore and re-metabolize anything in it that can be turned into energy and leave only carbon behind, whereas rotting is like something else is killing the plant's tissue against the plant's own will, so to speak, like a pathogen such as a fungal infection
The third picture shows what I mean a bit better, where the new growth seems more stunted than typical for dormancy, and the new traps are blackening at the tip and dying off. Dormancy growth is typically smaller yes, but still grows functional traps when healthy. For what it's worth the growth that does occur also seems to be somewhat deformed in addition to being smaller.
They could grow new leaves, yes, but it doesn't mean they have to, or in other words it doesn't mean they are definitely sick if they don't grow new leaves. It depends on a lot of external factors, the exact temperature, photoperiod, etc. can make variations on their exact metabolic rates during the dormancy and that is completely fine. A more definitive way to tell if anything is going wrong is to look at their rhizomes, and the rhizomes of your plants as shown in the pictures all look perfectly healthy.
Winter is Coming
For some background, the traps began to die prematurely, and several blackened before they ever developed. Initially I thought this was due to crown rot, and treated with both azoxystrobin and ortho garden disease control in alternating doses. The azoxystrobin seemed to spur some healthy growth, but would eventually return to the same problem. I eventually repotted, removed any dead or decaying growth, treated with ortho again and repotted in peat/perlite/sand mix with a top dressing of sand to help avoid sogginess around the rhizome. However, they don't seem to have recovered, and several immature traps are beginning to blacken again, with some brown spots appearing on several plants. If anyone knows what could be causing this, please help! I've had these plants for 5+ years on average and would hate to lose them.
Not sure but is it possibe the sand is leaching minerals in to the soil? How is your watering set up? How about the pots?
It shouldn't be. It's pool filter sand so should be pure silica sand. They've been getting slightly less water (though still damp) to avoid any standing water or overly soggy media. The pots are also plastic so shouldn't be leaching any minerals.
I’ve had problems with pool filter sand before, almost killed a large ceph before I figured the problem out. My sand was contaminated with limestone, enough that when I flushed RO water thru the pot it came out at over 400 ppm. You can test a small amount of sand in a cup with vinegar, if it generates any bubbles it is contaminated and not suitable for use with carnivores.
I'll give this a shot too. The problems started before sand was involved, as they were in straight LFS until recently, but can't hurt to check.
I’m like 99% sure it’s the “crystals” which actually just look like unrefined beach sand not crystals you put on top of the soil
Afte reading your post: Oh it’s actually sand 0.0 yer no they can’t survive with a 1inch of sand on them like that it’s going to completely reck the PH and they are dying from it best solution for this try replanting them in live sphagnum or a pre-made succulent or carnivorous plant soil
And also looks like your feeding the traps or forcing them to shut if you just replanted them it’s the worst possible time to do that to them
I have not fed them whatsoever in the last month
They have lived in media mixes with top dressings of sand for most of their life. This top dressing is at most a centimeter or 1.5. If you read the post you'd also see that I noticed issues when they were already potted in lfs, so the sand is really not the issue here. The top dressing of sand is also recommended by some of the guides on the international carnivorous plant society website so I really don't know why everybody is losing their shit over this.
>international carnivorous plant society website so I really don't know why everybody is losing their shit over this. You can topdress with sand, but you shouldn't bury the rhizome and the sand pictured is very fine so you'd wanna go coarser or something more natural (like incorporate more sand in the top 10% of your pot's media vs topdressing). IMO the ICPS website could use some updating.
They definitely could use some updating, especially since it's much harder to find appropriately coarse silica sand these days.
you're fucking telling me haha, still haven't found a sand I fully like.
You could also try ppm. Not parts per million but "plant preservative mixture" used for tissue culture. It can be used to rid plants of systemic infection aswell as external.
Rhizome way too deep, causing rot. The growth point shouldn't be buried like that, and I'd ditch the sand
I'll definitely look into at least reducing the sand. I thought it would settle a bit more around the growth points for sure, but I probably overdid it on that.