FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi everybody,

I think my Dana's delight died after I brought it indoors to protect it from squirrels. Can I grow a DD in an indoor greenhouse? What, if any, Sarracenias do grow well indoors? Thanks.

Bill

Hi Bill

The answer is that they all do well indoors given proper conditions, if you can give them many hours of direct sunlight, warmth during spring and summer, rain or distilled water and a doormant period of three months or so they should be OK. No need for an indoor greenhouse unless your house is unusually cold in summer.
You will find though that your plants will be better outdoors, it may be easier to devise a squirrel proof enclosure for them outdoors.
Out of interest what were the symptoms of the plants death? and how did you keep it? it may have been more than the move to indoors that killed it, there may be some other problem.

Cheers
Steve

All of my sarrs are grown inside (I don't have a green house) you need to provide them with artificial sunlight. I grow mine indoors because the squirrels have damaged my non carnivorous plants and I've decided not to risk it. I would like to know some more info on the plant (same questions Steve asked).

RT

Hi Steve and RT,

Thanks. A long, green pitcher helped me hope to save the poor plant. But after the pitcher cracked and fell, it dried up and the rest of the plant browned. I miss the poor guy, too.

A CP nursery employee suggested that I move two VFTs from my desk, where they bathed in a florescent bulb's 200 watts worth of light, grew new traps and seemed healthy, back to the transparent door to my outdoor porch. Droopy, my first Royal Red, kept growing there, but the Clayton's Red died there. Maybe the Sarr and the Clayton's Red died of the same cause?

My other VFTs are hibernating in the fridge I bought them because it's the only place chilly enough for them. Outdoors, they'd freeze to death partly because nobody would shovel the snow that would bury them.

Bill

Daft as it sounds snow is a good insulator and actually protects the plants from the ravages of wind and sudden temperature drops.

Steve

Just up from me a guy had all his Sarracenia Purpurea under 2 foot of snow.
They all survived. 70 plants in the greenhouses didn't...

Daniel_G wrote:Just up from me a guy had all his Sarracenia Purpurea under 2 foot of snow.
They all survived. 70 plants in the greenhouses didn't...

Wow 70 plants! that really sucks, did you ever figure out the cause of death? (also sorry about the losses)

steve booth wrote:Daft as it sounds snow is a good insulator and actually protects the plants from the ravages of wind and sudden temperature drops.

Steve

That helps me a lot, Steve. I only wish I knew my VFTs were tough enough to live outdoors in the winter here in upstate New York.

Daniel_G wrote:Just up from me a guy had all his Sarracenia Purpurea under 2 foot of snow.
They all survived. 70 plants in the greenhouses didn't...

Ooh, that's tragic. I'd feel as though I lost part of my family. Maybe I'm going crazy?

It might not be dead? The rhizome might stil be alive under the dirt.

Goodkoalie wrote:It might not be dead? The rhizome might stil be alive under the dirt.

What might not be dead, my Dana's Delight? I'll check its rhizome.

I think my Big Mouth, my first Clayton's Red, and the Paradisia died, because their rhizomes weren't whitish anymore.

Still i wont throw anything away becuase who knows? WHen a plant of mine dies, i always keep it for a little while to see.

Goodkoalie wrote:Still i wont throw anything away becuase who knows? WHen a plant of mine dies, i always keep it for a little while to see.

That's a good idea, and I kept the Dana's Delight. How many days, weeks or months should I keep it? To me, my CPs are too important for anyone to throw them away as though they were, say, used paper plates.