Bacterial leaf rot on bical?

[paphioboy]

My large and precious bicalcarata has been suddenly affected with black bacterial leaf spots on all the leaves! The spots appeared almost overnight. I thought it was sunburnt at first (early in the morning) so I left it alone, but by the next day, they turned into this:



Anyone else experiences the same problem before? I'm puzzled because the spots seem to appear in the middle of the leaf (not from the edges)and there were no signs of prior damage. I have immediately removed all leaves and replanted it into 3 pieces (rootstock and 2 cuttings). Hope it can be saved...

[delphiguy]

I've no idea what will have caused this to a bicalcarata. I wish you luck in saving this.

[NepNut]

I also had the samething happend to one of my bical recently !!

I don't think it's infection... It's probably due to change in sunlight exposure (more)... Mine happend because I move it... then all the leaves turned black except for the shoot and the newest leaf.....

I will try to take a pic tomorrow... I don't think it's any danger to the plant.

[paphioboy]

Thanks for chipping in, nepnut... But I still think its some kind of infection. The affected black area is soft and mushy when cut and has a slight medicinal odour (like rot caused by Erwinia bacteria). If it were sunburn, I would expect the affected area to not spread and be dry instead of wet. I was quite worried by the speed of spread, so to be on the safe side, I cut the plant to prevent it from reaching the main stem.

[Angkau Tekor]

I have never seen anything like this happen to nepenthes but one of my fern exhibit the same symtoms some time back. I check with my local nursery and they told me it's caused by some kind of mineral or something deficiency and to just give it a small amount of organic fertelizer. I did as told and my fern did recover after that.

Disclaimer: The author will not be responsible for any loss or damage if the said method does not work for nepenthes. No claims for compensation will be entertain

[paphioboy]

Oh... that's interesting. Thanks for sharing, angkau tekor. But too late now. I already cut my bical into 3 pieces...

[NepNut]

Here's mine.... actually not only 1 plant but 3-4 neps that I recently moved and relocated to a place that recieve stronger sunlight. I noticed all new leaves are ok, without the strange black spots. That's why I'm guessing it's sun related, not infection.









This is a raff which experienced similar black spots, the black turned to brown after a while


This is on an ampullaria leaf but not as severe, samething black turned to brown after a while


So, Cheah, what do you think?? I left the plants alone and didn't do anything to it... they're all fine.

[marcellocatalano]

Hi Rob, that's typical sun burnt, it can happen if you move a plant into a brighter spot, especially if you live in the tropics... spraying or wetting the plants during watering - if done during the day - can make things worse...
Paphioboy, not sure about your spots, as bicalcarata leaves show strange colors when they die Just wait and see, if the new leaves show less and less spots, it means that it was sunburnt and the plant just needed to produce leaves used to the new environment...

[paphioboy]

Thanks Marcello. For the record, the plant was not shifted or watered during the day. I only water in the evenings (between 5-7pm), when the sun no longer hits the leaves.

Robert, I'm glad your bical managed to survive the whatever-it-is that affected the plant. My rafflesiana has red coloured sun-spots on the leaves, but they do not make a big patch like those on your plant. A green amp which I shifted from a shady to a bright spot also did not experience sunburn, just sunspots. Didn't know bicalcarata is such a fussy thing...

[NepNut]

Thanks Cello for the confirmation.

Cheah,
The sun shifted it's position recently, have you take that into account?? I can see the "infection" that you experienced, it's exactly the same as what happend to my bical... The only difference, I didn't do anything and left it there (didn't even cut the affected leaves as I wanted to see what will happen next), eventually all the leaves that had the black patches dried up. Howeverm if my plants won't recover, I will update here.

Please don't get me wrong Cheah, my point is not to show who is correct or wrong (totally not my intention) but to share and discuss among fellow enthusiats to find out what's the reason behind this "black patches". It'll be such a waste to see a nep being cut (like this case) when it's actually not fatal to the plant (yet to be proven but it's still a possibility). I hope you can understand what I'm trying to say. Thanks.