FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Well, i finally snapped some pics of my VFTs and my Pitcher plant! As you may know, i have had both for about 3 weeks now, had a few issues which got fixed, and now they are under absolutely ideal conditions on a south facing, sunny porch! My question regarding my VFTs (noticed my 1 plant had split when i repotted) is this...as you can see in the photos there is a BUNCH of growth coming up. I noticed that some of the older traps are closing slowly and look a bit worse for wear, good, but they show their age. (Speaking of which, i have NO IDEA how old these VFTs might be). I am guessing it is normal for the older ones to die off, i just wanted to double check. Just for your info..the plants are in 100% sphagnum peat in 4" heavily glazed pots, are watered with distilled and/or rain water ( i top water cause of the small trays you see below the pots), get plenty of sun, and eat plentifully.

Also, the traps that ate "rolly pollys" have been closed for almost 6 days and show no signs of opening. I see that the "rolly polly" issue is a bit of an enigma...is it possible that those traps may have met their end? I will not be feeding him rolly pollys anymore, but they are just so darn easy targets lol! Should i wait for them to turn black to do anything about it?

On to my pitcher plant..i got it at a reputable nursery here in town (Marietta, GA) but they were STILL in those same ole' crappy Home Depot conditions. I bought them and potted them, then i had to repot almost immediately (i put them in a clay pot, oops). Now they are in the same ideal conditions as my VFTs but i just don't know how well they are at this point. The 2 big pitchers were already there when i bought it, i lost one new growth when i repotted, and the 1 new growth you see SEEMS to be OK. You can see at the bottom, those were old growths that i cut down, it looked like they never got far, so i just trimmed it down. My questions for the pitcher are this...What species is it? And...does it seem healthy and do you have any suggestions if it is NOt healthy? I have gotten pretty wise in the ways of my VFTs but i am still a bit "green" with my Pitcher. I want to get a Cape Sundew soon too, so i want to get to a good place with these first. Pics are below!

It looks like a S. purpurea to me. Possibly a hybrid I cannot tell for sure from the pic.

We grow our Sarracenia in 50/50 peat/sand. We grow our Sarrs both outside & in a greenhouse.

Mary

afh928 wrote:is it possible that those traps may have met their end? I will not be feeding him rolly pollys anymore, but they are just so darn easy targets lol! Should i wait for them to turn black to do anything about it?

It could be that the traps will turn black and die. Sometimes trap close and never open again. Other times it can take 10 days or even a bit more for them to finish digesting and reopen. At this point, there's not much you can do about it. Just let them go and see what happens. If they do turn black, it won't harm the plant. It just won't look very nice.

afh928 wrote:My questions for the pitcher are this...What species is it? And...does it seem healthy and do you have any suggestions if it is NOt healthy?

I have to agree with Mary on this one...sure looks like a S. purpurea to me. And yes, it looks pretty healthy.

I have no clue about the pitcher, maybe once it has grown enough I could give you a better answer. As far as the rolly polly deal, just wait and see ^^; fingers crossed right? Well, that trap looks like that all green cultivar, I don't see red anywhere that's pretty awesome.

It looks like the inside of the traps is starting to get a slight tint of red though, i am guessing they are pretty young, and at the store they were not under ideal conditions. We'll see a bit more into the season i guess. My question about the pitchers...what kind of growth should i expect from them? Like i said those 2 pitchers were already there when i bought it and the one small shoot is pretty new (it was about half that size when i got it. You can see in the pic where there had been some dead stuff so i trimmed it down (look at the base of the pitchers). Do i need to trim that part lower or will new growth come from somewhere else? When do you cut off older pitchers or do you just keep them until they die off? I don't mean to seem overly concerned about it, it is just that it's progress seems really slow and i don't know as much about it as i would like.

At this time of year, there won't be much red in the traps. For me, they usually start to colour up nicely once July hits.

good to know..what about the other questions about the pitchers?

afh928 wrote:good to know..what about the other questions about the pitchers?

Sry, if I were you I'd ask in this section http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=9 because all I know of are the Dionaea. Hope they are more helpful

i just did, hopefully i will get some more answers there. Thanks, and no worries.

From what I can see it looks healthy just let it grow and don't worry so much.
Craig

BTW we water all of our plant with the local water right out of the hose and have done so for almost 20 years with no ill effects and our water is not the best.

weirdscience wrote:BTW we water all of our plant with the local water right out of the hose and have done so for almost 20 years with no ill effects and our water is not the best.

Do you top water? if you don't I'm guessing you repot every year...

Some plants are top watered but most are not, I normally repot every 2 to 3 years when they are out growing their pots. Back in 1999 I had a guy from the CP digest that was out from the east coast stop by to see my collection he brought me a huge N. ventrata it had minerals caked on some of the leaves and the plant was very happy I later sent him cuttings of my Nepenthes to root when he sent them back rooted they were caked with minerals very well rooted and thrived.

I think it must be more whats in your water because I have seen people in different places have different success with using their water it seems most growers in the Bay area use the water because it is very good (or was, may have changed)
Craig

i live in san jose and i dont think we can use hoses.

I'm pretty sure Vancouver has good water quality because it rains here so much... nevertheless, i still buy distilled water.

what would you guys use as a tray for big pots?