Re: Red Splotches

From: Richard Brown (esoft@ix.netcom.com)
Date: Fri Oct 23 1998 - 19:27:06 PDT


Date: Fri, 23 Oct 1998 22:27:06 -0400
From: "Richard Brown" <esoft@ix.netcom.com>
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg3361$foo@default>
Subject: Re: Red Splotches


>Question to all, although especially to South Florida CP growers who
>experience the same growing conditions I do.

>I often find red splotches, almost like a rash, on a good deal of my
>Nepenthes plants. I have used fungicide many times on them and find that
>it works "moderately" well at best. Is this "rust spot" fungus and if so
>is there a way to truly remove it? It is very persistent.

>(The plants that show it do not necessarily share any common
>denominators...some are true lowland species, some lowland hybrids, some
>lowland-highland hybrids....and believe it or not, some plants just never
>get it at all.)

Hi Marc,

You especially addressed Nepenthes growers in South Florida...I am about
five miles east of you!

By the time I got around to checking out the CP Digest, several people had
already responded with excellent answers, but there is still another
possible explanation. This red splotching is a characteristic of N.
rafflesiana and many of its hybrids. Check out the very popular and readily
available Reginald DeRoose form of N. Coccinea as a example. Nearly all of
the (N. mirabilis x N. hookeriana) hybrids will "red blotch" on the leaves,
especially if grown in bright light. Cool weather will cause a red
discoloration, especially on the edges of the leaves, but cool weather has
not been a problem in South Florida since last March. Hot and dry conditions
will cause burn spots, a more likely cause after a severely hot summer here
in south Florida. The difference between the heat stress and the rafflesiana
genes is apparent; heat burn is brown and crispy- dried out. Rafflesiana
genetic spots start out a pinkish or purlish red, turning rust color with
age.

Hope this helps.

Until later,

Trent Meeks
Pompano Beach, Florida



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