Cotyledons blackening on seedlings...

[jonnyq]

Warning: Newbie question ahead.

Greetings,

So, the two cotelydons on one of my seedlings seems to be rotting from the tips of the leaves back towards the center of the plant... The seedling has one formed trap leaf (half-open), and the early stages of a second trap leaf.

I tried doing some searching, and in the abstract for Cornelia Smith's "Development of Dionaea Muscipula. II. Germination of Seed and Development of Seedling to Maturity" (Botanical Gazette, Vol. 91, No. 4. (1931), pp. 377-394), it says:

...the cotyledons, hypocotyl, and primary root finally cease to function and are sloughed off the basal end of the rhizome of the now independent plant.

(I couldn't access the rest of the article from here...

Update: I've got the article through JSTOR and am reading it through, but would still appreciate opinions...)

If I'm reading this correctly (and I very well may NOT be) the normal sloughing would start at the end of the leaves that are attached to the plant (that was basal, yes?) rather than at the tips (that was apical, yes?) as I'm seeing here, no? Am I killing this seedling with my inexperience?

(For what it's worth, the other nine are doing rather well so far... One has two fully-open bright red and green trap leaves with a third on the way, and the others are all still developing, as they were planted almost a month later...)

[scottychaos]

it says "basal end of the rhizome", not basal end of the leaf,
so I dont think its referring to which end of the leaves turn brown first..
its referring to one end of the rhizome.

ignoring the article, it all sounds like perfectly normal old-age leaf death to me..
VFT leaves typically die at the outer edge, (the trap) and slowly turn brown back towards the rhizome..I dont see any reason why cotyledons wouldn't do the same..so browning of the leaf tips first would be normal..

odds are good its just the cotyledons dying off naturally..

how old is the seedling in question?

Scot

[jonnyq]

Hi Scott, thanks for your time!

Sept 9, 2008 21:06:33 GMT scottychaos said:

it says "basal end of the rhizome", not basal end of the leaf,
so I dont think its referring to which end of the leaves turn brown first..
its referring to one end of the rhizome.

Ahhh... Thanks for the clarification!

odds are good its just the cotyledons dying off naturally..

I hope so... The thing that concerns me is that of the two seedlings that were sown (and germinated) at the same time, one has two full traps + a developing third, while this one has one full trap + a developing second + dying cotelydons. Methinks I may have done something wrong along the way, but time will tell, I suppose... Still, your answer is reassuring... Cheers....

how old is the seedling in question?

It was sown on June 26th, and started to develop its first trap leaf at the beginning of August.

Thanks again!

[jonnyq]

Good morning, folks,

So, unfortunately, that particular seedling didn't make it... It ended up rotting the whole way through, and I was hoping that it was an isolated incident, but now another seedling (also slow-growing: seed leaves only, no trap leaves) is also starting to brown/rot from the leaf tips inward...

Because the growing conditions are reasonably identical for all of my seedlings, I'm wondering if this could be a sign of overwatering/root rot... I've done a forum search for "root rot" and found a post by NaN:

"If they are older plants then over wet conditions can cause the sudden decline you are seeing from root/bulb rot. Repot and inspect the roots/rhizome/korm/bulb of a couple of them. If there is any rot, trim or peel it off. If there is anything left with decent roots then perhaps there is a chance of recovery.

You need to cut down the watering. And good air circulation always helps."

This advice seemed to apply to older plants... Any recommendations for seedlings? (I'm guessing that repotting/inspecting would likely kill them...?) Are there any links/articles that one would recommend to further enlighten on the subject of root rot? (I tried Dr. Rice's FAQ, which had a page about Drosophyllum.)


California Carnivores did have this to say:

Use the tray method, keeping the soil damp to wet year round. Flytraps do not appreciate persistent waterlogged conditions, and do best with a lower water table.

My planters are approximately 2" high, and I try to keep the water level in the tray at about 1/2"... Does this sound too deep to those of you with experience?

[Not a Number]

If all your seedlings were declining I would suspect some error in cultivation, bad water or medium. If it's only one or two seedlings - well these things happen.

Lois Ochs uses this saying as her signature on another board:

"Every seed that you plant, doesn't sprout.
Every seed that sprouts, doesn't make it to maturity.
Every cutting that you stick doesn't grow roots.
Every cutting that roots doesn't grow to a small plant.
Every small plant doesn't reach maturity."

Your conditions seem ok to me.