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Nepenthes crashing hard after delivery. How to rescue?


weedabix

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Hi, 

I recently ordered a bunch of nepenthes to get into the hobby. These are my first highland species (I have 4 hybrids and they're doing well). My delivery took a week and it was quite  hot during that time. Most arrived in a very good state all bagged with a bit of sphagnum and paper towel but one bag already looked a bit poorly when they arrived and those 4 are now crashing hard. Within 12 h of potting them into 1:1 rinsed long fibre sphagnum : perlite and some bits of live sphagnum on top to hopefully have a nice cover at some point. I put them into a propagator to keep the humidity high, they turned darker (if they weren't already) and the leaves are quite soft. I now have two options (or more)

1. Leave them in the propagator with high humidity and fairly constant conditions but little air circulation. 

2. Put them into my makeshift grow space that has a few fans and a humidifier that turns on every couple of minutes if the humidity drops under 65%. This has more air circulation but the conditions aren't as consistent as in the propagator and the humidity might be lower. 

 

I live in a loft so general temperatures are on the high side (27C-30C during the day and 18-21C during the night). 

They are under LED strips (20W Bridgelux eb slim gen 3 6.5K). 

My guess is that they had not enough water during the transport (the paper towel in this bag was quite dry compared to the others) and are now suffering. I am pretty worried they are not going to make it. I ordered a bunch and the others are doing ok (so far... ) but it would be nice not to lose them! 

 

Any tips would be much appreciated!

Should I keep them on the dry side or on the damp side? High humidity or low humidity? Is there hope? 

Thank you! 

 

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Hello,

I'm not a Nepenthes expert, but the two dark ones don't look very hopeful I'm afraid. Is there any green in the stem at all? The other two look like they'll be ok.

I tend to prioritise humidity with new plants - I use a ziplock bag for each pot so that I can gradually open them when each plant starts growing. Does the propagator completely mist up? If so, good!

Your mix looks good and well-drained, so I'd keep them on the moist side. They won't need watering much at all if the humidity is close to 100%. Light is less important at first, so I wouldn't keep them too close to the lamp. Lower night temps would help. Good luck!

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Hi Greg, 

thanks for your input! Yes, my hopes are pretty low for those two. There is maybe a little bit of green on the stem at least for the big alata but not much to speak of. Do you think I should cut back the dark bits of the leaves or is there no danger of it spreading? I didn't see any more spreading since Tuesday, and the situation seems stable for now. Fingers crossed I'll get all the others through. 

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