Question
QUESTION: Last year i upgraded my n american pitcher plants to BIG pots, 10-16 inch pots.  I'm wondering, what is better for the plant, keep growing as one large plant, rhizomes are approx size of baseball to a few softball sized. Will the plants fair better growing that way, (and not repotting them) or dividing into many smaller plants (and obviously repotting them.  OR, just repotting them in the spring as large, single plants.... In your e-book, in the division portion, the example plant was in the same pot for 4 years, that sparked this particular question.  THANKS....

ANSWER: Hi Darren,

It depends on the species some.  If those plants are S. flava, S. oreophila, S. leucophylla, S. minor or generally speaking, larger rhizome species leaving them together for another year or two can give you a spectacular plant with lots of flowers.  Same goes for hybrids with larger rhizomes.  Part of this is also personal preference.  If you want a larger show plant, leave it together.  If you want more plants, divide.

The group of plants I would say to divide before they get too big would be the Sarracenia rubra varieties.  They can develop fungal problems in the rhizome mass if it gets too big.  I would say divide them this year, or next if they are at the size you mentioned.

Good Growing!

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

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

QUESTION: My follow up question is in reference to the benefits of raising cape sundews in cold weather atsmopheres.... Do they grow stronger or tougher?  produce better seeds? grow larger?  i read in a chatroom about how much better and stronger the plants were if they were allowed a dormancy period?  i've had capes for over 3 years now, produced 100's of offspring, and have never had any problems.  just wanted your imput on this.

PLUS... i just watched your podcast... FANTASTIC!!  reading about how to do things, and experiencing what i THINK is the way to do things... or seeing and hearing from the pros... priceless.  Can't wait for the DVD.

Oh, and i finally got pictures taken of my N. AMerican pitcher "wintering zone" in my garage.  I'll get them loaded tomorrow night, and will send them this week.   

and as always, thanks for opening my eyes to this fantastic hobby.

Answer
Hi Darren,

From what I've seen over the years, Cape sundews have no true dormancy.  They are capable of tolerating light freezes, but what happens is they simply die back and re-sprout from the roots.  It's similar to what happens to many species of ginger and banana that are labeled as hardy.  They wouldn't normally die back in a warmer climate, but they can survive the cold and regrow from the rhizomes.  Cape sundews on the other hand, do enjoy cooler temperatures.  They seem to grow best for us in the fall and spring.

I'm glad you liked the podcast.  The first one was a bit rough around the edges, but we will improve as we do more.  We though folks would like seeing what we really do with the plants.  Disbelief tends to be very high just in print.

I'll look forward to seeing your pictures.


Good Growing!

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