Please forgive my ignorance, but are sundews capable of root rot? I had a clump of Capensis and one by one started wilting and dying. I repotted the remaining ones and looked at the roots, but they look fine. I've seen gnat larvae in the pot before, but found only one. The stems were hollow and soft, so I'm thinking root rot? I've had them in the same pot for almost a year and haven't had any problems til now. I thought they could tolerate wet medium? One of the repotted plants wilted and blackened from the stem outwards, but the stem is still solid. Meanwhile the root cuttings from the dead ones are beginning to sprout. Any advice on what is happening?
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mato
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Hi rae,
There is such a thing as peat-based medias becoming too anaerobic for plants that tend to prefer anaerobic conditions. If the pots were not allowed to dry out for a day or so before refilling the container, the peat probably broke down too quickly and is possibly not the ideal pH. A simple repotting and some fresh media could certainly help.
There is such a thing as peat-based medias becoming too anaerobic for plants that tend to prefer anaerobic conditions. If the pots were not allowed to dry out for a day or so before refilling the container, the peat probably broke down too quickly and is possibly not the ideal pH. A simple repotting and some fresh media could certainly help.
Any plant is capable of root rot (though that may happen under different conditions for different plants, obviously). However, the fact that the roots of your "dead" plants have sprouted seems to prove that this is not root rot, I would think... I had something similar happen a little over three years ago when I tried puting a capensis outside, and I think it succumbed to heat shock, or shock from the sudden increase in UV light, one or the other. As in your case the plant came back from the roots. Have your plants been experiencing any excessive heat or sudden change in light or some other factor? Fungus knats usually aren't a problem for mature plants, so I don't think that's the problem. Could be another insect though, possibly...
If the STEMS were hollow and soft, and the roots resprouted, that sounds like a problem above the soil level, not below it.
mato: It could be that the peat got too anaerobic. It would make sense since the peat hardly dried. Repotting to sphagnum helped, but a two weeks later the wilting started again and claimed two more.
richjam: They have been growing in the same spot outside, so no drastic changes in the environment. That's true, the roots should've been dead too if it was root rot. Above soil... there was a tiny caterpillar eating some leaves, but it didn't do much damage. I never suspected the caterpillar, but I'm beginning to think about it now. The plants didn't start to decline till at least a couple of weeks after though. Also I haven't seen anymore silk webbing that started the hunt for the first one. I didn't see any holes in the stem, but could a caterpillar 'burrow' into it creating the hollow-ness?
richjam: They have been growing in the same spot outside, so no drastic changes in the environment. That's true, the roots should've been dead too if it was root rot. Above soil... there was a tiny caterpillar eating some leaves, but it didn't do much damage. I never suspected the caterpillar, but I'm beginning to think about it now. The plants didn't start to decline till at least a couple of weeks after though. Also I haven't seen anymore silk webbing that started the hunt for the first one. I didn't see any holes in the stem, but could a caterpillar 'burrow' into it creating the hollow-ness?