FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Yea so I went to my local Lowes today, my dad was looking at new faucets for the house and I decided to go and check out their CP "section". I was amazed to find such healthy looking CPs. And this time they not only had VFT but they had Pitcher plants as well. They had two different kinds, Tropical and Purple. I opted for the Purple, I purchased one of their bigger pitchers for about $8. It looks really healthy, but it does not have any distinct coloring yet, probably because they never got any sun. I will post some pictures once I find my camera.

Any tips on how to care for this? I do have a VFT so I know about the sun, soil, water, blah blah blah.
But are there any special instructions on how to care for this particular CP? I read somewhere on this forum that for purple pitchers their pitchers need to be filled with some water?

EDIT* yea its a Sarracenia Purpurea. It has 4 nicely sized pitchers, and 1small, new pitcher.
Pics

Hello,

By Purple pitcher you mean Sarracenia I think. The care for this CP is the same as your VFT.

hb

yeah, their the same as VFT's, but purple pitchers are the only sarracenia species that rely on water being added into their pitcher, about 1/3 of the way up is good. In nature, they get their liquid from rain.

Nice Sarr, it will give you a nice Red coloration when exposed to direct sun. You have to acclimatize it first. It looks like it grew under poor artificial lighting but overall a healthy looking plant.

hb

Good thing I read this. I need to add water to mine

Congrats on your first pitcher plant. It looks like a healthy one!

Yeah dude never let ur pitchers dry put cuz they'll wither away! But once exposed to sunlight they should become real colorful!! R u going to grow them outside???

I have never experienced the need to add water to my pitchers. Even under long periods of no rain with the pitchers staying dry for months at a time, the pitchers never withered away at all. I personally don't think it is a big deal unless you are trying to feed them by hand indoors where they will never accumulate any liquid due to rain. Just my experience.

sipecsus wrote:Yeah dude never let ur pitchers dry put cuz they'll wither away! But once exposed to sunlight they should become real colorful!! R u going to grow them outside???

Yea im eventually gonna keep em outside. But I need to acclimate them first, bought them from Lowes where they weren't exposed to natural light and heat. Like in a week or so, they should be outside all the time. I filled them about halfway with water for now, since they are indoors right now.

nealfor wrote:I have never experienced the need to add water to my pitchers. Even under long periods of no rain with the pitchers staying dry for months at a time, the pitchers never withered away at all. I personally don't think it is a big deal unless you are trying to feed them by hand indoors where they will never accumulate any liquid due to rain. Just my experience.

The other sarracenia species (besides purpurea) actually don't like water being added, which is why they have hoods designed to block rain. I meant adding water only for S. purpurea. Peter D'Amato of California Carnivores told me that (I'm so lucky that I live close to him )

mktamin wrote:

nealfor wrote:I have never experienced the need to add water to my pitchers. Even under long periods of no rain with the pitchers staying dry for months at a time, the pitchers never withered away at all. I personally don't think it is a big deal unless you are trying to feed them by hand indoors where they will never accumulate any liquid due to rain. Just my experience.

The other sarracenia species (besides purpurea) actually don't like water being added, which is why they have hoods designed to block rain. I meant adding water only for S. purpurea. Peter D'Amato of California Carnivores told me that (I'm so lucky that I live close to him )

You live next to Pete D'amato? That's awesome!

no, not next, just within driving distance. I don't think anyone lives next to his nursery because the area is pretty rural

Okay this is the third day I have had my plant. I added water to all the pitchers, I later on went out side and found one of the big (about 1cm) black ants to feed it. I threw it in the pitcher. But its just floating there, it is dead but its not digesting. Do I need to wait for the plant to secrete enzymes?

-Thanks

It takes a very long time for insects to be digested, and I believe sarracenias rely on bacteria and their own enzymes. It might be hard to tell when it gets digested, because I'm pretty sure the harder outer body remains partly intact.

No need to feed them. I got plenty of volunteers coming in to checkout the plant and then falling in