Pitcher Plant questions

From: Dom Cassone (dcassone@world.std.com)
Date: Wed Sep 02 1998 - 14:03:13 PDT 

Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1998 17:03:13 -0400
From: "Dom Cassone" <dcassone@world.std.com>
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg2881$foo@default>
Subject: Pitcher Plant questions

Hi all,
I am pretty new to CP. I started a small terrarium this spring with a
variety of plants in it. Most are doing well, but my Sarracenia's are
having a couple of problems that I hope the list can help with. First, many
of the leaves/pitchers do not seem to be able to hold themselves up. They
get so high and either need the sides of the terrarium to hold them up or
they fall over to the ground. Second, the tops of many of the
leaves/pitchers get dried and brown before the pitcher is formed.

I am having a similar problem with my Darlingtonia californica. All the
pitchers died after transplanting and I thought that it was dead. I was
just about to pull it out when it got 3 new baby shoots. These seems to
grow well for a couple of weeks, but now they are also dying.

The Venus Fly Traps, the Sundews, and the Butterwort are all doing fine and
trapping bugs regularly. But the pitcher plants have never gotten big
enough to create pitchers for catching. The terrarium is in a south facing
sun room and I put it out most nice days for even better sun. I try to keep
the ground moist at all times. They are planted in a combination of dead
sphagnum moss, sand and perlite, with a layer of live sphagnum on top (that
seems to be doing well)

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Dom Cassone

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