Yellowing Leaves

[NickHubbell]

I noticed that one of my two Nepenthes alata has a few leaves that are starting to yellow around the edges. Is there anything I can do to prevent this? I have had these Nepenthes for 2 weeks.

I have them in a Northern window with extra lighting. Humidity is 60-70%. Temperature is about 23°C. Water has been distilled and I have tried not to overwater. There are no drainage holes in the bottom of the hanging baskests. There appears to be a water reservoir in the bottom with an overflow outlet. When I have watered, I had been turning the pot on its side to make sure any excess water would drain out.

I have read that superThrive is a good product to help stressed plants.

Thanks,

Nick  

 

[MaskedNinja]

That is the start of the dieing process of the leaves. Not much you can do...I would not worry because new ones will replace it.

travis

 

[NickHubbell]

Ok, thanks for letting me know. I thought it might be that, but wasn't sure. Kinda nervous as these are my first two Nepenthes. I have had other cps on and off for years. Just never got a Nepenthes because of their unique growing conditions.

The one that is yellowing, does have alot of new growth at the top. Will probably end up having to trim this is the spring. Its now 6 inches higher than when I bought it.

 

[nepenthes gracilis]

Hmm no holes? That's not terribly good.....you SHOULD have a few holes for drainage unless it is a plant that likes it wet (Mirabilis,Bicalcarata,Ampullaria) but even the ones I mentioned should have holes. I have my bical in a saucer with 1 inch of water in it, same with my Amp. But I suggest if he palnts are ok and the resevoir thing lets some water out I guess it would be OK. But yellowing leaves MIGHT be a sign of overwatering too. Not sure though. Just my thoughts on your pots there.

 

[swords]

It sounds like a commercial hanging basket, all the Neps I got from the garden center came in these type of pots.if you do it carefully you could transplant the plant and rootmass by slipping it out of that pot and into one the same size or slightly larger with a few drain holes, if you don't mess with the roots (just pop it out of the one pot and into the other don't bare root it) it shouldn't have much transplant shock at all. I will say to do this sooner rather than later as when I went to transplant one of my garden center Neps into a new pot the roots had grown down through the false bottom in the basket and I had to cut off the lowest roots so it could be taken out of the pot!  

I hate the pots they always use!

It may also be that the plant is lacking Iron. A need for Iron will cause yellowing leaves. I use a balanced aquarium fertilizer to give my neps low doses of micro nutrients like Iron, boron, magnesium, etc.  I use 5 drops per gallon of water and have no yellowing leaves. but I would try repotting first and fertilizing second (because fertilizing is such a touchy thing with Neps).

Superthrive has it's fans and it's detractors. I use it for all cuttings and transplanted plants' first watering and occasionally in the pot flush water, but not too often. The thing with superthrive is that people have said too much will cause the plant to stop pitchering. I've never had that happen but I don't mist the leaves with it either, I just pour the superthrive water through the soil. Then I use distilled water the rest of the time.

hope this helps!

 

[NickHubbell]

I carefully drilled some drainage holes into the bottom of the pots. I will not be able to transplant them for another week or two.

When I do transplant, would cutting off some leaves help reduce transplant shock or just increase the amount of shock to the plant?

 

[nepenthes gracilis]

It would most likely harm the plant as the decreased area of chlorophyl will not help it! You want as much leave area as possible as when it is transplanted all the extra energy form the leaves will certainly help it establish.

 

[Stefano1]

i dont suggest to cut em off when you transplant, when you transplant use superthrive to water it, then wait a week and cut off the dead leaves

 

[swords]

Yes, don't chop off any leaves when you transplant it. The less you actually do "to" the plant when you transplant it the better it's chances at survival.

I would remove dead leaves but wait til they are actually dead i.e. brown and dried up or blackening (even then, just chop off the blackened part and leave the rest of the leaf if it's green or yellow green). as NG said it'll give the plant the maximum ability to stay healthy and continue photosynthesizing while it's adjusts.

 

[Tony Paroubek]

Naturally you want to repot as carefully as possible. It is inevitable though that you will get some root damage. Just keep and eye on the plant afterwards and be ready to increase the humidity beyond what it is used to if the plant gets limp looking.
Tony