FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

My one and only Sarracenia (a Sarracenia leucophylla) looks pretty good today with its newly opened Spring pitchers. There were flies buzzing in the pitchers as I took the photo.



Steve

Wow, that does look good! Mine isn't looking that good yet. I've not had much luck with getting healthy looking Sarrs here in Boulder. I'm not sure if it's the elevation which makes the sun too intense or the dry air, but they don't really ever look stunning.

I'm hoping that they do better in Oregon. They definitely should!

That's one nice looking Sarra Steve - do you have any hints or tips for other growers?

Steve,

Do you lengthen the growing season of your CPs by bringing them into a regular greenhouse in the spring? I've now tried to mimic Willmington conditions for my VFTs. So right now they are indoors next to a south facing sliding door that opens to our deck out back - lots of light. I set the weather application's location to Willmington on my BlackBerry. Everywhere I go now, I'm reminded what sort of temperatures my VFTs should be experiencing!

Adam

Thanks Matt, Linton--

You know, I looked up Sarracenia leucophylla at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarracenia_leucophylla, and the photo was really low resolution, so I added a couple photos (the one above and another closeup) to the article at WikiPedia.org. One other of my photos appears there so far, of a really weird fungus (mushroom) that popped up in a neighbor's yard. It's only appeared twice in the 18 years I've lived here in Portales, New Mexico, US. I had a really hard time trying to identify it, using online fungus-enthusiast forums, etc. It seems to be a fairly rare fungus (a world fungus hunter and photographer wrote to me to ask where and under what conditions I photographed it, because he has never been able to) called Lysurus periphragmoides. It's a "stinkhorn" fungus and really lives up to its name. Almost had to hold my nose while taking the photos: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysurus_periphragmoides.

Linton, I don't really have any special cultural techniques. I grow this Sarracenia in exactly the same mix I use for Venus Flytraps, 50% sphagnum peat moss, 30% silica sand and 20% perlite. And I grow it in exactly the same conditions as the Flytraps in both summer and winter, with same dormancy temperatures and diminished watering. It had scale insect problem last year that became really bad before I noticed it, but I treated it with acephate ("Orthene" or "Orthenex") and that got rid of it.

To tell you the truth, I don't really know much about Sarracenia. This is my only one, although I had an S. purpurea that I gave away to reclaim some space. I even have a question for any Sarracenia experts here at FlytrapCare.com--Is it a good idea or a bad idea or makes no difference, to pour a little bit of water into the pitchers? Does it help them digest the many flies and other insects they catch? Or does it not help, or hurt? The hood of the pitchers looks like it would keep out most rain, so I haven't added any water to the pitchers in the several years I've had this particular plant.

Adam wrote:Steve,

Do you lengthen the growing season of your CPs by bringing them into a regular greenhouse in the spring? I've now tried to mimic Willmington conditions for my VFTs. So right now they are indoors next to a south facing sliding door that opens to our deck out back - lots of light. I set the weather application's location to Willmington on my BlackBerry. Everywhere I go now, I'm reminded what sort of temperatures my VFTs should be experiencing!

Adam

That's neat! (watching the Wilmington weather on your Blackberry)

Yes, I do try to extend the growing season on both ends of the season as much as is practical. Venus Flytraps don't need quite as long a dormancy as they experience in the wild, nor as low or as variable or capricious temperatures. Although the Flytraps are often outside for good portions of the time during the summer, I make sure they remain inside the greenhouse well before the first frost might occur, to extend the end of the season. With the warmer and more stable temperatures inside, the Flytraps don't enter dormancy as soon. But they do let me know when they wish to become dormant (it's fairly obvious with the slowing of growth), and I lower the temperatures and begin to keep them drier at that time, without trying to artificially extend the growing season beyond their own chosen "bedtime."

I keep the thermostat of the greenhouse low (mid 40s Fahrenheit, 8 or 9 Celsius), but well above freezing. In the Spring I begin to raise the temperature a little in late February or early March, and the Flytraps usually come out of dormancy during the first 3 weeks of March. So their season is extended a little, and their flowering and seed setting season is a little early too.

So yes, I extend the season to some extent on both ends, accelerate the flowering and seeding a little, and keep the plants from freezing during dormancy to maintain as many photosynthetic leaves as possible (those leaves continue to make and store food during dormancy for robust Spring growth, and often live for most of the next growing season), and keep them in very bright light or direct sunlight even during dormancy.

