FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I have managed to germinate 3 types of Sarracenia and hopefully some Darlingtonia Californicas.
I have roughly 200 new Sarracenia seedlings growing. I feel blessed because I read the germination rate is terrible for Sarracenia. But now I have to keep them alive. So I have a few questions:
If I receive a Sarracenia or DC and the location is not specified or the type (re: s.purpurea x unknown), would it just be called a hybrid?
So I have yellow pitchers - s. Flava
Purple pitchers s.purpurea
Parrot pitchers s. Minor
Darlingtonia Californicas hybrid?
So would they be for instance a s. purpurea hybrid?
Also they are growing fast it seems, a few centimeters a day. They are only in a inch of soil and they need to be transplanted.
I guess they should be wet all the time?
I was thinking about buying a childs small plastic swimming pool and get some big pots that I can leave sitting in water.
I have a 1 year old s.Flava and it's only in 3 inches of soil. It's just coming out of dormancy and I figure it will get big this year, at least need more than a 3 inch pot.
How deep should pots be for a one year old Sarracenia? And how deep for seedlings?
How soon should they be repotted, and should they be separated so they don't choke each other out. Or separate later?
I have some Sarracenia that sprouted in 6 inches of soil and live moss and they look really happy. Maybe they will be okay in there a year?
I have some seedlings in 6 hours of light and some in 9 hours. And soon the afternoon will be hot. Is less hours in the sun and some shade better for seedlings?
Or just give them all the sun they can handle?
I love fly traps but Sarracenia are amazing. I think the s. Minor is similar to the DC. Any and all help appreciated. Also, if I have a cultivar like s. Scarlett Belle, will the seeds also be s. Scarlett Belle cultivar or a hybrid?
If I get a s. Purpurea var Purpurea seeds from the seed bank will they be the same name or a s. Purpurea hybrid?

Hi FTH

Not sure of the question in the first part of the write up, if you have S. flava and it is crossed with flava then it will be a flava, but if you have had it open pollinated it could be crossed with almost anything so it could be a hybrid of unknown parentage, so should be labelled as either flava open pollinated or flava x ?.

The DC is a single species so will always be a DC, only the location would make a difference if you have it.

Sarracenia even small ones, well grown have long roots, it have potted up some one year old seedlings today with 6” long roots, so the longer pots you can give them the Bette they grow.

6” of soil and moss will last them at least a year and if not too crowded the possibly two.

Yes wet all the time when growing (pots should be in water not deeper than 1/4 of their depth)

If they are used to sun, give them every last photon you can and the colours will reward you.

‘Scarlet Belle’ seeds will not breed true, they will be a mix of one of the ‘Scarlet Belle’ parents, and any other genetic mix that is in them, so the seeds can be grown but not labelled ‘Scarlet Belle’ some may look like the parent but won’t be the same gene mix. So label as ‘Scarlet Belle’ open pollinated (OP) or unknown hybrid.

From a seed bank if the seeds are labelled Purpurea ssp purpurea, they will be crossed with purpurea so will be purpurea. If it is crossed with something else then they will be labelled Purpurea x another sarracenia name.

Cheers
Steve

Thanks Steve.
That makes sense. Then they are like fly traps with the pollination.
So I figure they are open pollinated.
I am getting some s. Scarlett Belle and good to know about the seeds.
So only a division of s. Scarlett Belle will be a s. Scarlett Belle!?
And thanks for answering about the soil. I am probably going to get some big trays.or pots I can leave in a swimming pool. The only down side to all day sun is it increases the amount of water I need but ok.
So all that leads me to ask will all Sarracenia types mix together naturally if open pollenated?

Yes, you can call them I.e “flava OP” or “flava hybrid”.

You are correct, “Scarlett belle” is a cultivar that can only be propagated by divisions, and seeds from Scarlett belle (even if it’s two of them crossed with each other) can still produce some variable seeds and won’t be sprouting exact copies of the parent plant.

Even with all day sun a small pool should hold more than enough water for them. If they are drying out too much you can also pot them up into larger containers whose increased soil volume will hold more water.

All sarracenia can hybridize. You can get some elaborate names since the hybrids also are fertile, and you can hybridize the hybrids and also cross them back to pure species, so i.e. you could have a [(leucophylla x purpurea) x (psittacina x purpurea)] x ( flava x purpurea) ... etc. you can keep crossing and the technical name gets more complicated. Most people don’t keep track of every seedling like this though and will just call them “hybrids”, discarding them if they don’t look interesting or decide to give them a cultivar name.

The Sarracenia that are in deeper pots are happier than some that are in shallow soil, soil that easily drys out. I am transplanting to deeper soil as I have time. Photo taken today.

The sarracenia in the mini bogs are looking the best. I got the flavas in a deeper pot. The Purpura still in the same pot. The Sarracenia seeds I started in just peat moss and sand did the worst. The seeds I started in deeper soil with some live lfsm are the happiest.

Good looking seedlings