I recently got this H. Minor from plant con where the vendor said she acclimated hers to 80 F with 30% humidity. I thought due to this that i would be able to handle it, despite what i’ve heard. My conditions have been 80 F days, 71 F nights, at 60-70% humidity, night fan for circulation under 12 hours of 36W Sansi LED. I’ve noticed the pitchers starting to brown and was wondering if anyone knows what this could be. It looked like another reddit user that had a similar coloration had pests, but i haven’t had any pest problems with my other plants. I was thinking it may be heat stress? Ive brought it down to 76 F right now, but struggling to get it lower without affecting my other plants. Any advice would be helpful🙏
by Proof-Ladder-1022
1 Comment
In my experience, the very small nectar spoons imply not enough light. Are those pitchers that developed while you’ve had it?
Other things to consider:
– just like Neps, the roots need to dry out a bit and you’ve got it sitting in water. In their wild Helis can be found constantly in several cm of water, but it’s not stagnant. Gotta have flow if you want ‘em sitting in it. Dunno if it’s just watering day or if you always have it in water.
– I often see the advice to not spray Helis with water. In their native habitat the high humidity comes from fog rolling in, so a fogger is preferred. Tbh I spray mine and it’s never been an issue, but I spray in the morning and have fans going during the day to help with air circulation. If you’re spraying at a time when air is stagnant, that may be the cause.
– the immature pitchers have crispy tops. While the seller may have adapted it to 30% RH at home, if the plants were packed for travel/showing they could’ve gotten used to 100% humidity. The bag method gets a little tricky with Helis since the lights will create a much warmer microhabitat, but you may need to acclimate it to your humidity (doubtful if it’s 70-80%, but ya never know).
– Crispy tops could also be too much light. If the mature pitchers with small spoons were present before you got it, then I’d say the seller wasn’t giving it enough light and you may be kinda frying it as it adjusts to proper light levels
– I don’t think it’s temps since H. minor is very hardy, but you can always use an ice pack to try and keep temps down