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D. binata issue

DragonsEye

carnivorous plants of the world -- unite!
The developing tips of the leaves have been dying off. Not sure what the issue is. Plant did well for me last summer and even all winter long. Actually bloomed for me over the winter. It is located in front of an unobstructed SE exposure sliding glass doors. Last summer I did have it outside on my balcony but have not put it back out yet. Been keeping about 1cm RO water in the tray, allowing it to evaporate, then refilling before media becomes dry. The last several new forming leaves have blackened at the tips before maturing and producing dew traps. Only fertilizer ever given has been either the gnats it has caught all on its own or occasionally some crushed up freeze-dried bloodworms. Temps in the apt have been in the upper 70s to 80s F -- particularly the last week or two.

In the same conditions, D. adelae is kicking into gear as are my Mexican pings.

Any idea what I'm doing wrong?
 
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Hi buddy--sorry you're having trouble! Your adelae and AV is kicking into gear for me here as well!

I would check some things out:
(1) humidity--is it enclosed?
(2) how old is the plant?
(3) when was last repot?
(4) how many leaves are affected?

My first hunch--provided it has had stable conditions--is that it may need some food to supplement for the exhaustion of flowering. Pics would be awesome and we could see if there is a pattern to the symptoms.

Oh, and did your jaumavensis ever perk up?
 
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Hey Kev,

Down to two jaumavensis -- on of the "larger" (read 3mm diameter) has survived and has a bit o' a blush, and one of the teeny ones (1mm across) remain. Been afraid to fertilize and possible kill them.

None of my dews are enclosed with the exception of a couple leaf cutting sprouts that I'm waiting to get bigger. So it wintered just fine despite my ≥30% winter humidity and currently RH levels are about 45-50%.

I've had the plant for not quite a year yet. Media seems fine. Some long roots present when I checked it earlier.

All the older leaves have died off. All the newer leaves it has tried to put out recently have been thus affected.
 
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Honestly, it seems kinda weird for binata to do unless it's trying to go dormant. Dormancy doesn't make sense because you said it's receiving warm temps and natural daylength, which are the only two factors that induce dormancy. The humidity should be fine, too, and I've had them do fine in 30% without getting leaf dieback. Are you sure there's no root rot or anything? If it's not freak dormancy, humidity, or rot, then I'd say it's safe to try some feeding.

If your conditions have been stable and it's declining at a relatively slow pace, it might just need a little juice. A year is a long time for a binata to go without eating much other than stray gnats and blood worms. Plus, if you've got nearly no leaves then there's no way it can continue to feed without your help.

My jaumavensis has also locked itself into the weird tiny phase. I can't explain why. I think I have them in too strong of sun or heat.
 
Couple questions, When you say it flowered over the winter, did it ever go into dormancy? Almost all of my leaves died back this winter and flowering was the last thing it was debating. Come around the end of Feb it started shooting out leaves like it never stopped. Besides the lighting becoming more intense, the constant house temp might have thrown it off.

What size pot are you growing it in? If it is rather shallow then root rot can be an issue. One cm is a lot to a 3 inch tall pot. If a larger pot, and under normal circumstances, you might be able to actually increase your watering. Mine is growing outside in a 10" pot (height) with a 4" "deep" saucer (also have filiformis and capensis in there). I typically top water about every other day until it fills the 4" saucer. I make sure to give it good flooding.

---------------

For your jaumavensis don't worry about "too much" lighting. This quote from Partrat over at pinguicula.org always sticks out in my head when I hear about low lighting levels:
I read an article on cactus cultivation where it was indicated that luminosity in Mexico has nothing to do with what we can imagine. Mexico is a very sunny country and, even if the Pinguicula grow under the shade of grass or shrubs, they received more light than in France with direct sun, with some measure of course. Nevertheless, I do not advise to grow your plants in full sun but under a light shading cloth or under "dirty" glass.

I personally have mine under a 4x48 T5HO 6500K fixture at the moment. I had to move some stuff around so had to take down my 100W 2700K CFL. I am still getting decent coloring with the 6500's but throwing an extra 2700K bulb or two makes them color up like crazy.

Something a lot of people neglect on pings too is humidity. You got to remember these things do live in mountains and while actual rainfall may be low they expect that night time spike. If you can keep the soil just barely moist but humidity in the 60's-80's you will see a difference in size.

Finally, if your soil mix allows (i.e. at least a 1:7-1:8 ratio of peat) it makes life so much easier seeding the pot with springtails. I still occasionally use a ground blood worm/water paste on a leaf or two but watching the pings actually catch their own prey is pretty rewarding. I actually saw my smallest jaumavensis catch one just a couple days ago. Look slightly underneath and to the right of the jaum in the bottom right hand corner (it's kind of hard to see). The elongated brown speck is a springtail literally the size of one of the ping's leaves. I was proud of the little guy for taking on such a large beast!

C360_2014-05-30-21-46-01-937_zps43f3eaf1.jpg
 
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