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Purple blotches on u. Longifolia

  • Thread starter Clusty
  • Start date
I noticed those purple blotches.
I was curious if it was sunburn on some infection for sorts ( some Facebook fella suggested mildew ).
Opinions ?
70B067B2-0FC4-4139-B338-1D1C85F20EE7.jpeg
 
Dear Clusty-san,

Konnichiwa!

I think the purple stain would be a defensive reaction of the plant and it would be produced by the leaves of Utricularia.
I'm not a plant pathologist, so it might be sloppy suggestion.

Kind regards from the Far East
 
Is there good airflow around the plant?
 
Is there good airflow around the plant?
There is no direct airflow per say, but it’s not cluttered.
Do they need direct airflow to stave off the fungi ?
 
I'm not sure, I've never had that issue. That being said, I do have a couple of fans in my terrarium to keep the air circulating and to make sure that water doesn't remain condensed on the plants at all time. I don't think a fan would be necessary if you were growing it on the windowsill or outside. How are you growing the plant? In terms of location, light, water, etc?
 
In a greenhouse very high humidity: 70-80% on a shelf under lights: around 130ppfd

the plant is fairly wet in moss:perlite 1:2 ( pot is sitting is a tiny bit of water all the time )
 
Yeah, I'm not sure what to tell you. Your conditions sound good, they're very similar to how I'm growing my Utricularia sect Orchidioides (I have my longifolia outside but that's just due to space constraints). If you want more info about the pathogen you can check with a hand lens or a jewelers loupe - it could also be mites. I've heard that neem oil is safe for carnivorous plants but I've never had to use it myself, it can be used as an insecticide or a fungicide. That being said, the root cause is likely that the plant is stressed and therefore more susceptible to disease. If the plant is new to your collection it could be stressed due to a rapid change in conditions - I know mine proceeded to lose all of its leaves when I first got it. It could also be temperature - maybe it's getting too hot or too cold? And if its neither of those things it could be airflow; you may want to add a small fan for circulation just in case (I wouldn't point it directly at the plants, just have it move air around).
 
  • #10
Taking another look at the picture it looks like there's a lot of algal growth, what is the TDS of your water? I like to test the trays that things are sitting in periodically in order to ensure that the TDS doesn't get too high (constant evaporation can concentrate dissolved solids).
 
  • #11
Water was < 5 tds.
I sprayed however every 2 weeks with 150ppm max sea a few times.
 
  • #12
The maxsea could be it. I have used it with my U. longifolia before without issue but I'm always very careful not to get any on the soil. You could check by flushing the soil with an ounce or two of water and checking the TDS of the runoff. If that's the problem you can keep flushing the soil until the runoff is <50.
 
  • #13
Are the algae a problem?
I used to check the runoff of the water cause I was puzzled that most soil mixes leech significant tds.
 
  • #14
Ah, that's definitely it. If your soil runoff has a high TDS then your soil does too - that means there are too many nutrients in the soil. I had that problem with a sarracenia that I potted up a month or two ago. The peat that I bought must have had added fertilizers and I didn't wash it as thoroughly as usual. So, the runoff of the water was like 75 PPM. To fix it I just flushed the soil over and over again with distilled water until the runoff was <50. And now the sarracenia is perfectly happy. Alternatively you can pot it in a new media that doesn't have any added fertilizers or anything.
 
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