[Root rot?]

So I have a couple nepenthes from a nursery. They all seem to be growing well except for my N. miranda which has some black leaf tips.

my guess is that it is the potting media. It looks to be almost entirely peat. Im going to repot it in pure lfs for now because that is all I have. Does this look like root rot?

Should I re-pot my others? They are all from the same source and have the same potting media. Right now they are all growing fantastically and I dont want to screw up a good thing.

I've never repotted nepenthes before. I assume they'll be stressed by the change but are their any signs I should look for that indicate too much stress?

thanks guys,

Glenn

[Good/Bad live moss]

so obviously lfs live or dead is good for most cp. But what are some bad mosses?

I found this club-moss looking guy in one of my pots. he grows pretty fast so i see him potentially overgrowing plants if hes not kept incheck but are there any other problems with him?

I also have a drosera spatulata in a pot near my nepenthes. what would happen if the seeds get in the nepenthes pots? would they act as a ground cover or harm the plants?

last, near the club-moss is what looks like a drosera rotundiflora. found him in a saracinea pot I have. Is he looking alright? he only has one dewy leaf but has a nice green center. is he just dormant?

[How are my plants doing?]

Hey guys, wondering if my nepenthes are doing alright. The leaves are getting some red coloration but i think thats just intense light, not dying plants. There's also some brown spots on some leaves.

The reason I asked is because i just recently moved them from outside to under 4 24w 6500k compact florescents. The reddening might also be from when they were outside.

^^^ N. ventricosa with the most reddening. The closest leaf is probably sunburn from when i first got him.

close up

N. alata x ventricosa. this guy has more browning but I believe it was due to not enough water when i was vacationing.

They're young and otherwise look healthy so im not terribly worried. The N. alata wont pitcher for me (shipped to me in the spring) but these are my first ones, im not expecting giant pitchers right away. Any comments on my set up or plants would be great

[Desiccation help]

Hi IHP

From a simple search it would seem like the average winter temperature does not drop below freezing, so some simple protection with sarracenia should work well. If you do get periods of below freezing for a day or more, the size of bogs you are contemplating will still freeze solid I'm afraid, once again leading to the possibility of your plants drying out and dying in a desiccant wind, as the roots will be unable to replace lost moisture due to the ground being frozen.

If I understand correctly are you thinking of putting opaque bucket over the bog? and I'm not sure what you mean by the term submerged, do you mean under water or buried? The obvious thing to beware of if covering the plants are temperature swings and fungus, a bucket with a hole in over a pot/bog will not have a very large volume or thermal mass, so will heat up and cooldown quickly, especially if it is in the sun and the small air volume and probably lack of effective ventilation could quickly lead to ideal botrytis growing conditions.

If you can get large pots and protect them from wind and freezing for long periods, you should have no problems. I have mine in bogs and just cover the rhizomes loosely with fern crosiers so they can still breathe but are protected from wind and they make it through our winters Ok.

Cheers

Steve

Thanks billynomates

You really hit on my concerns pretty well. Last fall I got advice from my local guy that he just leaves his plants out w/o protection and they'll freeze up but be fine by spring. My water dish and pot were frozen for weeks at a time and they never came back.

I think the bigger pot sounds good., Even if it freezes up I assume it will still offer more protection than the little pots I have. Right?

The "cold frame" bucket thing does worry me to because its pretty stagnant and humid. I havent seen too much of a temperature swing but it dosent matter much compared to the botrytis risk.

What if i cut the bottom off the bucket? Make something like 4 walls with an open top just to block the harsh winds. Do you think it would help?

And what do you suggest if I see freezing temps for more than a day or so? Bring them into my garage short term? My garage has no windows but its unheated.

thanks again guys

Glenn

[Hi from Long Island, New York]

Hey guys. Been following the site for a bit and I'm excited to join. I am just beginning with a couple sarrs, nepenthes and drosera but hope to expand with the advice of you guys!

[Desiccation help]

Hey guys, just joined because you guys really seem to know your plants.

This is my second year with sarracenia, had to do a reboot this spring because my plants died in the winter, and i'd like to avoid that this year. I got some ideas from other posts and was hoping for advise.

I think my main problem is wind and prolonged freezing. My main idea is to first replant them in a bog to give them more insulation. The bog would be made out of one of two bins (20 x 20 x 40 or 30 x 25 x 50 cm). Next im thinking a "cold frame" out of a overturned opaque bucket with a fist sized vent, either submerged or not. The cold frame is about +10F than outside unsubmerged but has a much higher humidity.

Any thoughts are much appreciated.

I am currently in long Island NY