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By pyrotuc
Posts:  100
Joined:  Fri Apr 13, 2012 4:45 pm
#155090
i got a pitcher plant from lowes (botanical gardens, who is NOT bugbitingplants.com), its actually pretty good looking compared to all its crispy dead neighbors. Anyway, so its brand new to me, and so I dont really want to put it into dormancy yet, I want some more time to stare at it and go 'oooohhhhhh'. how bad of an idea is that? I live in central texas, so its just now stopping being 90+ degrees during the day, i imagine this is when they would normally go dormant. the upside of this is a very mild winter... i could easily give them jan and feb, and by march it would probably be warm enough that theyd be fine.

ima get some pictures up soon. i bought some CFLs designed to replace spotlights (no more need for a 400w MH or HPS setup! hehehehehe). im gonna try to get a few more. walmart, while evil, has CFL designed to replace 200w incandescent bulbs for about $7. they are amazing bright and draw all of like 30 watts themselves, gotta love the march of technology. never could afford those HPS or MH setups to grow inside with, and the venting to deal with the heat produced. these bulbs put out ALMOST no head. I say almost because if you put it closer than 6 inches or so, it WILL kill all your growth and make your plants ugly. the new growth that grows though is so amazing verdant.

so, back to topic, how much play is there in the need for a dormant period?
By Veronis
Posts:  2202
Joined:  Fri May 29, 2009 8:41 pm
#155109
pyrotuc wrote:so, back to topic, how much play is there in the need for a dormant period?
Not much, but more with young Sarrs (like yours) than with other carnivorous plants; dormancy can be skipped in Sarrs' very early years to increase growth. After their ~2nd year (from seed) they need to start receiving dormancy. How big is the plant; can you take a pic with a quarter or something next to it?

The short answer is that if I were in your shoes, I would probably keep it growing also, knowing full well that I may wind up killing the plant. Lowe's CP's are great to push boundaries/test with, as they're easy to replace.

With temperate CP's in general, if a dormancy is skipped once, the plant will go into decline the following year, and in many cases will die before the next dormancy period arrives.

In the end, keeping it growing over the winter is a chance you need to decide if you're willing to take. No one can tell you with any certainty if it will harm or kill the plant.
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By pyrotuc
Posts:  100
Joined:  Fri Apr 13, 2012 4:45 pm
#155119
well, the nearest lowes (or anything) is about 60 miles away. i live in a very, very rural ranching community (llano, tx (represent!!)). its the same distance to the nearest walmart, or even a grocery store with decently fresh produce)

so, no plant is particularly easy to replace, and even then, the lowes nearest me only carry them sporadically. i had to go to at least 5 different ones before i even found this one. ive got pictures on my facebook, http://facebook.com/pyrotuc , or can i hotlink to them? not sure. which is sad. im a programmer.

ive also learned recently that lowes supplier is likely poaching plants, so i dont think ill be buying any more from them. i think santa is gonna be stopping by FTS this year.

back on subject, the pitcher plant is about 5 inches tall, 5 inches across, and has 7 pitchers, the largest of which i estimate would hold around 3cc.

i like using bic lighters for scale, as most countries sell bics, but only one of them has quarters. well, you know what i mean. USD quarters.

i swear ill get some pics up soon.

but like you said... haha... im gonna do it anyway, i guess what i really want to know is if it dies, was it because it missed winter?
By Veronis
Posts:  2202
Joined:  Fri May 29, 2009 8:41 pm
#155126
Assuming you give it proper care otherwise, if it dies it would be due to the skipped dormancy.

