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Binata Question

PlantAKiss

PlantAKiss

Moderator Schmoderator Fluorescent fluorite, Engl
AAAAAUUUURRRGGGH!!! Just as I finished typing up this post, I got disconnected from AOL and lost it! Grumble grumble...got to retype it all. Sometimes I just hate AOL... ok....ONE more time....

I have noticed recently that the forks on my binata are turning white. :-( They start turning a pale ghostly white at the tips and then gradually it seems to spread down the forks til both sections are white (stem still green). It looks like they are just fading away. One binata lost half a Y when I tried feeding it a dot of eggwhite. It died right at the spot where the eggwhite was. Soooo...I won't try that again. Live and learn. One small binata fork turned a light brown at the tips but then is turning pale like the others.

I don't know if this is a natural dying off of the stems or if its a light problem, not enough heat, etc. The pertinent information: the plant is only a few months old and about 4" tall (the longest stems) with several smaller ones (one new one just unfurling its fork now). The temperature in the tank hovers around 70-72 degrees (F) and humidity is a pretty steady 80%. I'd like to raise that a bit but will need to get a heat mat. The plant is flowering...I should have cut it off but I didn't. Was hoping for some seed in case this one doesn't make it. Its positioned on the lowest shelf in the tank as it is taller than the other sundews. The lighting is about 2" above the lid. I wouldn't think the flower scape would cause the forks to turn white...? All other sundews in the tank are fine but they are all rosetted ones.

Anyone have any ideas?? Martin? Noah? Anybody who's familiar with d. binata? I don't want to lose it as its the only one I have and I've watched it grow from a mere speck.

Thanks for any help!

Suzanne
BTW...my spathulata caught its first natural bug today! Somehow a large fruitfly got in the tank (???) and when I lifted the lid, it flew out and then dived back in right into a healthy clump of spathulata! The sticky wickedness did its thing and the fruitfly was doomed. So the the spath got a nice little snack. :)
 
Suzanne,

I don't have binata but I do have extrema and 'Martson Dragon' and since they are all the same complex... It sounds like it could be a light factor, binata's like really high levels. What is your light set up like? Amother thing to consider is your soil. This may sound strange but from my experience these guys grow much better in straight sphagnum (the ones I had in peat/sand mixes all died.) Your temp and humidity sound fine so I don't think they are the problem.

As for propogating these guys, I have been most successful with root cuttings and leaf cuttings floated in distilled water are supposed to be very prolific as well.

Hope this helps

Pyro
 
hi Pyro

Thanks for the info. My lights are two Gro-Lux lights hung very close (2 inches) to the top of the tank (10-gal.). I have considered adding another bank of two and maybe mixing some cool whites in. So far I have been fairly comfortable with the lighting because the other plants in there have a good red coloring which I understood to mean sufficient light. But of course that may not apply to different types of plants.

It might be the soil (peat/sand)...it is not in pure sphagnum though there is sphagnum in there surrounding it. Do you think it would be ok to change it now? I worry about messing with it too much since its such a youngster.

I have never heard of just floating cuttings in distilled water although I have read that they propagate pretty easily from stem cuttings laid on top of wet soil. Maybe I will try that. I want to change over to a 20-gal. tall tank and use the 10-gal. for propagation but I havent done it yet. I have the new tank but I'm concerned about the weight of it. Its fairly heavy empty.

Thanks for the help Pyro. :)

suzanne
 
It could be anything....my sister once found a tiny d.binata Y in the sphagnum moss around her flytrap when she got it 3 years ago(had to give it away). Anyway it appeared the binata had germinated in the sphagnum,so i'm guessing if it can do that then it must like sphagnum. But she took it out of the sphagnum and put it in a pot of normal potting mix-it grew new leaves and everything-the fertilizers etc in the potting mix didn't really seem to harm it. I think the main factor why it went so well was because it was getting A LOT of natural sunlight-morning sun and lots of little ants etc. Personly i think your problem is that you feed it egg white-i think bugs are much better as in the wild these plants don't eat egg white(lol) also it could be a humidity thing,where i lived at the time it wasn't really as humid like a terrium,although i guess it was around the plant with the sphagnum. The binata got a lot of air movement and fresh air-perhaps these are factors that could be influencing your problem. It dies eventually when she forgot to water it....:(I don't really know much about them though-i'm just saying what i "think"could be wrong which is as useless as a fly in a grocery store(uh where did i pull that from?
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)
 
