Question

okefenokeensis   I purchased a plant from you guys a little more than a month ago, details as follows:

1)  S. Minor okefenokeensis

2)  The plant seems to growing very slowly, no pitchers have fully opened yet and there's a little new growth.  It doesn't seem to be wilting or anything, the tallest leaf is about 8" high.  Should I be concerned or is this plant a super slow grower and needs to adjust to my growing conditions?

I know the picture shows some slight damage to one of the leaves, my guess is that it's from a few stray kittens I've seen wandering in my yard but they've seemed to have grown bored of it and left it alone.

3)  Zone 9, 7 hours of full sun daily, 1:1 peat/sand, 12" plastic pot, distilled water, and it was purchased from you guys a little more than a month ago.  I keep the soil moist, never let it dry out, top water it daily with distilled water.  I grow VFTs (one shares the pot with this plant), drosera burmannii, red drosera filiformis, and some hybrid sarracenia in neighboring pots and they seem to be thriving except for this specimen.

4)  Zone 9, Southern California.  It's been a somewhat mild summer so far, high 70s-80s(F).  All my other carnivorous plants are in the same conditions and they're growing like weeds, including other sarracenia species.

Thank you.

Answer
Hi Akira,

These were divisions this spring from larger plants, and S. minor can be like this.  They tend to put more energy into root production after division, so can be very slow to grow.  Give it some time.  It's not unusual for Sarracenia native to the Gulf Coast to slow down mid summer only to pick up growth in the late summer and fall.  You also have a much longer growing season, so you should see some new growth as the weather cools then.  Also, if you are only top-watering, you might try keeping a bit of water in the pot's water tray.  S. minor is used to being pretty wet.

Good Growing!

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