Question
S. alata
Hi,
I asked Steve Doonan about my Sarracenia alata. I purchased this plant from your nursery (my Nepenthes sanguinea is doing extraordinarily well, by the way, thanks for that), and I've been growing it in a water tray with some other plants. There was a time when the water tray dried out, and it seemed that many of the leaves were browning. Then, I had the water tray too full, and it exhibited the same symptoms. The other plants (Scarlet Belle, S. purpurea, and VFT) are fine. It's just this one S. alata that's suffering. I'm quite certain it's root rot. The question is, how am I supposed to help my plant now? More leaves have browned, and only one pitcher is unopened and unharmed. New unopened pitchers also seem to be affected. The soil has some mold/fungi growth relatively minimal and did not hurt when the plant was first shipped to me. I'm now trying to oxygenate the roots and not flood them, but I haven't changed the soil yet. I've included a picture of the leaves.
-Edward
AnswerHi Edward,
Your plant probably had some rhizome damage when it dried out. What you need to do now is unpot it and inspect the rhizome. Look for any brown, dead, mushy patches. Cut those away. Also, cut off any of those unhealthy leaves. At this point they do more harm than good. Essentially you're doing triage on the rhizome and trying to remove any places that Botrytis can grow. Spray the rhizome liberally with either a sulfur based fungicide, or Bayer Disease control fungicide. Repot the plant in fresh peat media. I've done this many times with plants that have gotten Botrytis infections in the crown and usually you can save the remaining live material. Sarracenia alata tends to be a pretty tough plant.
It may or may not grow new nice looking pitchers for the rest of this summer. Most likely is you'll get some small leaves or phyllodia. It should be fine nest year. Give it some extra protection during extreme cold over the winter.
Good Growing!
Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.cobraplant.com
