Question
My mystery pitcher!
Hello! I've had various plants over the years but I wanted to get into carnivorous plants for a while. My fiance tried in a tank and it failed so I'm trying the open pot method. I stumbled upon pitcher plants at whole foods (their scientific name is simply listed as "Sarracenia" and bout two. I'm going to re-pot them relatively soon with the peat moss/perlite mix and I'm only going to use distilled water. My main concern is I knew little before taking them on and it's November (I live in NY and the temp range has been anywhere from 32 to 65 outside). It's usually about 65 degrees in my home but lighting might be an issue if they like full sun. Should I try to "hibernate" them now? Should I use an alternative lighting source? If so what kind... fluorescent? T5? Is there a specific kind of light fixture and type of bulb I should use? As for putting them into a dormant stage... what if I left them near my open window (It usually remains open slightly to let fresh air in even if cool) or in my garage? I'm worried about them getting too cold as temperatures here will drop to freezing. I included a picture of one of them (same kind) but I really don't know what kind do then research what it's exact needs are. I apologize for writing so much and thank you for taking the time to read this! I really want to have these babies survive and give them what they need!
AnswerHello Jessica,
First things first, best not to repot them yet, wait until next Spring when they are ready to warm up and begin growing again. Sarracenias are full sun temperate plants that need seasonal changes and dormant periods in winter. For now, your first concern is to make sure the plants are getting ready for winter.
Second, the plant looks like a hybrid, probably Sarracenia leucophylla X purpurea or perhaps a more complex hybrid. In bright sun it would likely have dark purple leaves like one of its parent plants, the Purple Pitcher Plant.
Good going with getting out of the terrarium stage and into the open pot method. Most carnivorous plants are easily grown open pot like a typical houseplant or outside garden plant. Terrariums are a major reason many people lose their beginner collection of carnivorous plants.
If the plants have been grown outside, they will be ready to go dormant as soon as cold weather of about 40 degrees hits. Those Sarracenias are hardy plants that grow in a variety of cold winter zones from zone 4 to zone 9 or 10. Any such Sarracenia will do fine in 40 degree weather through winter so long as the roots do not dry or freeze solid. If the plants have been grown indoors and have no concept of season, you can reduce the number of hours the plants get each day by one hour per week until they are down to about 8 hours of light a day, then reduce the temperature down to 40 over a few days. You can clip off most of the leaves and just leave a few newer leaves that look good, even clipping them back half-way and just leaving a few inches would be fine as that inhibits mold growth on any possible dead material. Keep the soil moist, but water a little less, keep only a fraction of an inch in the water tray if needed, or just monitor daily and keep the soil moist. In your situation, a cold window with a nice chill breeze would probably be great. Just place a thermometer near the plant and keep tabs on what the weather will be like to determine if you will need to protect them from totally freezing in an accidentally left open window in a really low cold front. Keep the plants between 35 and 55 degrees to keep them dormant all winter. If they warm above 60 they will try to grow again and expend energy. In dormancy, they do grow slightly but just very slowly, so keeping them in a well lit window would be fine so they can still receive light.
In Spring, as the weather warms and the sunlight brightens and extends in daylength, the Sarracenias will break dormancy and begin to grow new, bigger leaves. If you can keep them outside in full sun all day, they will respond with bright colors and healthy growth. They can be grown successfully indoors, but that takes a lot of time, extra cash, and experience with trying to grow basically full sun garden plants indoors. Something most people simply do not or cannot do since it requires a lot of artificial lights, windows and space for the setup. Try tropical plants like Nepenthes, Sundews, and varieties of temperate and "tropical" Butterworts for good indoors houseplants of the carnivorous sort. If pitcher plants are to your liking, try the Nepenthes, Asian Pitcher Plants, as they are great houseplants and easy to grow for the most part, requiring only partial to strong filtered sun or strong florescent light (40 watt cool white shop light tubes of the T-12 kind are the best overall) all day. Use 1-3 side by side twin mount shop lights covering a four foot by up to 15 inch area hanging from shelves or over a table or desk and you have a great setup for a few small to medium or one or two large Nepenthes.
Check with online carnivorous plant vendors like cobraplant.com for pictures and details on all the previously mentioned plant genera.
Christopher
