S. purpurea overwintering question

S. purpurea overwintering question#388335

By DesertPat -  Sun Sep 12, 2021 2:05 am
Posts:  411
Joined:  Mon May 20, 2013 10:42 pm

- Sun Sep 12, 2021 2:05 am #388335

Hey all,

This will be my first time overwintering a S. purpurea or any Sarracenia at all. I live in central New Mexico where wintertime temps often drop to roughly 15°F and sometimes 10°F (-9° — -12°C) overnight on the coldest days. I'm under the impression that Sarracenia can tolerate that, I'm more concerned with the watering schedule for them. How often should I give them water and is it best to do as a topwatering or bottomwatering over the dormancy period?

As a note for deeper rooting plants such as Sarracenia I often grow them in 16oz Styrofoam cups, if that matters to anyone. Also, I have successfully wintered Dionaea here by keeping the plants right beside the building walls for some overnight heat, should I do the same with Sarracenia?

Thanks in advance,

Patrick

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Re: S. purpurea overwintering question#388336

By optique -  Sun Sep 12, 2021 2:17 am
Location:  Greenville SC
Posts:  1911
Joined:  Fri May 24, 2019 11:15 pm

- Sun Sep 12, 2021 2:17 am #388336

IMO its more about how long they are at low temps, if temps rise in the day time to above freezing your good. cold it self will not hurt your plant its a side effect of the cold, dehydration of the plants tissues. This takes time and wind speeds it along.

If your flytraps are good, sarracenia should also be fine

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Re: S. purpurea overwintering question#388419

By steve booth -  Tue Sep 14, 2021 9:33 am
Posts:  1232
Joined:  Mon Jul 18, 2011 11:15 am

- Tue Sep 14, 2021 9:33 am #388419

Purpurea will take those temperatures without problem as will most Sarracenia and VFTs, but some species such as minors, psittacinas and rosea arent good at tolerating temperatures below 0C.
The problem you may have is with your pot size (thermal mass) and the possibility of frequent freeze and thaw cycles and/or desiccating winds drying the leaves out while the pot is frozen solid, so the roots cant draw water up to replace the loss from the leaves.
They should be kept just damp over winter if possible, but as its a purpurea dont worry if it gets sopping wet, they are the toughest of the Sarracenia species. Top or bottom water, it doesn't really matter too much as in the wild it obviously rains on them (top watering) but they have a reservoir of groundwater in the bog (bottom watering).
Cheers
Steve

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