Question
I'm currently growing a sarracenia purpurea in my windosill where it gets 5 hours of nice strong light, but it began to loose its pitchers. 3 weeks have passed and it hasn't produced any new ones.The old ones are now a shades of brown and black. What should I do I don't know what's wrong with it. I suppose It's watering needs are not the problem since the soil is kept moist for most of the day.

Answer
Hi Bryant,

It could be a number of things.  The two things come to mind from your description.  The first is a botrytis (grey mold) fungal infection that attacked the plant at the crown and killed it.  This is very common on plants grown indoors.  Sarracenia really should be grown outdoors.  You also didn't mention much about your overall care.  Hard water could also be the culprit.  What is your water source for your plant?

When submitting a question be sure to include all the information asked for on the question submission page.  In a situation such as this a picture will be a great help also.

What you can do at this point is cut off all the dead leaves.  Unpot the  plant and inspect the rhizome.  If it is still nice and white, and the roots are white, you may still have a chance.  Repot it in a mix of equal parts peat moss and either perlite, sand or pumice. (Never use potting soil.  It will kill your plant.)  Pot it up in  a larger pot than it is currently in.  Keep it in a sunny spot, and make sure the soil never dries out.  For more information on growing Sarracenia visit:  http://www.cobraplant.com/caresheets

If the rhizome is brown and mushy, say some final words for your plant.  It's gone off to the big bog in the sky. :(


Good Growing!

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