Red splotches on leaves

[bman]

Hi,

When I first saw these red marks appear on the leaves on my Hualalai last fall, I thought it was either because of the wide temperature variance in my greenhouse (37-80) or because of the change of light. I remove my 40% shade cloth at the Autumnal Equinox. The only problem is that none of the other Nepenthes exhibit the same characteristics. Could it be some kind of biological attack? Other than the red marks, the plant is very vigorous and healthy.

Thanks for any advice,
Guy

Attachments:

[nepenthes99]

The same thing is happening with my Nepenthes Ampullaria 'Bronze Nabire'. The red splotches might be caused by either a fungal or viral disease.

[leilani]

Hello bman,

That looks like a fungal problem to me. It's not good but its not all that bad either.

I would remove any badly damaged leaves and put it somewhere where it gets good air circulation. If the problem persists than you might try a fungicide.

[nepenthes99]

Upon closer inspection of the photos, I would conclude it is a viral infection. Fungal infections are usually more severe and form many small fruiting bodies. Viral infections usually affect the leaves, causing them to change color in some places.

[Dave Evans]

Well, I had a N. maxima that would grow fine in the winter, but in the summer it would show such symtoms and then most of the plant would die; only to start growing from a tiny piece in the cooler winter again. This went on for about four years, then I concluded it had a virus and burned it.

However, the plant in this thread appears to have damage from too cool conditions (maybe too hot).

[nepenthes77]

This happened to my Gentle when I got it. It wasn't severe but it was an extremely small splotch. It was probably either in shock or I burnt it from keeping it too close to a south window. But it bounced back tremendously. I guess your plant has a problem with the 37 degrees part.

[vraev]

I notice that my highlanders such as jacquelineae, jamban, aristo and most of all, talangensis do this. It is only seen in summer as temps increase and co-existing fungi within the plant gain strength in the increased temp + humid conditions.