Re: Sarracenia Leaves

Peter Cole (carnivor@bunyip.demon.co.uk)
Sun, 04 Feb 1996 01:10:06 GMT

twhitley@onyx.xtalwind.net writes:

> Hello,
>
> I had been pondering on this problem for a long time and perhaps
> someone on this mailing list can offer an explanation. I have been
> growing my Sarracenia purpurea for almost two years now. During the
> summer when I lived in GA and currently at this time of year when I
> am living in FL, the topmost portion of the Sarr pitchers on the
> edges are dried and brown. I am wondering if this is a result of low
> humidity or direct sunlight or from keeping the plant a little drier
> than usual this time of year. The plant is not in a complete dry
> state but it is not in it's usual pan of water either. Does anyone
> have any ideas?

I'd expect a bit of dieback at this time of year, though S.p
doesn't suffer as much as some. But brown edges in the Summer
sounds like a lack of water to me. You can't overwater it while
it's in growth - it will happily tolerate complete immersion for
days at a time (though it won't catch many flies :) and it will
happily soak up as much sun as it can get, so I'd say raise the
water level. This should also help the humidity around the pot
too (if humidity's a worry, planting longfibre sphagnum moss
around the plant will help.) If for one reason or another you
can't do this, then you might try putting the pot in a bucket of
water for 1 day/week or so.

Happy growing,

Peter