My cranky old capensis

[maneatingmoo]

Hey guys I don't stop in as often as I should these days, so much is on my plate lately. But I come with a predicament!
This D. capensis was my first plant when I started growing roughly 6 years ago, and it seems its age is beginning to show. Its leaves used to span many times what they do now, and its overall health appears to be declining. I've never fertilized it (aside from a betta food pellet I may have tried on it), or done anything really special, but am willing to start if that will keep it happy. What do you guys think, is there a diagnosis to be derived from this photo and description? I can take more no problem, whatever helps find a fix. Would be real bummed to lose this guy.

 

[Tanukimo]

Wow! That has got to be the tallest capensis I've ever seen. I would try to feed it more, since the general rule if you want larger plants is to feed or fertilize them. If it doesn't respond to that, maybe you could try making a stem cutting and repotting it.

 

[adnedarn]

I would start with reporting it into new media. Tray watering, unless your water is truly zero ppm... Will definitely build up Tds. The water saucer looks terracotta? If so I would swap that for plastic since it was really help build up minerals. Good luck!

 

[theplantman]

Repot (won't affect size but will get your plant ready to accept fertilizer) + fertilizer (1/2 tsp per gallon of something like Miracle Gro, applied to foliage with spray bottle--treat once every 2 weeks if indoors). Use a complete fertilizer with micronutrients because by now you may have something other than N that is limiting its growth.

Very epically old plant--kudos for getting it that far along!

 

[JB_OrchidGuy]

make sure the fertilizer is a urea free fertilizer. most orchid fertilizers are you re a free. It's the urea that gets converted into nitrogen and that burns the roots.

 

[Acro]

You could just try feeding it first . . .

 

[theplantman]

You could just try feeding it first . . .

If the media has broken down at all during the plant's life, it may have released salts or other potential bad stuff. Thus, the feeding is more likely to cause burn if it's not first given new media.

 

[hcarlton]

Definitely repot it, soon, and then keep an eye on it for a week or two. If nothing else suddenly goes wrong, you can give it a foliar dilute fertilizer (I suggest Maxsea, works on everything I have). definitely agree with adnedarn, get rid of the terra cotta and use plastic, as the only CP that I know of that like terra cotta is Drosophyllum, but that's because of low water needs (and therefore, less mineral buildup).

 

[maneatingmoo]

I'll repot shortly for sure then, been shopping around for soil and such anyway. And the tray is just brown plastic, no terracotta here
So fertilizer huh? I suppose it had to come some day. I was looking at some the other day, but I'll do some reading on it. Nothing against fertilizing, I've just always been nervous to try in fear of frying my plants.
And thanks for the compliments guys, I've always loved the trunk. Gives it a palm tree kinda look.

 

[theplantman]

I'll repot shortly for sure then, been shopping around for soil and such anyway. And the tray is just brown plastic, no terracotta here
So fertilizer huh? I suppose it had to come some day. I was looking at some the other day, but I'll do some reading on it. Nothing against fertilizing, I've just always been nervous to try in fear of frying my plants.
And thanks for the compliments guys, I've always loved the trunk. Gives it a palm tree kinda look.

Nothing to fear about feeding--just measure and never, ever guesstimate. Get a set of spoons that measure down to 1/4 tsp and an old milk jug and you're set to go. Low-tech and effective. You will be amazed at how fast your plants respond. Also, if you are foliar-feeding your dews with a mist bottle, you have no need to fear anything "burning the roots" because the fertilizer doesn't even come in contact with them.

Post us some pics in a few weeks =)

 

[maneatingmoo]

So it's been a bit over a month since the repot, and I've given it some Maxsea 16-16-16 at 1/2 tsp to 1 gallon of water twice since then, through the soil bi-weekly. I'm beginning to grow concerned, because the plant's condition seems to have declined, if only slightly. Some leaves have browned at the edges and they have taken on a yellowish tinge.

In typing this post, I may have actually realized my error. For whatever reason, I did not foliar feed (as thrice recommended), but instead watered it with the fertilizer mixture. Just finished reading the Maxsea label, and there is indeed urea in it, which I also failed to consider in this plan. Brb, beating my head against the wall for not listening.
Anyways, the damage is done. What can I do to reverse this decline? I'm thinking a little flushing of the soil would help, assuming I've found the real problem, but it's hard to trust my own opinion after that mistake.

