Question

U. Longifolia discolor   QUESTION: Hi, my U. Longifolia is turning purplish from the ground up and losing leaves fast. Is sitting in pure sphag on an east window, I use pure water and no fertilizers. I live in south Florida but my plant is grown indoors (around 75 F in the day), thanks for the help!

ANSWER: Hi Julien,

It was hard to tell from the photo, but it looks like you may have some powdery mildew causing this problem.  What you need to do is pluck out any leaves that are affected.  Try daily misting of the plants.  This tends to help keep powdery mildew at bay.  

Good Growing!

Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.growcarnivorousplants.com

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QUESTION: Hey, thanks for the answer! I realize it's a bad picture now but unfortunately I'm away from home at the moment but does powdery mildew grow inside the leaf because there's nothing outside of the leaf, the purple coloration is only inside the leaf itself

Answer
Hi Julien,

Powdery mildew appears as a light, white powder on the leaves.  It's not always really obvious, and will cause the discoloration you're seeing.  It's a very common disease on U. longifolia. Overhead watering and misting helps keep the fungal spores from adhering to new leaves.  It's hard to treat U. longifolia with fungicides since they tend to be sensitive to them, and the leaves are very waxy.

Good Growing!

Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.growcarnivorousplants.com