Suzanne,

If you jump up to the 20 gall I would recommend you try to get at least 4 lights on it. Your light set up now sounds good so I don't know what else to suggest, although Mondo makes a good point about natural light. I have always tried to let my plants get some of this every day, even when in a terrarium. At this time I would recommend against transplanting it unless you feel it as absolutly necessary. Just give it some recovery time. One other quick thing, how well ventilated is your terrarium? Sometimes a lack of fresh air can cause growing problems. I'll look around and see if I can figue out any other possible causes and let you know.

Pyro
 
Thanks Mondo and Pyro

Mondo...I don't feed my plants eggwhites. Thats the first and only time I've done that. I've just seen that suggested many times on here (and in Savage Garden) so I thought I'd try it. The spath seemed happy with it but the binata died off right where it was placed (thankfully just one tiny piece on one fork). Sooo...no more eggwhite.

I did try a shot of good sunlight (indoors from a window) on the binata for just a few minutes...and it fried two of the forks in no time. :-( Yet another experiment disaster I won't do again. My poor binata...its having a bad time.

Definitely the 20-gal. tank would have 4 lights...I figured it would need that.

And while the tank is sealed most of the time, I do open the lid and let fresh air in daily as well as try to stir the air a bit. If I leave the lid off toooo long though, the humidity drops and the dewiness starts to evaporate.

I just don't know why the forks are turning white...they are only about 3-4" from the lights. And actually the tank does get some natural sun for a brief period during the morning. And everything else in there seems happy...the seedlings are growing and the spaths look great.

Thanks again guys...will go home and check them out like I do every nite. My poor little ghost forks....

Suzanne
 
Hi, my baby binata (the plant is only an inch across) is still fine after the eggwhite. Maybe you fed a little too much?
 
Hi Cindy

I wouldn't have thought so...it wasn't even as big as the head of a pin...just a dot. I placed it about mid-way on one side of a fork. It just sat there...and then after a day or so I noticed the spot where the eggwhite was had withered...and then it collapsed. I cut that side off. The two forks that got damaged from the sun, I cut off and laid on some wet peat...and I do believe I'm seeing a couple of teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeny tiny binata starting to grow. YAY. I'm going to try some more cuttings so if this binata bites the dust, I will have some babies. Will try growing them in pure sphagnum and see if they are happier that way. I really need to set up the 20-gal tank so I can use the 10 for a propagation tank.

I should be getting my first pings this week and a d. nidiformis.

Thanks Cindy. :)

Suzanne
 
Suzanne,

Sounds like you've got things pretty much set butI'd still like to drop a little more advice. Taking cuttings is a good idea, just remember not to do too much. And if the plant seems like it has died don't give up on it right away. One of my extrama's died back completly after a dry spell (my fault) and a month later it came back strong. From what I have heard these guys are prone to dying back when stressed but they almost always come back from their roots.

I also had a thought involving the egg white. I have been assuming you mean from a boiled egg and if so did you use salt in the water to make it boil faster? If you did that could be the problem as the egg would have taken up some of the salt. (This is only a theory mind you and I could easily be waaaaaaaaaaaay off.)

Best of luck with your cuttings

Pyro
 
  • #10
Hi Pyro

The binata is still growing (not dying back)...not putting up as strong a stems as it did at first but that could be because I let it flower. Shoulda cut that scape off. The only cuttings I took were from stems that were already on the way out. I figured I'd just try it and see if anything happened. And I didn't use any salt when boiling the egg. Maybe it just didn't like the eggwhite. Hopefully it will just keep growing but I'm afraid it will continue to keep the pale white forks. I've considered moving it out of the tank and putting it in a dome by itself where maybe it could get more light (since its taller than anything else in the there). I wish there were more information floating around specific to the binata. There is only a small section in The Savage Garden on them specifically. I will have to hunt around the 'net and see what I can come up with. I wonder if Sundew Matt would be open to a question or two. I hear he's quite a drosera expert.