Below is a picture I just grabbed, if it helps.

 

[PsychoSarah]

How old exactly is the plant? Also, drosera are very sensitive to chemicals, I just feed mine bugs and bloodworms on the leaves. But yeah, drosera have limited life spans, this being your first carnivorous plant, I imagine it is a bit on the older side.

 

[Tanukimo]

How old exactly is the plant? Also, drosera are very sensitive to chemicals, I just feed mine bugs and bloodworms on the leaves. But yeah, drosera have limited life spans, this being your first carnivorous plant, I imagine it is a bit on the older side.

In the first post it is mentioned that the plant is six years old. It would be interesting to see how old the oldest plants on this forum are.

 

[maneatingmoo]

Indeed, roughly six years. I would agree that it could simply be reaching the end of its life, but I feel like that process would be much more gradual. This nose dive happened over just a couple weeks.
I'm even inclined to say it's worsened over just two days, but that's likely me stressing and being fussy.

And that would be a very interesting thread Tanukimo

 

[Tanukimo]

I am tempted to say that maybe the stem is too old to continue delivering vital substances like nutrients to the growing point. I have a ventricosa x alata that is over a decade old and some of the vines just declined and the growing points grew smaller and smaller. However others are still pitchering so I'm not sure if that is really a problem. Granted I'm not sure which growing points are the oldest, so it might actually be death due to old age.

 

[Dexenthes]

Keep flushing the soil. Your opinion is right on this matter. There are very few Drosera which appreciate fertilization through the soil. Many if not most actually suffer from it.

At this point your choice of fertilizing via soil was probably the reason for the recent decline if not also root disturbance. At this stage, there's not a lot more root-disturbance that the plant will be able to take.

Another thing to consider is that the stalk could actually be rotted through completely dead and doesn't connect to any root structure. Simply squeezing the stem (extremely lightly) should give you an idea if or where there is a break in the stalk's living tissue so that it might not be transporting nutrients.

I have a D. capensis that is roughly the same age as yours and it has taken on a similar habit as yours albeit slightly more healthy still (It's only 5). I can say that if the root structure that you repotted seems to be hardy and thick enough then there is a very good chance that the roots will shoot up basals which can eventually become large trunks again with glorious rosetting trap leaves. Mine died back to basically nothing, almost less than what you have now due to a ravenous attack from aphids. The plant eventually re-grew from multiple basals and is still alive on a friend's windowsill.

I hope this helps. TLDR: Keep flushing

 

[theplantman]

Keep flushing the soil. Your opinion is right on this matter. There are very few Drosera which appreciate fertilization through the soil. Many if not most actually suffer from it.

At this point your choice of fertilizing via soil was probably the reason for the recent decline if not also root disturbance. At this stage, there's not a lot more root-disturbance that the plant will be able to take.

Another thing to consider is that the stalk could actually be rotted through completely dead and doesn't connect to any root structure. Simply squeezing the stem (extremely lightly) should give you an idea if or where there is a break in the stalk's living tissue so that it might not be transporting nutrients.

I have a D. capensis that is roughly the same age as yours and it has taken on a similar habit as yours albeit slightly more healthy still (It's only 5). I can say that if the root structure that you repotted seems to be hardy and thick enough then there is a very good chance that the roots will shoot up basals which can eventually become large trunks again with glorious rosetting trap leaves. Mine died back to basically nothing, almost less than what you have now due to a ravenous attack from aphids. The plant eventually re-grew from multiple basals and is still alive on a friend's windowsill.

I hope this helps. TLDR: Keep flushing

Dexenthes is spot-on. Especially about checking for rot or other root problems. Flushing with warm water that is comfortable to you (NOT HOT) will better dissolve the nutrients than cold water. Just leave it under a running sink for a while. Maybe 15 minutes at a slow trickle. Your plants may have sustained root damage from the feeding but I have root-fed at that rate before and never harmed my Drosera at work.

I have very old capensis at work and they are still rocking out at a similar age to yours, flowering and everything. I transplanted a couple to my home collection and this is how they look after close to 6-8 years. http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/ae88/kevintheplantman/Carnivorous Plants/IMG_0949_zps51ac81f9.jpg The 'albas' are the oldest. I tend to bury the stems further and further under the soil as they age, so I don't get the "palm tree effect."