Steve

Steve_D wrote:It seems to be a fairly rare fungus (a world fungus hunter and photographer wrote to me to ask where and under what conditions I photographed it, because he has never been able to) called Lysurus periphragmoides. It's a "stinkhorn" fungus and really lives up to its name. Almost had to hold my nose while taking the photos: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysurus_periphragmoides.

Very cool Steve! I've never seen one of those. I'm guessing the photo with the flies on it is yours? That's crazy that the flies are all over it so much.

Steve_D wrote:Is it a good idea or a bad idea or makes no difference, to pour a little bit of water into the pitchers? Does it help them digest the many flies and other insects they catch? Or does it not help, or hurt?

I'm interested in knowing the answer to this as well. I don't have much knowledge about Sarrs, but if I get motivated enough, I might do more research and write articles up for the main part of the site similar to what I've done for Dionaea.

Matt wrote: Very cool Steve! I've never seen one of those. I'm guessing the photo with the flies on it is yours? That's crazy that the flies are all over it so much.

Yes, that's my photo. If you click the photo and then click the medium-sized photo that opens as a result, you can see the full-sized macro photo. It was fun. I just had to document such a weird living thing popping out of the ground like that. It has only appeared twice, both times when we had an unusual spell of wet or densely overcast weather for quite a few days in a row (maybe 5-7 days without the ground drying at all).

Steve

Thanks, Steve.

Great info as usual. I'm going to have to do more research on the sundews that I have now to see what kind of dormancy conditions they require.

But for the VFTs, I'm glad you confirmed my intuition. I've also seen them grown in quite warm green houses here at an early time of year. Obviously, they are way more sellable if they look close to what they looked like at the end of the previous year. I've only been doing this for a week or so. So I won't see the awesome growth just quite yet.

Steve_D wrote:
--Is it a good idea or a bad idea or makes no difference, to pour a little bit of water into the pitchers? Does it help them digest the many flies and other insects they catch? .

Hello. Although many Sarrs will collect some rain water in their natural habitats it is better to NOT add water to pitchers. Pitchers will produce their own digestive juices & adding water will generally disrupt the balance.

About the only exception is if they lose their fluid during handling. We have never added water to any of our pitcher plants we grow either outside or in the greenhouse. On the rare occasions that we do fertilize we use 1/4 strength ACID Miracle Grow & just lightly mist the plant. I know some people will add a drop or two inside the pitchers instead.

Steve, what a nice Leuk. Ours are just starting to finally grow for the season. It is nice to see some pics of plants that are looking sooo nice.

Mary

Steve_D wrote:Is it a good idea or a bad idea or makes no difference, to pour a little bit of water into the pitchers? Does it help them digest the many flies and other insects they catch? Or does it not help, or hurt? The hood of the pitchers looks like it would keep out most rain, so I haven't added any water to the pitchers in the several years I've had this particular plant.

While I am no expert, I have seen this question several times and I am under the impression that all Sarracenia (except Purpurea) will begin producing the enzymes at the bottom of their pitcher; so, no it is not necessary to do this. But, it won't hurt anything if you add a little bit... However, with S. Purpurea, you could add water if you want because it doesn't produce enzymes in the same manner, they need rain water in order to help with digestion. Here is a link for ya:

http://www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq3100.html

Thanks for the link, Neal. It looks like Sarracenia purpurea is the exception to the rule that most Sarracenia don't really need water added to the pitchers, producing their own fluids, while Sarracenia purpurea relies more on collection of rain water and natural decay of its prey by microorganisms that populate the water in its pitchers. At least that's how it seems to me at this point.

mkburleson wrote: Hello. Although many Sarrs will collect some rain water in their natural habitats it is better to NOT add water to pitchers. Pitchers will produce their own digestive juices & adding water will generally disrupt the balance...

Thank you for the information and comments, Mary. Sarracenia are mostly unfamiliar territory to me.

The Miracle grow to use is Miracid, you do not need to add water the pitchers do not have standing water in the pitchers they are just moist adding water also makes them prone to falling over S. pupurea is an exception they need water to be added.
Craig

It hurts my heart to look at such beautiful leucophyllas!
I've been trying to find some of my own for what seems like forever. They may not be the newest, coolest hybrid, but the plain old regular S. leucophylla is the pitcher that caught my attention the most, sending me on a crazy goose chase ever since! Ha ha! You're lucky to have them in your home.