Question
Hi! I have a 4 years old sarracenia alata growing ouside in by south facing back patio. I gets lots of full sun and is watered rugularly. I have noticed lately that each pitcher has red spots appearing along the border of their lid/hood. The spots don't seem to be present anywhere else but there. This is only with the old pitchers, the new growth and pitchers are fine. Could you please  help me? I'm very concerned.

Answer
Hello Victor,

Your Sarracenia sounds healthy to me. As pitchers age, they develop red coloration, sometimes even flushing red all along the length of the pitcher as many of mine do. Red spots might also be an indication of mold growing on the nectar drops. The mold is generally harmless. If you think it is mold, you can take a moist rag or paper towel and try to remove it. If the spots do not come off, they are naturally occurring spots on the pitcher itself due to age and light intensity, which is a good thing. If the plant stops growing, grows malformed pitchers, or some other problem like that, then there is something wrong.

Christopher