Question
Hi!

I have a well established carnivorous bog (10 years) with several mature Sarracenia species - lava, leucophylla, minor and many different hybrids - some from Sarracenia Northwest.  Zone 7 - full sunlight. Bog medium is peat/sand mixture - encapsulated from surrounding soil with pond liner and roughly 5 foot deep. It's always damp, but is deep enough to not ever get overly saturated

Last fall and winter, several of the flavas were overrun with fern rhizomes. I've dug them all out from the sarracenia rhizomes, but not before they choked their spring growth. This, and a nearby overgrown English Dogwood that was stealing some of their sun have left the affected plants with very spindly leaves, few pitchers and in need of some love.

I'm confident the plants will recover, but if there's any type of mild fertilizer that would be safe to give them a jump on leaf production so they can possibly rebuild their energy stores, and recover this summer, I'd love to hear about it.

What would you recommend?

Thanks so much in advance for your help.

Kind regards,
Danny Hall

PS - image attached. To state the obvious, the left side of the bog was the affected side. :)

Answer
Hi Danny,

You can use Osmocote pellets around the rhizomes.  These release fertilizer very slowly making them safe for Pitcher Plants.  Put roughly 4 pellets around the base of each rhizome.  Don't exceed this or it will cause more harm than good.

You'll need to really stay on top of weeding, since the fertilizer will fertilize them too.  Also, be sure the plants are getting full sun (you mentioned shade from the Dogwood tree), or the fertilizer would be detrimental.

Good Growing!

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