Nepenthes truncata recovery thread.

[D_muscipula]

I've decided to post a photo of one of my nepenthes that is in bad shape. I've had this plant for many years, since the mid to late 2000s.
The purpose of this thread is to document the plants recovery.
At one point this truncata was producing huge traps for me and I actually fed it a mouse! It's the same plant that I have set as my profile picture.
But that was years ago. This plant has been struggling for a long time and I've failed to nurse it back to health so far. I tried changing it's lighting. I've sprayed it with some spinosad which actually helped. For a short time it produced some normal looking leaves. I was doing some foliar fertilizing to try and give it some nourishment since it hasn't produced traps in years.
It's back to producing mutated growth.
So a few nights ago I sprayed it with some more spinosad.
Tonight I mixed up some fresh substrate consisting of peat moss, pumice, long fiber sphagnum, and shredded cypress mulch.
I trimmed off as much dead growth as I could while I had it unpotted.
I built a humidity chamber out of some totes.
I have the pot sitting in a saucer inside the bottom tote, and around the saucer is about 1/4 inch of water to help add humidity.
I really love this plant and it's one of the oldest in my collection. This plant is tough as nails and has been hanging onto life for years.
I feel pretty confident that this plant will recover. It wants to live. I plan to post monthly updates.

 

[leck7S]

Not like Nepenthes have extensive root systems but it has a surprisingly small amount (and length) of roots so maybe its been fighting against root rot to the best of its ability.
I guess fresh media will help, hope it makes a full recovery!
In the topic of root rot, I've read about hydrogen peroxide being very helpful at both fighting and preventing it, do you guys have tried it on Nepenthes?

 

[D_muscipula]

Not like Nepenthes have extensive root systems but it has a surprisingly small amount (and length) of roots so maybe its been fighting against root rot to the best of its ability.
I guess fresh media will help, hope it makes a full recovery!
In the topic of root rot, I've read about hydrogen peroxide being very helpful at both fighting and preventing it, do you guys have tried it on Nepenthes?

I haven't tried peroxide before. I do think you're right though. The media it was previously growing in was very old. I was hesitant to repot it while it was struggling because I didn't want to cause shock or stress on an already unhealthy plant. But I talked with some other plant growers and they suggested I repot the plant anyways. The root system is rather small for the size of the container I had it it. I actually put it in a much smaller container than what I had it in originally.

 

[bluemax]

I only a dabble in growing Nepenthes but one suggestion I would make is to take a cutting and see if you can root it. A second plant is good insurance against disaster.

 

[hcarlton]

Peat should not be in the soil mix (not wholly sure cypress should be either but it should be less problematic), and at least one major issue was in the soil, because that plant has next to no roots when it should have a fairly extensive network (contrary to above claim, yes many Nepenthes actually develop quite large root systems). Perhaps it was just because the soil was old or needed flushing, or maybe there were pests killing the roots (check for mealybugs, and if present expect to require a couple hits of strong systemics), but it's wilting and malformed because there's no support from down there anymore.

 

[D_muscipula]

Peat should not be in the soil mix (not wholly sure cypress should be either but it should be less problematic), and at least one major issue was in the soil, because that plant has next to no roots when it should have a fairly extensive network (contrary to above claim, yes many Nepenthes actually develop quite large root systems). Perhaps it was just because the soil was old or needed flushing, or maybe there were pests killing the roots (check for mealybugs, and if present expect to require a couple hits of strong systemics), but it's wilting and malformed because there's no support from down there anymore.

I have heard about cypress mulch from other growers. I have just started using it withing the past couple years and it doesn't seem to bother me other nepenthes
Thanks for the heads up about peat. I've always thrown a little peat in my mixes. Fortunately this kid is mostly LFS. I might pull it out of the pot again and mix in a bunch more pumice for aeration. What do you think about adding larger chunks of red pumice? I have a bucket of that I could use as well.