Thanks for all the advice (and from everybody else too). I really appreciate it. I just want my plant to be healthy and happy.

Suzanne
 
  • #11
Suzanne,

You can try Matt but from what I gather he is more into pygmies and smaller resetted species.

Your idea of moving it to it's own container in a lighter possition might be a good move too. I'll do some hunting and see what I can find.

The flowers could be part of the cause. If it has already bloomed I wouldn't bother cutting them off as that is the most energy consuming part.

Also, do you know about the CPlistserv? It's a CP email newsletter type thing for Q&A (and a bit of friendly arguing.) A lot of the Big Guns from ICPS are on it so you might want to consider dropping a post to it. There is a link on how to subscribe to it on the CP FAQs page.

Pyro
 
  • #12
Thanks Pyro. I've heard of the CP listserve but I didn't know how it worked. I might check that out though. I have heard its really good for information.

suzanne
 
  • #14
Hi Suzanne,

how's all the plants doing? I don't drop by here much so I missed your post. I don't think humidity has much to do with it, I grow my binatas outside. I think you should maybe even acclimate them (gradually give them less and less humidity) until you can grow them in a normal house environment. I have found that even outside in low southern CA humidity as long as the roots keep wet a lot of sundews including binata keep their "dew."

Light could be a problem, although I have found that usually low light just causes the plants to put our really long stems with no or little traps at the ends.

I personally have never experienced what you described in my plants, I can only guess. How old are the leaves that are turning white?

As far as feeding goes, I usually let my plants feed themselves if you have them outside our on a windowsill they do plenty of that. It is a lot of fun watching them catch insects
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Binatas are really easy to do cuttings on, I once had a dichotoma 'giant' in low light so it put out this skinny 2.5 foot leaf with nothing at the end. I cut this up into several peaces and got quite a few plants out of it. They are all growing outside in partiall sun now and doing fine.

Well, sorry I wasn't much help
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Noah
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  • #15
Hi Noah

I think the consensus is maybe not enough light. The forks start fading not long after they unfurl. I did take two damaged forks and plopped them into some peat in a spath pot and I now have 4 sprouts...tiny but seem to be growing. I have two more segments in water as Pyro suggested.

I would be so afraid to uncover the binata. Especially now since its winter (well some days it is when its not 75 degrees outside) and the heat is on. The heat dries the house out. Indoor heating is something you Californians don't know too much about. :) Maybe in the spring I can try the binata (and maybe capensis) outdoors. When I had my first rosetted sundew outdoors last year I couldn't keep dew on it for nuthin'. Hence my decision for the tank. I guess I'm afraid that drosera thats not in some kind of protected environment will dry out. (And I always thought VA had ghastly humidity in the summer.) I'm amazed at how many people grow drosera out in the open. Martin has the most beautiful photo of an adelae...wish mine looked like his!

My plants are doing great! I get the biggest kick out of watching them grow. The capillaris are doing really well...the aliciae stayed tiny for a while but are starting to grow pretty fast now. The capensis typicals are teeeeny weeeny but growing. And most exciting...I now have 4 byblis sprouts! Germination was fast...only about a week. They are miniscule so I hope they keep growing...they look so fragile. No sign of germination yet on the capensis seeds but I guess they take a few weeks. Thank you so much Noah...I've really enjoyed them all.

Suzanne
 
  • #16
Hi,

I agree I wouldn't suggest going right out and plunking your binata into low humidity or direct sunlight. But slowly hardening it off would be good. One way is to put it in a terrarium or plastic bag and open it a little bit more every few days. In the wild most of these droseras go through pretty low humidity and a lot of sunlight. Hardening them off like this will make them easier to grow and harder to kill... and they still look great.

Congradulations on the byblis sprouts... mine didn't
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Oh well, I still have some left and will probably sow them directly into tc this time.

-Noah
 
  • #17
Awww...now I feel guilty that my byblis sprouted and yours didn't. I really would have thought it would be the other way around. However they are so tiny and fragile I'm so scared the slightest mistake and they'll die. I will be relieved once they get larger (hopefully).

Suzanne
 
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