Question
Dear Jeff,

in your latest YouTube video I noticed that you guys left all the dead pitchers of your Sarracenias... Won磘 you trim them off?

We have now freezing temperatures in Germany, soil and water are frozen... If temperatures go back above 0 degrees, should/can I trim off green Sarracenia pitchers, or only brown ones? The question here is, if green look traps are still "alive" after freezes?

Thanks!

P.s: your beard style fits you very well! ;-)

Answer
Hi JP,

Sometime in February we will trim all the pitchers off of all our trumpet Sarracenia.  We don't cut back S. purpurea varieties or S. psittacina.  Most all others get cut off.

Many of the late season Sarracenia such as S. leucophylla and S. alata will still have a fair amount of green foliage.  I say cut the all off before new growth starts in the spring.  There are some debates in the cp community about this, but I've just seen the difference too many times.  What little benefit from photosynthesis they would get from those leaves is far offset by new foliage not not growing in as well since it's more shaded.  When a plant is trimmed back the new foliage gets lots of sun, and develops much stronger.  It's also just good hygiene in preventing mold growth on dead material than can pose a threat to plants under some circumstances.

Thank-you for the compliment!

Good Growing!

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