Unhappy Bellii

[chibae]

Hi all. My LL tank houses the following neps; ampullari, LL form of truncata, bellii x aristolochioides and pure bellii. All are doing well except the bellii.

It is growing slowly, and not showing the vigor of the other plants.. I have tried various degrees of shade, repotting, foliar feeding, root feeding, pitcher feeding (both with dried worms and dilute ferts) playing the soundtrack from Rocky Horror (my bonsai used to love it) and still it sulks. This has been going on for over a year now. I'm almost ready to prick my finger on a rose thorn and give it some blood.

I had expected the bellii x aristo to sulk seeing how one parent is HL. But no, that one rivals the amp in quick growth and pitchering.

Thanks for listening all

chibae

 

[Taargus]

Ugh, that's the worst. I've had plants do that too and it's the most frustrating thing. After trying everything I can possibly think of sometimes I have to chalk it up to a weak plant. Some will always be stronger growers than others and sometimes you have gotten the dud.

I haven't grown bellii specifically, but there's also some Nepenthes that I've noticed grow slow for many years before suddenly, seemingly at random, hit their stride and double or triple in size. May also just be a matter of genetics and time if all conditions are correct too.

 

[SerMuncherIV]

I'm not familiar with N. bellii (or most lowlanders, for that matter), but it could just be one of those species that are sluggish no matter what you do. Plenty of highlanders do this too - I'm sure all the Nepenthes experts here are very accustomed to their prized specimens' slow growth habits. The N. bellii x aristolochioides could just be displaying that "hybrid vigor" that many (but not all) hybrids do. Most forms of N. ampullaria and N. truncata seem to be vigorous enough, which might explain why they're succeeding while your N. belli isn't.

 

[KATastrophe]

I kno one of my neps (hybrid i think) is putting out extremely small pitchers at the moment after finally starting to pitcher again after getting used to the new temps in my house. Maybe its just sluggish cause it's getting used to everything or something knocked off its temps and it didn't like it. Sometimes it just happens. I kno some of mine are getting used to life outside of the baggies and in the Windows of the sun porch greenhouse and we're a little unhappy but now that their getting situated their starting too pitcher..slowly..but their getting their! i have a few baby neps that keep having slow growth tips after comming outta the baggy getting smaller everytime it puts out a new leaf/pitcher.. Temps being off just a bit can really mess with some plants if different ways its really strange. Im just hoping more light and them getting used to the temps better will get them started up again i hope the same for yours aswell hun Goodluck sorry im not much of a help and ramble on lol

 

[pmatil]

I have the same with my Bellii in a lowland terrarium. No idea what it wants, maybe it's too humid? Or too warm? I don't know. It just doesn't grow bigger, every leaf is smaller than the previous one, pitchers are small if they ever inflate etc. I have also tried the shade and for a moment it seemed like it worked.

It was almost dead until I noticed a basal appearing. The main growing stem died away soon but the basal kept growing and leaves got bigger. Yay! Has it finally adapted to my conditions? Well no, soon after I changed the lighting on that terrarium it got upset again. Leaves getting smaller and the only pitcher inflating for years stayed really small... So yeah maybe it needs lower humidity, my terrariums have 70-80%RH, temps 25-28C day, night is what's in the room (summer 25-27, winter 21-22).

This is my second Bellii and the previous one died the same way. I have no way to try lower humidity or even windowsill because my cats would eat the plants.

Oh, and my soil type is LFS/perlite, at least 50% perlite, this one maybe has even more perlite, like 80%.

 

[KATastrophe]

Its gatta be tge temps and possibly the humidity. Cause when leaves get smaller from the growth point till they virtually turn into a nub and dissapear thats due to temps and humidity being off lowlanders usually like 90F day temps and 70F night temps with about 75night and 90+day humidity...many lowlanders aren't as forgiving as highlanders though my Macrophylla and mu N. Dubia aren't very happy and i cant figure out why since they are basically getting same temps my others are but the macro is atleast still pitchering..but is still shrinking. the dubia never has for us.

 

[KATastrophe]

U could try a fan if u wanna attempt lower humidity get a small computer fan like what's inside the thing that you put disks in (im blonde and not too tech savy lol!) and that should help a bit, do u mist? That would be good too

 

[Whimgrinder]

Judy, I have to wonder if you acquired one of the late issue TC clines from BE. They've culled most of the species from their inventory for good reasons. Many of the "last out of the lab" species are notoriously difficult specimens, and give the impression that nothing can make them grow properly. It may not be anything you are doing wrong, it may be the plant itself.

 

[chibae]

Judy, I have to wonder if you acquired one of the late issue TC clines from BE. They've culled most of the species from their inventory for good reasons. Many of the "last out of the lab" species are notoriously difficult specimens, and give the impression that nothing can make them grow properly. It may not be anything you are doing wrong, it may be the plant itself.

Good food for thought, that is most likely the case for my bellii. It was from BE, just before the announcement and I had considered myself "lucky" to be able to get it at all.

 

[DragonsEye]

Judy, I have to wonder if you acquired one of the late issue TC clines from BE. Many of the "last out of the lab" species are notoriously difficult specimens, and give the impression that nothing can make them grow properly.

Would this have occurred due the tissue samples having been "mericloned to death", so to speak?

 

[Adelea]

My bellii is in full sun though beige 50% shadecloth from 8-5year round, temps of 8-40C, constant high humidity (70%+), and always happy (about 2 years on).