The plant is a purpurea. It's also much bigger than the ones Lowe's normally sells. Skipping dormancy on that plant is taking a chance; it looks like it's beyond its second year, so it's a kind of a crap shoot as to whether or not it will make it through next year.
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By pyrotuc
Posts:  100
Joined:  Fri Apr 13, 2012 4:45 pm
#155177
it is really big and nice for a lowes carno, huh? it was $10 and i convinced them to give it to me half-off cause it looked kinda pathetic. this is also my very FIRST pitcher plant! its the first time i saw pitchers at lowes, i went to a wayyy different one (its in waco, tx if anyone cares). they actually had about 2 dozen live plants and twice that in dead plants, a very impressive array of selection for a lowes. if you live in the waco area, check out bonnies plants, no carnos but tons of plants and the people there are super-chill and super-helpful.

im not sure how long it sat on the shelf, but it was inside (in the AC), what do you think the chances are that it caught some dormancy on the shelf? although, its pitchers didnt die off, and they are supposed to during dormancy, yes?

you are super helpful, Veronis. thank you so much for identifying it for me! +1
By pyrotuc
Posts:  100
Joined:  Fri Apr 13, 2012 4:45 pm
#155178
i think i will dormantize it because as boring as that sounds, it would be even more boring as a dead plant!

what do you think is the minimum i can get away with? 2 months in the fridge? people are gonna look at me funny when they open the fridge and see that. haha.

is it okay to cut the pitchers off when i put it in, or should i leave them on and let it die back? im thinking they might look cool in a flower arrangement or something. i guess the upside of them dying is that i can cut 'em open and see what theyve been eating.

oh, i put a turtle food pellet in one of them, i think i remember someone saying here it was ok to feed them fish food. it was a lot easier to capture a turtle pellet than chasing butterflies with a net. hehe. oh, i put a few drops of water in with it since they are so dry. oh, and because i have a freshwater eel that eats them. so i got lots. i also have some lizards and a salamander i purchase crickets weekly for, i am definitely gonna toss a few in when i re-up this weekend!

thanks all for not yelling at me to use the search engine.
By parker679
Posts:  1642
Joined:  Mon Mar 14, 2011 8:34 pm
#155180
So I checked out your local climate. Why don't you just grow the plant outside? This way you can still enjoy the pitchers and it will get it's dormancy.

Fridge dormancy is really only something you should do if you absolutely can not grow your plant outdoors or if you live in a climate that is too topical to initiate dormancy. Plants still grow during dormancy, albeit at a slower pace. So even fridge dormancy is never as good as outside dormancy where the plant is still getting sun. Plus, if you grow it outside you don't have to cut the pitchers off to make space in the fridge. And with purpurea they can keep their pitchers for a couple years, they don't tend to die as quickly as other Sarrs.
By pyrotuc
Posts:  100
Joined:  Fri Apr 13, 2012 4:45 pm
#155186
i wish i could grow outside. there are a number of problems that are...problematic.

first is the heat. i live in llano, in llano county, in texas. its about 70 miles from austin, but it has 3,000 people. the heat is worse here than in austin, sometimes as much as 10 degrees hotter. 110+ days in the height of summer is the norm.

second, llano is extremely arid (dry). i live on the river, actually 12 miles from llano.. nearest neighbor is 1/2 mi away, but we live on 9 acres (a pathetically small amount of land compared to most here) on the river. if anyone has suggestions on a plant that could grow well on the bank of a river, thatd be great. i was thinking bladderworts maybe?

i used to grow other plants outside but stopped for a number of reasons. one being that if you miss a *single* day of watering your plant can go from beautiful thriving to dead, dead, dead.

next, im in the middle of nowhere, in the wild scrub and brush. lots of little critters. critters that like to eat plants, animals that like to make a mess of anything thats not nailed down. squirrels, birds, a billion raccoons, possums, even more deer, rats, mice, fireants, foxes, tons of coyotes, that is a including-but-not-limited-to list.

if i could afford it, i would totally go at a mini-bog that i kept fenced (we already have a fenced garden, itd go in the corner). we have timers and sensors for the water so it regulates itself. oh crap, thats well water, i wish we had a cistern full of distilled/deionized water.

i may make a 1 foot fenced circle on the porch that gets some direct light, but not too much. i think i still have some chicken wire left over, i had to replace all the fencing this past spring.

i really hope people arent bothered by the gazillion tangents i go into on this place.

