FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I hear a lot about whether cutting off dried Sarracenia pitchers l following dormancy. I let them becprior to dormancy as there was still bug remnants in the pitchers (gross] and pitchers were still partly green. Now that they're waking up I'm undecided as to what to do. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Also the shorter hooded pitcher plant is one of my oldest plants (my entry plant to CP addiction lol). I bought it at a local nursery over a year ago and it looked pretty pathetic at the time. It obviously loves life on my patio. I am not 100% sure what it is though. Any ideas?
I am a Nepenthes fiend with over a dozen beauties taking over my dining room. So I am not as well versed regarding nuances of Sarracenias beyond basic care, so am open to advice.

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I cut mine back back to the green, just past the point of brown. I've heard it's purely aesthetic, but at the same time, I wouldn't want the tangled mess when the new ones come in.

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Some sarr growers claim that leaving anything green on flavas can be good because these plants send up their prime pitchers in the spring, and the plants get the immediate benefit of being able to synthesize the sunlight without having to wait for new greenery to rise. I have also read that minors might prefer to have undamaged traps untrimmed. But most agree that all the dead brown stuff can go. As far as the rest of the greenery, I cut everything, including good pitchers, down to a foot of the rhizome in winter. Doing so promotes stronger growth in the spring.

The red plant does seem to enjoy its growing conditions. It is a psittacina (parrot pitcher plant). Those plants do seem to prefer wetter conditions than many sarrs. My Scarlet Belle really likes to be flooded from time to time and does better if I keep the water level higher than I do for the other sarrs.

Thanks for your reply. I'll trim them back to the green. I purchased some Sarracenias trimmed to above the rhizomes a few months ago so will be interesting to see the difference between cut back vs uncut back. I'll post pics later this year.

Thank you for ID'ing my parrot pitcher. I recently moved it to this bog garden. Hope it does okay. I'll watch it.

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You typically want to trim all the old pitchers before the new ones come up. It's a lot easier and you don't risk damaging the new growth. The low-growing species (purp, rosea, psittacina) however can hold onto leaves for multiple years so you want to make sure to only cut off the ones that are dying back.

Trimmed up. Thank you

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I think that’s a Scarlet Belle you have, not a psittacina. You’ll see the opening of the pitcher is different than a psittacina

Copper2 wrote:I think that’s a Scarlet Belle you have, not a psittacina. You’ll see the opening of the pitcher is different than a psittacina

Thanks for the fyi. I bought it at local nursery last year and poor thing looked pitiful. It's looking rather robust now but wasn't sure exactly what I had.

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