Hi,
They might be visible. I have had some sort of yellow-orange
spidery looking mites on my Nepenthes before. This has been the
only pest I've ever encountered on Nepenthes. They aren't insects
but more like ticks and quite mobile. Their coloring may make them
hard to see and they are very small. So far I've never seen any
webs on or around plants which were infested so I don't know how
good of a marker that is.
> 2) I have been feeding the plant ants and small sow bugs since I got
> it. This has only stopped recently. The pitchers have been dying
> off faster than the plant can replace them. Considering this, is
> it still likely that the plant is nitrogen deficient?
It sure doesn't soung too likely. More reason to think there's
something munching on the plant. Or that is very unhappy about
something in it's environment. Too much light can "bleach" out
Nepenthes leaving them pale green or yellowish.
> Does the use of dilute chemical fertilizers cause any stress
> to an already weakended plant if it turns out that it is not
> nitrogen deficient.
I suppose it could. There is the possibly the plant could use
some micro nutrients so a very very weak dilution of fertilizer
sprayed into a pitcher (if it is still viable) might do a world
of good. I don't know if bugs can supply this sort food.
> Do some Nepenthes show a sensitivity to spectral imbalance
> from flourescent lighting? I hope I can get to the bottom of this.
I don't know. That only time I saw N.mad before, the plants
looked fairly crappy, or should I say unhappy? Anyway, they
were rather yellow and had no pitchers even though they were in
a greenhouse filles with thriving Neps. Maybe this species is
just some kind of odd ball... If there are no bugs on it, it
might be prudent to change the conditions. Maybe it doesn't like
the soil it's in. I've found that N.ventricosa likes peat:sand
1:1 (Maybe alittle more sand) better than standard Nep mixes so
maybe something like this is at work. You've got a couple N.ven's
to spare try this out with the one still unhappy...
Dave Evans