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A sick Ceph?


numpty

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I'm posting a couple of pictures. The first from about two months ago, when my plant's first mature pitcher opened, the second from today. Since the first picture was taken, another mature pitcher opened while almost all the juvenile pitchers died off, and some small non-carnivorous leaves appeared.

A couple of weeks ago a dark red stain started spreading over the lid of the first pitcher mentioned. I didn't think too much about it. Then a few days ago one of the new leaves, which only appeared in the last few weeks, went yellow, as did the nearest growing point. The first pitcher lid started showing black near the edges. Yesterday the lid started withering. Closer inspection showed a white "fur" on the inside of both the mature pitchers' lids. I swabbed with alcohol.

So what do you think? The white powder sounds like mildew. If so, I'm surprised ... the plant gets a fair bit of light, some direct sun in the morning, and is outside exposed to varying strengths of wind. Also, does the rapid withering of pitchers and yellowing of leaf suggest a problem with the roots? Or is this just a natural dying of one part of the plant while other parts do okay?

Various other growing points and leaves look okay to me, so I'm reluctant to commit myself to anything too drastic, unless I know it's absolutely necessary.

850Ceph_2.jpg

188Sick_ceph2.jpg

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Sad problem that seems like mildew.

But don t worry too much ,use a anti mildew spray with sulphur in it like Ecostyle Sulphon.

Put the product in a cannister with airpressure and spray the plant completly so you reach every side of the plant.

Also cut every inside infected pitcher but leave the leaves so your plant can still catch some energy from the sun.

Possible you need to spray it a few times over the next two weeks but dont over do it.

The product is a natural based product so it is not a direct threat to the plant.

That works for me but if anybody has a better method I will be glad to hear about it . :flag_of_truce:

greetz Tim :flag_of_truce:

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Guest Andreas Eils

Hello,

mildew often appeared on my plants - particularly in winter. Pitchers have always been very well coloured (due to artificial light), but good light obviously doesn´t prevent from mildew.

I used a fungicide with the agent Azoxystrobin (surely available in Belgium, but not sure if it´s available in Taiwan) but also needed to spray twice if not even more. Azoxystrobin is quite mild to the plants. The most effective agent against "false mildew" I´ve ever used was Euparen. But it´s not available anymore. But Dithane Neotec may work as well as Euparen!

Apart from this "little annoyance" the plant actually looks healthy. One has to be careful with higher temperatures. Beyond 28°C more severe problems can occur. Such as a micro fungus infection which causes the so called "sudden death". More ventilation, a little less humidity (if possible) and to allow the substrate to dry a little before the next watering may prevent such a micro fungus infection - especially with higher temperatures. I only once suffered a "sudden death" on Cephalotus - and that was a plant which stood in a tray of water for a couple of weeks (though I exchanged the water every two days). And it wasn´t even warm that time!

Good growing!

Andreas

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Thanks for the replies.

That first mature pitcher is now almost completely withered, as well as the rest of the juvenile pitchers, but anyway ... I got my hands on some fungicide yesterday (active ingredient Triflumizole) and gave a first spray this morning. I hope I got the dilution rate correct. I'll see how the plant copes, then give a follow-up spray next week if it seems okay. I think I'll also repot next week ... it'll give me a chance to investigate the roots and it probably needs a bigger pot to help modulate the root temperature anyway .

Jim ... do you mean salvage the leaves for propagation purposes? I think I'm going to just leave them as they are. Temperatures are now hitting 30 degrees in the shade on a daily basis, and I'm a bit doubtful about the chances of successful strikes. Plus these leaves only appeared over the past month, and I'm reluctant to chop them off when they seem to be the most viable thing about the plant. Maybe time will prove me wrong!

Thanks again for the suggestions.

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Thanks for the replies.

That first mature pitcher is now almost completely withered, as well as the rest of the juvenile pitchers, but anyway ... I got my hands on some fungicide yesterday (active ingredient Triflumizole) and gave a first spray this morning. I hope I got the dilution rate correct. I'll see how the plant copes, then give a follow-up spray next week if it seems okay. I think I'll also repot next week ... it'll give me a chance to investigate the roots and it probably needs a bigger pot to help modulate the root temperature anyway .

Jim ... do you mean salvage the leaves for propagation purposes? I think I'm going to just leave them as they are. Temperatures are now hitting 30 degrees in the shade on a daily basis, and I'm a bit doubtful about the chances of successful strikes. Plus these leaves only appeared over the past month, and I'm reluctant to chop them off when they seem to be the most viable thing about the plant. Maybe time will prove me wrong!

Thanks again for the suggestions.

I don't think it is worth wasting time with baby leaves. They are better left on the plant at that size. Can you get it some direct sunlight in spot where it will get air movement? Most fungus infections don't like direct sun and wind, even in humid climates. I find that a bit of direct sunlight works better than most fungicides on my Cephs. We have had a very humid summer that has not been good for my plants so they are now out in the autumn sunshine to clear up persistant mildew that is killing off some pitchers. Thankfully the new pitchers that are growing look fine.

Let some air movement get the rhizome also, if possible. Let the moss try out a little. I let the live sphagnum go pale before rehydrating it, when I have these sorts of issues. It soon greens up again when watered, unless left too long.

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I don't think it is worth wasting time with baby leaves. They are better left on the plant at that size. Can you get it some direct sunlight in spot where it will get air movement? Most fungus infections don't like direct sun and wind, even in humid climates. I find that a bit of direct sunlight works better than most fungicides on my Cephs. We have had a very humid summer that has not been good for my plants so they are now out in the autumn sunshine to clear up persistant mildew that is killing off some pitchers. Thankfully the new pitchers that are growing look fine.

Hi,

Yes, it does get a bit of direct sunlight in the morning, and a lot of air movement, so I was surprised that mildew would be a problem. I'll see if the fungicide makes a difference. I think it could be suffering from a couple of different problems, but I'll follow the advice to let the plant dry out a little more, etc, and see how it does. I'll also repot next week, which might give some clues.

But they're temperamental things, after all, and maybe this is just a typical hiccup in its growth.

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