Question
Plant
Hi guys, I have a question regarding my sarracenia leucophylla. I purchased the plant bare root earlier this spring right as it was starting to wake up from dormancy. The rhizome was quite large, and I was looking forward to seeing the pitchers that it would produce. However, the plant only produced one flimsy pitcher between May and July, and the opening was incredibly small. During August, it has so far put up two pitchers of around 8-9" in height, once again having very small openings. They were probably about a quarter of an inch wide at the opening. It is putting up another, but I am somewhat concerned about the small openings on such big pitchers, and its very sluggish growth. Is this normal? I live in USDA zone 4/5, and the plant grows outdoors in more or less full sun in my bog garden. It grows in sphagnum peat moss, with a covering of live sphagnum moss. I water it with my tap water, which I know isn't recommended, but my tap water is very clean spring water that is low in dissolved particles. I have never had any issues with the water. Any thoughts?
AnswerBased on your description, a couple things could be contributing to the poor growth. The number one factor for poor growth is a recent division. This species, along with a few of the southern species, don't respond well to division. They sometimes take a year or two before to recover before they start producing their nice looking pitchers. We see this at our nursery in Oregon. For this reason, we release divisions of this species during their second year after division. So if your plant was divided prior to you receiving it, then it'll need another year or two before you see nicer pitchers.
Fungus could also be a contributing factor. This species tend to be most prone to fungus than other species. In fact, other species are much more resistant. For some reason, and we're not sure why, this species is simply prone to it. However, with the amount of sphagnum moss you're using, it might not be an issue. Live sphagnum tends to protect against fungus.
You didn't mention when you placed your rhizome in your bog garden, but if you did it in spring before the last frost of the season, this may have set the plant back and shortened its growing season. Typically in the south, the plant will have an extended growing season, from February through November. In Vermont, the growing season is much, much shorter.
The only recommendation I can provide is to wait until next season. I suspect your plant was recently divided, so this type of pitcher production is quite normal. However, if next summer the pitcher production is still skimpy, you may have a variety of leucophylla that is simply not very adaptable to short growing seasons. You may need to wait until September 2012 to make this assessment.
Good growing!
Jacob Farin
