faunista Posted March 25, 2010 Report Share Posted March 25, 2010 Hello! My loved N. hamata is doing fine, and put some basal shoots that now are much bigger than mother plant. But a couple of months ago, after beginning the "vining stage" the original stem become darkening a little, the growth rate become very slow and some strange things appeared on the stem. I've never seen anything similar. Could it be mites or some fungal infection? That sort of reddish "scrub" are on the part of the stem exposed to light. The other parts of the plants are perfectly healthy, so I don't think it's a virus. Marco Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loligo1964 Posted March 25, 2010 Report Share Posted March 25, 2010 Hi Marco, It almost looks like a scale infestation in that photo (and Nepenthes can be prone to it); if so, I would suggest a systemic insecticide . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faunista Posted March 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2010 Thank you, but they're not scale insects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loligo1964 Posted March 25, 2010 Report Share Posted March 25, 2010 Thank you, but they're not scale insects. Those small bumps in the photo -- can they be removed or are they vegetative? I cannot tell . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MFS Posted March 25, 2010 Report Share Posted March 25, 2010 It's hard to say, but it could be a combination of winter slowdown, with natural ageing of the vines lignifying (turning woody) the tissue. Older growth in my Nepenthes is fully lignified and brown. MFS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faunista Posted March 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2010 Those small bumps in the photo -- can they be removed or are they vegetative? I cannot tell . . . no, they cannot be removed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amori Posted March 25, 2010 Report Share Posted March 25, 2010 (edited) I've seen this on aristolochioides, hamata, inermis and talangensis. It always appeared after a period of stress, usually heat related, and pitcher production came to a standstill, with new growth just getting smaller and gnarled. My inermis' growth point was actually rendered blind by this, only for the plant to send out sideshoots further down the vine. I don't know what it is, but new basals or shoots after removing the affected part were always healthy and normal. I've never detected mites or other invertebrates even through a lens, so I think it may be an internal pathogen that is triggered when environmental conditions aren't ideal for the plant. If I remember correctly the problem seemed to vanish once I sprayed the plants with a systemic fungicide, and it hasn't occurred since. I don't know if any of that helped, but my advice, through experience, is to remove the affected section (if the plant is severely affected) and and wait for new growth to sprout, as painful as that may seem, and spray with a systemic fungicide like myclobutanil. Edited March 25, 2010 by Amori Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faunista Posted March 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2010 It's hard to say, but it could be a combination of winter slowdown, with natural ageing of the vines lignifying (turning woody) the tissue. Older growth in my Nepenthes is fully lignified and brown.MFS Neither of the two. In winter I have the best conditions for growing highland species. It is not lignification, but a behaviour I've never seen before, on any nepenthes. I'm growing this hamata since 2005. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manders Posted March 25, 2010 Report Share Posted March 25, 2010 Could these be the fruiting bodies of some internal fungus, they kind of look like that. I've seen a similar effect when plants are too cold, some kind of fungus starts to grow and makes the leaves all knobbly, maybe a different fungus and different cause but ties in with what amori says above? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dicon Posted March 26, 2010 Report Share Posted March 26, 2010 I agree mostly with Amori and manders, I too have seen this in hamata, aristo and ovata. I treated it successfully with Systhane. I did not need to remove the stems, but I recommend repeating treatment every 14 days until the new growth comes true. My conditions could never lead to overheating so it is some other stress or just bad luck. Try to improve air movement locally, but do not let the humidity drop too much as hamata resents it. This ALWAYS helps reduce fungal problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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