Hi Clipeata,
I´m very sorry to see your
H. x 'Tequila' has died.
From the last picture I´m sure a fungus has attacked your plant. I´ve experienced the same at my beginning of growing
Heliamphora. I first purchased
Heliamphora heterodoxa x ionasii, a large growing and robust Heli hybrid. I used to stand the pots in 2 cm of water in the tray. Water was changed every day. Many Heli growers I know let their Heli pots stand in a little water and it works for years. But
not for me! Also growing
Heliamphora in a peat based substrate didn´t work for me.
In your last pic you see two pitchers which shriveled in its green stadium. Usually when a pitcher dies it first turns yellowish to brown and then shrivels. This is a normal decay of a
Heliamphora pitcher. Depending on how much prey they catch or how big prey or no prey at all
Heliamphora pitchers use to live for several months when healthy.
I assume the affected pitchers have virtually shriveled over night. I´ve heard of three types of fungi which cause such an effect. All are parasitic micro fungi. One group of these fungi attacks the tips of the Heli roots and feed on them - the roots then aren´t able to suck water anymore and the Heli dries out. In this case the tips of the roots are black whereas the other parts of the roots look reddish-brown and healthy. I´ve never had this among my plants.
Another group attacks the rhizome of the
Heliamphora and destroys it. In this case the lower parts of the pitchers become soft and flabby - the upper parts of the pitchers shrivel as can be seen on your photo. The rhizome inside looks brown, often you see many brown rings from the margin to the centre in the profile view of the rhizome.
A last group of micro fungi settles inside the cells of the pitchers and destroys them. The upper parts of the pitchers look similar to the other infections described above except the lower part of the pitchers is strong and not flabby. The rhizome seems to be healthy - the plants die nevertheless.
My plants have only been infected by the second type of parasitic micro fungi. If you discover the pitchers are dried and shriveled in their green stadium it´s too late! You cannot save the plant anymore!
The best thing you can do is to
prevent fungal attacks! Which means
not to leave water in the tray, keeping the Helis a little drier. To water again only when the soil has become
damp. Not keeping the soil permanently soggy. Of course you also have to avoid the soil drying completely out! In your climate the soil of a
Heliamphora standing in full sun may dry out within hours. The only solution is to take large pots in which the soil can´t dry out during daytime. Except you are able to use your break for lunch to hurry at home to water the plants.
I think you´ve kept the soil too wet for a too long period to promote these fungi to settle and propagate fastly.
These fungal problems never occured on my plants again when I changed to water from above with a sprinkler/sprayer and I also changed to a very loose and open soil which compounds aren´t perhaps available in Indonesia - you´d have to check out.
I use 50% long fibred, dead New Zealand or Chile sphagnum, 20% agricultural perlite (no building perlite!), 20% lava rock pieces (4 to 8 mm large) and 10% of "Agrofoam" (flakes of foam plastic). This results in a well ventilated and loose substrate for
Heliamphora. I water my plants from above using a sprinkler instead of a can. The fine mist doesn´t compress the substrate which a strong water jet coming out of a can would.
Finally: A very warm climate usually stress highland plants such as
Heliamphora more than a comparatively cool climate like in Northern Europe. So, in warm conditions these plants are also more sensitive against pests and diseases.
What soil mix do you use for growing
Heliamphora?Keep your tail up!
Andreas