FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Okay for starters, I only grow three types of CP's so far -- flytraps, sarracenia, and nepenthes. I've had the best luck with my flytraps. They seem to catch enough bugs on their own and usually grow pretty well, but I've kinda struggled with the other two and I think it might be because they don't seem to catch enough insects on their own.

I can't find it now, but I read a post here last year that recommended dropping Osmocote pellets into nepenthes pitchers and my nep's have definitely improved since I've tried that a couple times. I'm not sure how often I should be doing it though now that the growing season is commencing again.

I also seem to recall that post said it was okay to use Osmocote in *some* types of sarracenias, but not all of them. I just found some really nice sarr's at a local nursery today and I want to make sure they grow better than the others I've had. One has the largest pitchers I've ever seen, but it didn't come with any name tag. The pitchers on that one are so huge, I'm sure they could easily swallow the biggest, fattest bumblebee! (None of my other sarr's ever got anywhere near big enough for that.) The other one I just bought is smaller and is called 'Carolina Yellow Jacket'. I also have a few purpurea and Scarlet Belles, but they're just starting to grow back out after dying down over the winter.

So would be it safe to use Osmocote in sarracenia pitchers too? How much and how often?

The main issue with Sarracenia is that most of them do not have standing liquid in their pitchers, which prevents the Osmocote pellet from releasing fertilizer. You can fill them up yourself, but I wouldn't recommend it if the plants are outdoors. For purpurea-type plants, it should be safe to add a pellet or two per pitcher, though I have never tried it myself. Sarracenia in general have a pretty high tolerance for minerals inside the pitcher and people have been known to fill them to the brim with liquid fertilizer.

Sarracenia also have a fairly high tolerance for fertilizer on their roots. I normally fertilize mine a few times a year with orchid fertilizer or MaxSea at half the recommend strength.