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Virus?
Feb 1, 2009 7:18:34 GMT -10
Post by witzelsucht on Feb 1, 2009 7:18:34 GMT -10
I've been trying to help a local institution grow and pitcher their Nepenthes. They have some sort of problem I've never seen before which I'm guessing is a virus. I haven't been able to find much about virus in Nepenthes. This is a cutting from N. ventricosa. What do you guys think?
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Virus?
Feb 1, 2009 21:48:58 GMT -10
Post by unclemasa on Feb 1, 2009 21:48:58 GMT -10
How widespread are the symptoms? Is it just that one plant? Just that one leaf?
Have you ruled out environmental factors?
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Virus?
Feb 2, 2009 1:53:32 GMT -10
Post by witzelsucht on Feb 2, 2009 1:53:32 GMT -10
The spots are actually quite widespread. Unfortunately, the other pictures I took didn't come out well. but there is similar spotting on other Nepenthes including maxima and sanguinea as well as some nearby Masdevallias. It is mostly affecting the newer growth and some of the recent leaves look quite stunted.
The affected plants were all small and growing on benches, mostly recent cuttings and they have since pitched them. The larger plants from which the cuttings were taken are hanging and don't show any spotting. The Masdevallias are also growing on the bench.
Their growing conditions seem reasonable.
Temperatures 55-85.
Humidity is good most of the time though they've had issues with their humidity controls of late. Fertilizer - everything is watered with a dilute fertilizer (don't know the details here).
Watering - sometimes the plants look dryer than they should IMHO but its not bad.
Light - until this spotting appeared my working hypothesis on why the plants were not pitchering well was that the light was a bit too low but again it seems reasonable. Many nearby orchids are growing and flowering well.
Soil - recent cuttings were in a mix of bark, long fiber sphagnum, perlite and charcoal. Older plants (the unaffected hanging ones) are in some sort of standard mix they use for a lot of their plants.
They might still have the Masdevallias which if they do I could photograph.
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Virus?
Feb 3, 2009 12:02:41 GMT -10
Post by crazymac on Feb 3, 2009 12:02:41 GMT -10
Hello Rich
Masdevallias are susceptible to bean yellow mosaic virus (BYMV). It can appear as streaks/spots of color break on new growth. Plants seem more likely to show symptoms in higher light levels. Aphids are the known vector, and years ago it spread quite quickly through several large collections of Masdevallia.
Unfortunately, serum tests or electron microscopy are probably needed to confirm whether Nepenthes can become infected
Just my two cents, Paul
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