Re: Re: fungus

From: dave evans (T442119@RUTADMIN.RUTGERS.EDU)
Date: Wed Apr 23 1997 - 16:54:00 PDT


Date:    Wed, 23 Apr 97 19:54 EDT
From: dave evans                           <T442119@RUTADMIN.RUTGERS.EDU>
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg1626$foo@default>
Subject: Re: Re: fungus


> From: Mars <mars@HACOM.NL>
>
> The white stuff seems like a kind of web just above the soil at the base =
> of the plant. I couldn't see any bugs causing it, which won't =
> necessarily mean they aren't there. What attracted my attention was the =
> damage to the pitchers. The edge of the pitchers was just above the soil =
> splitted and had some kind of red color. Like some bug eating its way up =
> just in the edge.

Hmm... Well if you're fairly certain it is a bug problem, then it
might be time to spray. I was thinking about it and perhaps you have
recently been keeping your terrarium wetter than usual? If so, you
may have caused the bugs to move from the roots up to higher ground.
There is a type of mealy bug that likes to live on the roots of plants,
but they can't handle very wet conditions and I used water to kill
them when one of my terrariums was infested. Didn't look like there
were any bugs at all, until Tom Hayes told me to check by looking
through the bottom glass and there were dozens of mealy colonies
all over the Sarracenia roots.

> The "brown spots" on sarracenia and vft indeed look like damage of the =
> earlier attack of bugs.

Some bugs live in the soil and only come out at night. I forgot
what they are called, but a systemic poison is needed for them as
you can't spray the bugs directly (they go underground if there is
light, so you can't see what you're spraying)

> About the conditions in the terrarium, the lid I use has two holes =
> permanently and two larger lids that can be opened. So there's always a =
> few openings to the air outside. Inside I've a thermo/hygro meter. =
> Temperature is between 17-22 degrees C and relative humidity varies =
> between 45%-82%, depending on how far the lids are opened (and of course =
> temperature). Most of the time the humidity is below 60% and I wonder if =
> this is humid enough.

Well, I doubt it is just fungus by it's self in these condition. If
the plants' foliage looks healthy, then you probably have your plants
in great conditions (I don't believe in super high humidity levels,
unless they are needed and only a few CP's do). If your leaves are
getting dried out then I'd think the humidity is too low.

Dave Evans



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