FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

5 capensis (well, one herc x self) of mine are undergoing some weird issue I need help with. The lamina begin by growing out stunted, and the leaves shorten until lamina does not even develop. This problem has persisted over the course of a year with a couple dews and I noticed a few more are beginning to go this way. This problem has continued through a couple mite infestations over a year and has been unaffected during them (Mites were treated and successfully eradicated with Bioadvanced 3-in-1). I closely inspect my plants and have seen no evidence of pests visible to the naked eye on these.

This is my worst one:

Has anyone seen this before? Could it be bad peat? I have considered repotting into lfs, maybe this will help? I have flushed the pots before to no affect, and in fact I have a threadleaf growing in the same pot as one of them that appears unaffected. They are all growing in the same conditions: under yescoms.

My lux app on my phone (however accurate that may be) reads 25k - 30k lux. 4/5 sickly capes are growing 10" under yescom panels, and 1/5 is 10" under a viparspectra v1000 at 50%

Yeah I regularly use that app to compare but I suspect it is only useful in comparison on the same phone. Regardless I did the conversion and 850 micro moles m^2 a sec conversion factor of 65 is 55000 lumens at 50% that is 22500, so it might be close enough . I grow mine 10" (just moved there) under a 2300 lumen superbright led they are beginning to grow better and I get the same reading of brightness. I would say that it is a peat problem, from your photos it looks a little rank. My capensis was decreasing it's leaf size as well while it was in peat and the dew pads would not unfurl anymore. I repotted it since then and it is now unfurling more than before. I would test by moving them to spag, peat while constantly wet can go sour enough that the dews don't appreciate it.
I am a little confused tho because of Chef's answer, but I guess too little or too much light can do this as well.
5 days ago now

Thats caused by too much sunlight or not acclimating too lots of intense light beyond normal levels

BumpyEvergreen wrote: ↑Mon Apr 08, 2024 1:39 am Yeah I regularly use that app to compare but I suspect it is only useful in comparison on the same phone. Regardless I did the conversion and 850 micro moles m^2 a sec conversion factor of 65 is 55000 lumens at 50% that is 22500, so it might be close enough . I grow mine 10" (just moved there) under a 2300 lumen superbright led they are beginning to grow better and I get the same reading of brightness. I would say that it is a peat problem, from your photos it looks a little rank. My capensis was decreasing it's leaf size as well while it was in peat and the dew pads would not unfurl anymore. I repotted it since then and it is now unfurling more than before. I would test by moving them to spag, peat while constantly wet can go sour enough that the dews don't appreciate it.
I am a little confused tho because of Chef's answer, but I guess too little or too much light can do this as well.

Nice thank you for the info! The general opinions I've gotten on other platforms is also that it was bad potting medium and was worth repotting, so that I did. I just finished repotting it and we'll see how things go!
I've had this plant for probably a year now and it has done nothing but decline. I suspect the peat was bad from the start. You don't always know whats in your bale- I've heard of people getting manure in theirs!