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‘Dente’ growth stall…

joossa

Aklys
I am having a bit of a problem with my Dente. It seems to have stopped new growth production since a few weeks ago. A little after the beginning of June (around the same time some of my other plants were attacked by aphids), the plant ceased growing new traps/leaves. The plant was NOT attacked by aphids and was NOT treated with the systemic insecticide. The last trap it grew was healthy and fairly large.

Currently, it is losing traps and leaves at its normal pace, but has not shown any new growth at the center of the rosette in about 2 weeks. Its current foliage looks healthy. The plant also has a small offshoot growing next to it. Here is a bit of extra info: It grew a flower stalk back in May, but it was cut off immediately. The plant has been growing outside in full sun since February 2007 and is top watered about every 2-3 days. I let my pots dry a bit before top watering (I don’t use the tray method).

Does anyone have an idea as to why it has stopped growing? Should I give it more time to possibly recover from some unknown condition? Has anyone experienced anything similar to this?

Any help is appreciated!
 
oooh....my dentate grew a flower stalk once too. However, I clipped it before it became a inch or so...then it stopped growing and there was no more new growth at the center for like a month. However, the plant still looked fine. After a month or so..then I noticed a new trap forming.

Just give it some time dude. It should come back. :)
 
i would say give it some time - and water more appropriately. CP's live in bogs and what-not, where it is constantly very wet. Similarly, they don't get a lot of rain since most bogs have an underground source of water. Try watering your CP through the tray method - the peat will wick it up from the bottom and keep it evenly soaked. CP's don't have the best water-collecting root system, so don't let the soil dry out - keep it constantly moist.

But yeah... give it some time. How long did the flower stalk grow for? did it get over 3 inches or so, or did you nip it at first sight? I have two that are flowering right now (well, about to), and their leafs and traps are WEAK.
 
Similarly, they don't get a lot of rain since most bogs have an underground source of water. Try watering your CP through the tray method - the peat will wick it up from the bottom and keep it evenly soaked.

Although there is something to be said for circulating water through the soil as Est explains in his stickied thread.

xvart.
 
i would say give it some time - and water more appropriately. CP's live in bogs and what-not, where it is constantly very wet. Similarly, they don't get a lot of rain since most bogs have an underground source of water. Try watering your CP through the tray method - the peat will wick it up from the bottom and keep it evenly soaked. CP's don't have the best water-collecting root system, so don't let the soil dry out - keep it constantly moist.

But yeah... give it some time. How long did the flower stalk grow for? did it get over 3 inches or so, or did you nip it at first sight? I have two that are flowering right now (well, about to), and their leafs and traps are WEAK.
I never do let the soil dry out; it stays constantly wet, but not water-logged. When I said that I let the pots dry a bit before re-watering again, I meant that they get on the moist-side. I have used this method ever since I started growing CPs without any negative effects. Also, none of my the other VFTs seem to be affected by my watering method.

The flower stalk was only a couple milimeters tall before I chopped it off. Extra dissection scissors from bio lab come in handy. :)
 
You should wait until it's a few inches tall before you cut it off.. it may send up a new stalk now.

I'm going to start letting mine flower, since they seem to go into a bit of shock after you cut it off anyways.. I might as well get some flowers and maybe some seed while I'm at it.
 
As I said dude, It DID exactly the same thing. I cut of the flower stalk when it was like a 2cm or so....and it stalled. Thats it. THe plant was healthy..it was not dying. Life cycle of old leaves was normal and all. But, no new growth. It took a while to come back and make new traps.

SO dont worry. For some reason..dentate seems to do this. Thats interesting. :)
 
Okay then, I’ll give it time. I’ll post an update once I see new growth or anything else.
 
  • #10
don;t worry about it m8! it will be fine. :) FOr some reason ...on contrary to waht I heard about cutting of flower stalks...the dentate doesn't get a growth boost but infact stalls if u cut off the stalk. The next time it flowers, I'm gonna let it go all the way. :D
 
  • #11
i'v let me VFT flower - and MAN has it stalled.. it has 1-2 traps on it that are even open, and maybe 3 leafs for photosynthesis. The traps died away, and it won't produce new ones... i'm sure once the flower blooms it will be fine (which will happen any day now)
 
  • #12
As promised, here’s an update. Ever since I posted in this topic, I moved the Dente (in fact I moved all my plants) to a more shaded area under the gazebo because of the weather maintaining a constant daily high of 100F+.
Two weeks ago, it began to show little green bumps around the base of its large mature petioles. At first, I could not tell if it was some strange new growth point or if they were deformed traps. They turned out to be stressed leafs: very small, short petioles, with tiny “pricks” for traps. (Similar to NAN’s Cupped Trap’s deformed leafs. See the third and fourth pictures in his post.)

The other VFTs took the move to the gazebo very well; none of them have shown any signs of stress. They get full morning and afternoon light, and filtered light during the hottest part of the day. I guess the little dente just doesn’t like me.:blush: Hopefully it will come back strong in autumn.
 
  • #13
Shade cloth might be the way to go. I might have to put some up around my balcony this summer. None of the stores that sell it by the foot seem to have 50% cloth, only 75% shading. 75% is probably too much. I only need 10-15 feet.
 
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