Question

Sarracenia Purpurea  

Sarracenia Purpurea   I have been growing my sarracenia purpurea for almost 2 years now in a 10 gallon aquarium which has a lid to trap in humidity and moisture. The aquarium contains 2 sarracenia purpureas and two sarracenia flava. The two sarracenia flava share a pot because that is how I got them. I have been growing the sarracenia flava for about 1 year.Since it has been growing there I have divided the plant once and it has flowered once. I live in South Eastern Texas just North of Houston. I was wondering if the plant would be able to adapt to the changes of living in the aquarium in which it gets about 4 hours of direct sunlight and has high humidity at all times to living outside in which it gets 6 or more hours of direct sunlight and experiences temperatures above or just below 100 degrees.

Answer
Hi Matthew,

You can certainly grow your plants outdoors in your area.  What I recommend, however, is that you wait until fall to put them outdoors.  If you put them outside now, they will burn badly since they've been in relatively low light conditions.  Wait until your daytime temperatures in in the 70's in September or October, then move them outside.  Just make sure they have trays of water to set in, and that they are in a sunny location.  You will still get some burn, but as the plants go into dormancy you'll just be able to cut off old leaves.  Growth will resume in spring, and you'll see much brighter colors and solidly developed leaves.  You'll be amazed by the difference in appearance of your flava.  It would be a good idea to transplant all your plants next spring into larger pots.

In Houston your climate is plenty humid, so that is not something you need to worry about.  The humidity requirements of carnivorous plants is a grain of truth with a whole lot of myth.  In addition, you have native stands of Sarracenia alata growing not that far from you in East Texas.

Be sure to check out our caresheet pages:  http://www.cobraplant.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=10  Also consider our volume #1 DVD:  http://www.cobraplant.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=38&products_id=

Good Growing!

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