Question
Hi! I don't know if this is anything you guys have tries out before but I wanted to try something today. I took two leaf pullings from my sarracenia purpurea and made sure there was still the white tip on the end of the pulling where it came off from the rizome. I have the two pullings sitting a cup of distilled water hoping that they will produce roots. Do you know if sarracenia purpurea can be successfully propagated this way? If so am I doing it correctly so far, how long should I wait til I see roots emerge?

Answer
Hi Victor,

Both S. purpurea and S. psittacina can be propagated by leaf pullings.  I've tried it on a few occasions and got fairly mediocre results.  Spring is definitely the best time to try it when the plants are going into the growing season.

What you're doing is fine.  Keep the pullings in bright light, but not avoid super hot sun.  If they strike you should see some progress in about 2 months.  Plantlets will be small and slow growing at first.  

Here's more information:  http://www.carnivorousplants.org/cp/Genera/Sarracenia.php  Scroll down the page to the article on Sarracenia leaf pullings.  You can download the article as a pdf.

Good Growing!

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