Question

Strange Pitchers   QUESTION: Hello,

I have a problem with a red tube yellow trumpet pitcher plant. I bought the plant a few years ago from your nursery and it did completely fine the first and second year I've had it. However, during the next two years, it just quit growing pitchers or grew weird and distorted pitchers. I bought a second yellow trumpet pitcher and it too eventually became pitcherless.

I live in Los Angeles, Ca. and it receives full sun throughout the day, except during winter; the house blocks out the sun.  I'm using a 1:1 ratio of peat moss to perlite as soil and its sitting in a container full of DI water.

Would the lack of light during winter be a factor that caused this lack of pitchers and this wierd growth?
I really appreciate your help.

Thank you again, Michael

ANSWER: Hi Michael,

No.  I've kept Sarracenia in completely sunless areas in the winter once they were fully dormant to have them grow back fully normal in the spring.

This looks like hard water damage.  Sarracenia are more tolerant of hard water than most carnivorous plants short term, but it will catch up with them over time.  The lack of pitchers, the brown tips, are tell-tale signs.  Big plants such as flavas often show the problems earlier since they have big root systems and pull up lots of water.  The minerals concentrate over time.

Tell me more about your water.  You said "DI", which I'm assuming you mean deionized.  What exact type of filter are you using?  Have you tested the output water with a TDS meter?  What was the ppm?

For now, transplant your plants to fresh soil.  Try using only distilled water or rainwater (if you get any rain this time of year).

Let me know what you find out.

Good Growing!

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

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hello,

Thank you for your help, but sadly I'm not equipped to measure the hardness of my water. I buy my water from a drinking water store near my home. Their water goes through a carbon filtration system and then through a reverse osmosis system and then through another round of carbon filtration(or so they advertise). The water, that my plants are currently sitting in, has never been changed; water goes in and can only leave through evaporation. Maybe I need to change water?

I have many other sarracenias and flytraps that have been sharing and sitting in the same tub of water with my S. Flavas. I have a leucophylla and a Dana's Delight hybrid with rhizomes much larger than the flava and they seem to be doing fine (with plenty of nice looking phyllodia). My other sarracenias are fine too, but some of them with smaller rhizomes seem to always be suffering from some sort of fungal infection; the leaves wither away as if there's no water. Would that be an indication that there's a problem with my water hardness?

Thank you for your time,
Michael

Answer
Hi Michael,

You may not be equipped to measure the hardness of the water, but that store certainly is.  If they are selling a product like that they should have spec sheets on the water and what is in it.  Sometimes for drinking water they will purify it, then add minerals back into the water to "sweeten" it.  They do that because some people don't like the taste of water with a very low mineral content, and there is a lot of who-ha out there about loosing calcium from your body if you drink water too low in minerals.  The figure you want to look for is the total dissolved solids, or TDS.  It should be 50ppm or less to be good for cp.

If you've never changed the water the plants are sitting in, it's time.  If the water has even a small mineral content it will build up over time if not flushed out by rain or being changed once in a while.  Also, how deep are you keeping the pots in the water?  The water level should be no more than 1/4 of the way of the pots.  During hot weather you can get breakdown of the peat if the water is too deep and stagnant.  Also, during hot spells be sure to do some top-watering of your plants.  This helps to oxygenate the soil.

As I mentioned before, it takes Sarracenia awhile to show signs of hard water damage, but the recurring fungal problems could be an indicator.  Weak plants are more prone to problems.  Different species respond differently to hard water also.

The bottom line is you need to find out if the water is the culprit or not.  If it isn't (if it has a low mineral content, then it's probably just some of the things I talked about above and some simple changes will help.

Good Growing!

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