Question
QUESTION: The Sarracenia I have from you guys in 3" and 4" pots are rearing up their reddish green buds after a winter and I know your e-book says to repot yearly. Is this absolutely necessary to maintain the vigor and growth that I saw the first year? The Sarr's are easy to repot but I'm worried about my neps.

Does this apply to Nepenthes? I hear the roots do little other than absorb a little water and support the plant and I've seen them, they're threadlike almost. I would really hate to even temporarily stunt the growth of my prized nepenthes. Also transplanting with the bark/sphagnum media that is readily available seems rather difficult.

Could you prep me on the technique?

What have you guys found in your infinite experience? The 5+ year old Nepenthes Sanguinea in the picture with the cat looks like it would hate to be repotted and die back a bit

ANSWER: Hi Chris,

Any Sarracenia that is in a small pot, 3-4" should be repotted yearly.  The peat is prone to breaking down after a year.  Plants in larger pots can go longer.  We usually repot larger plants, 5-15" every two to three years.  Sometimes you just have to use good judgement and base repotting on condition of plant, how big it is, and how well it's growing.

Nepenthes don't need to be repotted as often since they don't live in as wet a soil as Sarracenia.  Depending on how big the plant is, and if the soil is starting to break down, every two to three years will be fine.  If the plant is in a large pot I've gone as long as 5 years.  The Nepenthes sanguinea in the picture was repotting a year after the photo was taken, and has grown into a monster.

There's nothing special about using the course planting media.  When transplanting Nepenthes I prefer to disturb the existing root-ball as little as possible.  You just get a new pot ready, moisten the soil mix, put some in the bottom of the pot, place the plant in, then fill around the plants roots until it is stable.  Add a little extra mix and gently tamp down.  Soaking/watering your plant with a solution of Superthrive will also help with transplanting shock.

Next month when our Nepenthes DVD comes out we will have a chapter that goes into detail on repotting Nepenthes.

Good Growing!

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


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Closet Jungle!   QUESTION: Thanks for the answer. So when you say disturb the root ball as little as possible, this means to not wash out the old media? I have some plants that are using sand/peat/perlite mix, so would I wash out the old soil, or just leave it in the roots and fill the rest of the pot with my cypress mulch/LFS mix?

The Sanguinea (tiny plant) I have never really took off. But all the others seemed to do fine. Am I better off just getting a new one at this point? The leaves seem to have gotten really tiny over the winter even though I maintained a 12-hour photoperiod

By the way, Nepenthes Miranda is a must have plant. It's growth in one year has been spectacular and the all-red foliage is amazing to behold!

Answer
Hi Chris,

I like to give Nepenthes a brief (15 minutes) soak in Superthrive.  I just gently set them in the water.  Some of the media falls off, but I don't actively wash off the roots.  On a large plant much of the media in the center of the root ball will remain.  On a small plant, most will fall off.  Just place the plant in the new pots and fill in media around the roots and gently tamp it in.

With your N. sanguinea, if it's not growing much, fertilize it some.  Your closet greenhouse is pretty isolated environment, so it won't be catching many insects.

I never cease to be amazed my N. x miranda.  Not only do they grow quickly, but they reach an amazing size.  In addition, they are not fussy.  If you have a sunny window, they will grow like a trooper.  I've watched people let them go bone dry, and wilt, just to bounce back when watered.

Good Growing!

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