FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I just wanted to figure out what my Sarracenia is doing.

The leaf went from being a tube shape, into having smaller trap openings and elongated/flattened tubes that look more like leaves. I thought this might have been to "balance" the tubes, because they have always been falling over until a week ago I figured out I could just tie them all together with a string.

I also thought it might be due to lower light conditions, because I have them indoors now in lower light. (I live on campus now and am hesitant to leave my plants outside.)

Yes unfortunately those are due to lower light conditions.

Should it be ok in the long run? I figured it would go into dormancy anyways in a few months.
If there will be long term negative effects, then I guess I need to figure something out.
But will it return to normal if I put it outside next summer? If so, then it doesn't really bother me too much.

Yea, the plant will gradually do bad, then worse, until it dies. Pretty soon, it will be making those leaves perminatly, and might not survive dormancy,

Can you supplement it with lights? I have one outdoor plant that's doing that, but these are its first leaves/pitchers since I received it, and all the pitchers had needed to be cut for shipping. I'm assuming mine's just doing it while it puts up its new pitchers, but it's outside and getting full sun all day long.

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I would say it would be best to supplement them with lights like mnwatson said. But with the plants being in a dorm there may be some sort of fire hazard for having grow lights or someone will probably think hes growing pot in his dorm room haha

Lmao.

I decided to put it outside. Keeping my fingers crossed no one will steal it.

My only concern with grow lights was the price, and the fact that I know nothing about grow lights. Any set up over $50 would be super expensive for me. And I have two nepenthes, and a two foot tub with my other CPs, So I think I would need quite a few lights.

I also have mangroves and cycads which I also probably would be tempted o buy lights for, but they don't seem to mind the lower light for winter when watering is reduced.

I think I found a solution.
There is a window here with a lot more direct light as opposed the the window I was keeping them by recently.
I just need to find about a 2 and a 1/2 foot cheap shelf so that I can fit them by the window.

That could work! All my seedlings are in a south-facing windowsill. Next year though I'm going to transplant them all to pots and outside they'll go! I just wish the light was enough to color them up inside. Oh well I guess, they'll look great next year!

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My sundew (D. Adelae) lost some dew recently, but since I put it in this new window it has "dewed up" again, so I'm thinking the light conditions should be ok unaided by big light fixtures.

I'm not so concerned about color as I am just keeping them alive now while I don't have my own house/yard and am stuck here on campus. Since the adelae seems to like the light I hope my other CP's can also have their requirements met by it, although I believe d. adelae can handle lower light better than a Dana's delight pitcher.

Here's an update, it has been outside since september. The leaf shape hasn't changed much. It's colored up nicely, but the "tubes" still have the flat leaf-like spine, and one of the pitcher's hoods is still fused together after opening up.

is this normal for the season? or is there another problem?

Looks like your plant is going dormant. Is that a Danas Delight?

Dionae wrote:Looks like your plant is going dormant. Is that a Danas Delight?

yeah

Id try to get her to the sunniest spot I could find next year. She'll put on an amazing show of pitchers if you do. I'd recommend DD to everyone. Really great looking sarr...like a purple leucophylla.

I agree that this plant needs more light, simply because it is a Sarracenia; however, I do not believe that the pitcher leaves are like that because of low light. How long have you had this particular plant? I would not worry so much about the shape of the leaves first of all, because it is not doing terrible... unless it put out totally different leaves the season before in the same conditions, I would not be alarmed.

Every season that I've grown Sarracenia outside during the summer, they have received full sun on a sunny day from mid-morning to a few hours before sunset. I've noticed that all of the flowering-size plants will put up their flower buds and tallest pitchers of the season right after they come out of dormancy, followed by a second set of summer pitchers that are not as tall. The opposite is true of the smaller rhizomes that do not produce flowers: they will continue to grow larger and taller as the season progresses. I've noticed that both plants will produce the spring pitchers without the flat leaf shape, but their following pitcher sets all have the thinner pitchers with the flat surface area for photosynthesis. The only exception that I've noticed was my Oreophila/Leucophylla hybrid that did not produce any summer pitchers, in which case it only put out the non-carnivorous phyllodia during the summer heat. I've also noticed with my plants that all the pitchers produced during the fall before dormancy did not have the extended leaf shape. This may just be the plants' natural cycle of leaf production according to the seasons, also made clear by the phyllodia that they produce before dormancy and maintain during that period. Don't forget that even carnivorous plants are plants first and foremost and they will need their leaves to be able to capture light regardless of amount of available light.

I've also had one plant in particular that developed a few consecutive pitchers that did not fully open and remained half-closed. However, I only saw this for this one plant, so that may have more to do with the individual plant than anything else. Besides for getting it more sunlight the next growing season, I would not worry about the more traditional leaf shape of the pitchers. Your plant is alive and doing well enough and it will need those leaves to help photosynthesize during dormancy if it is kept above freezing temperatures. I just clip off the dead top pitcher portion and leave as much of the flat leaf portion along with the phyllodia.