FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I've never really grown sarrs before so I'm kinda limping along here. These are some bargain mystery sarrs from California Carnivories. I bought them this past winter and had them in a dark(ish) area in cold temperatures high-30's thru 60's...whatever the temperature was unheated area in the old trailer I grow in was.

They are showing some partial coloration, especially in parts of the caps/hoods and in the veining somewhat. I know the light is close, I raised the light up a bit after taking this picture but there's not a lot of light-raising room left. They need to be outside but the weatherman warned just last night not to jump the gun on planting the garden, he's predicting more frost and freeze sometime around the 20th.<sigh> Anyhow, is the reddening from being too close to the lights or is it natural coloration showing up. It looks like the areas more exposed to the light are showing more red coloration which seems to indicate it is a response to the light. But, is the reddening a good response or a bad (sunburn) response?

Here's a comparison of a week's growth, from February 24 to March 3. The pitchers aren't that much taller after the week, but they sure seem to have "filled out" a lot more...a more mature appearance.

Looks fine to me. If you can, I would put them outside. Harden them off first.

Thanks for the feedback. I've been going back and forth on moving the plants outside. We're still a month+ away from Easter (and the infamous "Easter Snap") so I've been hesitant. I looked at a 30-day forecast (which anything over 7 days I take with a big grain of salt and past fourteen I measure the grains by the cubic foot ). That extended forecast doesn't show any freezes nor near-frosts...if I can depend on it. I'm thinking of moving my larger plants outside and leaving my smaller plants and seedlings inside, at least for now. Once it gets more warm/hot I'll have to move them out of the old trailer, anyway. I may go ahead and move these sarrs and some threadleaf sundews outside. Usually our freezes are only for a night or two (the temperature easily gets above freezing during the days) so it won't be too much trouble to whisk them into the garage for a night or two. Glad to hear the sarrs don't look sunburned!!! Thanks again for the feedback!

The coloration is definitely due to being so close to the lights. However, that does not mean is a bad thing. Keep in mind that, in general, even the more colorful dews, vfts, & sarrs et cetera need high/intense light to make them color up. (Some plants also require cooler temps concurrent with intense light to induce color.). Since yours are "mutts" (or "poi dogs "), you may not be 100% sure if this is just normal colorification. However, as you are aware sarrs are full sun plants, it is highly doubtful that your lights could produce too much light for them.

Thanks for the feedback, DE. After yours and JM's comments I moved some of the plants outside yesterday. Living at the edge of a mixed forest I have plenty of tree rats around so I have some wire mesh cages I use to protect my plants. Looks like I need to be figuring out a different (larger!) fortress for my plants! Anyhow, I moved my larger sundews (threadleafs) and the sarrs that are the topic of this thread along with a smaller leuco outside to the old deck...seems everything around here is old and rundown kinda like me! Last night the temperature dropped to 48F and it's supposed to get up to around 81F today. Night temps are slowly supposed to go up for the next week or so and then ease back down a bit. I've got the sarrs and the big d. tracyii in the mesh cylinder with a clear pan on top to give it some sun protection and maybe keep flying and creeping pests out (the proper cover is being used elsewhere). The larger cage hasn't got shading over it...I may spread a layer of weed-barrier over the top for today...or maybe not. We'll see how it goes weatherwise and sunwise.

I don’t think it’s a sunburn because one pitcher of my S.purpurea had orange-brown coloring in its hood. Then, when the whole plant turned red, those patches turned red too.