suppose a mini fridge was extremely well lit, would that work well? i have one in storage thats just sittin there not doing anything. you can make reflectors reallllyyy easily by using space blankets, so you dont have to buy a huge roll of aluminized mylar. the inside of a potato chip bag works pretty well too, by the way, or those helium balloons that arent stretchy. i think if i lined the inside of the fridge with a space blanket i could get it pretty good light with just a few CFL bulbs. what do you think, parker?
By Veronis
Posts:  2202
Joined:  Fri May 29, 2009 8:41 pm
#155200
pyrotuc wrote:im not sure how long it sat on the shelf, but it was inside (in the AC), what do you think the chances are that it caught some dormancy on the shelf? although, its pitchers didnt die off, and they are supposed to during dormancy, yes?
The pitchers won't die during dormancy. A few might, but if all the pitchers start to die on a purpurea, the plant is in trouble (wrong soil, wrong water, not enough light, etc.). I see parker already answered this now. Moving on..

Regarding growing outdoors; assuming you could do it in pots, in a bog, etc. and avoid critters, the Texas heat can burn these plants once temps exceed ~100 degrees or so; they can adapt to dry weather no problem, but combined with that kind of heat could cause burning if you can't put some form of partial shade cloth over the whole CP array. You'd need to use large pots (flytraps and purps will do great in a 8-12 inch pot) and have relatively deep water trays (at least 2-3 inches), so you can water them less often.

You are in hardiness zone 8a (http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/), which is otherwise awesome for growing flytraps, etc. outdoors year-round.

Just tossing that out there.
pyrotuc wrote:suppose a mini fridge was extremely well lit, would that work well? i have one in storage thats just sittin there not doing anything. you can make reflectors reallllyyy easily by using space blankets, so you dont have to buy a huge roll of aluminized mylar. the inside of a potato chip bag works pretty well too, by the way, or those helium balloons that arent stretchy. i think if i lined the inside of the fridge with a space blanket i could get it pretty good light with just a few CFL bulbs.
I wouldn't use a mini fridge. Flytraps and purps generally don't do as well long term in permanent enclosures like that; enclosures also lead to lots of fun problems like "suddenly...fungus" and stagnant air in general is not healthy for them over time; these aren't annuals. Leave them in the open air under lights instead, maybe on a wire rack/shelf or something.

If you want to set something like the fridge idea up, instead do something like this - get a large box, cut off all but three adjacent sides (so the front and top are open), and line it with mylar blankets or white glossy posterboard.

More ideally, but more expensive, you could also set up a 4' wide x 6' tall wire rack (or smaller) and start adding lights to that.

I grow my plants indoors as well, so here are a few posts that may help you:
Important things to know when choosing lights for CP's: http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/lumen ... ml#p144568
Indoor grow lights, fluorescent & LED - specific bulb suggestions: http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/best- ... ml#p153234
Fridge dormancy: http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/post1 ... ml#p153898
By parker679
Posts:  1642
Joined:  Mon Mar 14, 2011 8:34 pm
#155203
Yeah, critters can be a problem. If you went that route, you wouldn't be the first person on this forum that has built a cage to keep their plants in.

Like Veronis said, the 110 degree heat could be a problem, but more because of burning than dryness. The dryness isn't an issue as long as you're using deep trays. The common advice around here to not keep your plants in constant water is just general advice since a lot of issues arise from over watering. VFT's are fine being in trays that are always wet as long as the pot is deep enough(more than 6-8 inches), and as long as you lower the water level in the winter, I have some in 6 inch pots that stay in an inch of water suring the growing season. Sarracenia are even more tolerant of wet conditions. A 12 inch deep pot in a 4 inch deep tray would be perfect, put a chicken wire cage around it with a shade cloth in the height of summer and you're golden.

Regarding tangents, I don't think anyone here would/should be bothered. We're all here to help.

Veronis also brings up good points about indoor growing, he's quite versed in that area and if you've ever seen pictures of his plants you can see they do quite well. If that's the route you want to take his posts are great reading.

In the end though it's about what works best for your plants in your specific situation.
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