Question

Sarracenia flava pitch   Hello, early this spring, I purchased a young sarracenia flava from a grower at the USF spring plant show/sale. She said it was about two, maybe three years old.  She didn't grow carnivorous plants exclusively, only two varieties of sarracenia and she got them from another grower
The plant did very well at first, lots of new little pitchers, had two or three growth points. Then suddenly about three weeks ago, the pitchers began to die off...turning brown, drying up.
I keep it in a tray of water, I use rain water, no fertilizer, of course. Lots of sunshine, I am near Tampa, Fl. I have several other carnivorous plants, including pitcher plants, and all are doing fine..
I didn't repot the sarracenia, didn't want to shock it any further...I don't see evidence of borers, aphids, scale or thrips . In the photo you can see the base of the pitcher stems and the white dots...don't know if this is evidence of a pest or just the decaying pitcher . I haven't trimmed them off yet, hoping it may help you identify the problem.
I'm sure hope you can help, please let me know if I can supply further information...this is a mystery to me, usually I have very good success with my plants

Thanking you in advance for your time
Terrie

Answer
Hi Terrie,

The soil looks like the problem.  That looks like standard potting soil from the bark and dark color.  The plant is slowly dying from nutrient toxicity.  This is very typical for Sarracenia when they are placed in potting soil.  They don't die right away the way sundews or Venus Flytraps would, but will slowly decline.

What you need to do is transplant it to a mix of 1/2 peat moss to 1/2 perlite or clean sand.  Clip off any dead stuff, and then just give it time.  If in doubt about any of the ingredients, just purchase a bag of pre-mixed soil from us or another carnivorous plant dealer.  It may take a season for it to bounce back.

Good Growing!

Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.growcarnivorousplants.com