Dying leaves

Clarke Brunt (CLARKE@lsl.co.uk)
Fri, 11 Mar 94 13:25 GMT

>My Sarracenias and Dionaea regularly have browning, dying leaves.
>Is it beneficial to cut them, or would that be harmful?
>I've noticed that most pitchers die from the top down, so I've been
>erring on the side of not cutting since there must be some photosynthesis
>going on in the lower part of the pitcher.

On both these species, I just snip off the dead bits with scissors,
leaving the lower still green bit. By this time of year, with new
growth just starting, I have very few entire pitchers left, and no
traps on the VFTs. This is really cosmetic, rather
than beneficial, unless there is a danger of mould starting on the
dead bits. Once the leaf is completely dead, then I attempt to pull
it off at the base, rather than cutting, so as not to leave a stub,
but often they are still very well attached. Once it has been dead
long enough, a Dionaea leaf can usually be pulled off cleanly.

On the subject of Dionaea, I see a flower stem starting in the
centre of one. Sometimes I cut these off, but I'm not sure that
I see any evidence of the energy being channelled into new traps
instead. Rather, it just sits there with the chopped flower stem
still visible. I think I'll just let it flower if it wants to this
time.

Clarke