Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 07:55:47 -0500 From: "Susan Farrington" <sfarrington@ridgway.mobot.org> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg2136$foo@default> Subject: Sarracenia rotting
For the past three years, I've had a recurring problem with
Sarracenia purpurea ssp. venosa mostly where the pitchers turn
orangish, then brown, and rot away at the connection to the rhizome,
and the plant can completely die. This occurs only in our conservatory
where we have a carnivorous plant bog display. Other species, like S.
leucophylla, don't seem bothered with this at all. If I rotate potted
plants back and forth to an outside growing area, I can generally keep
the plants alive, but if I leave them too long in the bog, they die. No
sign of pests, in the soil or above. I had suspected fungus before, due
to the poor air circulation in the conservatory, coupled with less than
ideal sunshine, and very high heat and humidity. But now I'm
suspecting a bacterial infection, having noticed that plants I pull out of
the display smell bad, like bacteria. The fluid in the pitchers seems to
stink as well. Granted, kids could be putting stuff in the pitchers that
doesn't belong there, but this happens even to plants that are too far
from the edge for kids to reach. So... anyone have any ideas how to
deal with this (other than constantly rotating?). When I pulled the last
group out, I tipped them upside down to remove all the stinking fluid,
and flushed them all very well with fresh R.O. water.
Thanks for any help,
Susan
Susan Farrington
Missouri Botanical Garden
P.O. Box 299
St. Louis MO 63166-0299
susan.farrington@mobot.org
(314)577-9402
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Jan 02 2001 - 17:35:10 PST