Question
QUESTION: i dont know why the lids of my sarracenia oreophila are a pale yellow? my oreophila grows in 8 hours of sun and i live in portland, oregon. it has been really surprisingly sunny.... is this the reason?

ANSWER: Hi Dick,

This species should have green leaves.  Our stock of Sarracenia oreophila grows in direct sunlight throughout the day, and they're all have beautiful green pitchers, so too much sun isn't an issue.

In this case, I need a bit more information from you regarding your growing conditions and cultural care:
1) Did you repot the plant recently?  If so, what type of soil did you use?
2) Are the yellowing leaves occurring on all the pitchers or just a few?  If just a few, is it occurring on older leaves from last season?  Are any of the new leaves developing yellow lids?
3) Did you recently spray an herbicide in your garden?
4) When did you acquire this plant?  From us?

Finally, could you upload a photograph of your plant?  It could be that your plant was mislabeled.  

I'm currently uploading the video podcast for June.  Later in the day, watch the video because it features both Sarracenia oreophila and Sarracenia flava.

http://www.cobraplant.com/podcast

Good growing!
Jacob Farin

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yellow lids   QUESTION: well its occuring on all the leaves. recently i sprayed some neem, but i dont think that will do it. the neem pesticide doesnt have any soaps or anything and i have successfilly used it before on other plants. ive had this plant since last april 2008

Answer
Thanks for the photo!  This helps me out.  The yellowing you see is actually normal.  However, it usually happens a bit later in the season, such as mid summer.  With the burst of summer-like weather we've had in the Portland area, Sarracenia orephila thinks it's summer.  The leaves are simply responding to the recent hot weather.  Chlorophyll breaks down and more of the yellow pigment shows up in the leaves.

I checked my plants, and they're also showing the same symptoms.  However, they're not as pronounced as yours, which could be from one of two things, or both.  The first is living in the city limits.  It's typically warmer at nights because of the heat retention by concrete and asphalt.  At the nursery in Eagle Creek, our nighttime temperatures are 5?cooler than Portland.  So the slightly warmer nights might speed up the process.

The other factor is spraying with Neem.  If you sprayed it during the daylight hours, it could intensify the sun's rays, which in turn increases localized heat.  

In short, the mottling is normal.  Had our spring been cool and rainy, the pitchers will last a bit longer.  With our unusually warm spring, I wouldn't be surprised if Sarracenia oreophila and Sarraceia flava produce their winter leaves by late July and early August.