Question
Hi. Yesterday, I replanted my purple pitcher plant and venus into bigger pots.  
The pitcher plant in now in a 6 1/2 by 5 inch pot and the venus is in a 5 inch
pot.  When I replanted them I noticed that they didn't have many roots. The
venus had 2 really long roots and a few small roots.  Is this b/c they are
maybe young? They are not big plants.  Also one of the roots of the pitcher
plant fell off when I was replanting it.  It looked different from the rest.  It was
thick and light brown.  There's another root like this left that didn't fall off.  I
was going to remove it but left it.  Maybe it was rotten from too much water?
What are healthy roots of pitcher plant and venus fly traps supposed to look
like? Thank you again.

Answer
Hi Tracy,

Healthy roots should be white and supple.  Unhealthy roots will be brown and brittle.  If the roots are unhealthy, it could be one of two things: 1) using the wrong soil mix and/or 2) using water that's high in minerals.  These plants are accustomed to sitting in water, so excessive watering is not a contributing factor.  Look at the soil and water quality instead.

On another note, early spring is the best time to repot your plants.  This is give your plants time to recover from root disturbance.  You can repot in fall, as you just did.  Sometimes it's necessary to repot in fall if the pots are too small for proper winter care, or if the soil becomes unhealthy. However we strongly recommend that you keep the root mass undisturbed as much as possible.  If you disturb the roots too much at this time, the plants will refocus its energy on repairing the damage rather than focusing on shutting down for the winter.  This can affect their ability to make it through winter dormancy, depending on the root disturbance.

For more information about caring for North American carnivorous plants, read our care sheets online:
http://www.cobraplant.com/caresheets

Good growing!
Jacob Farin