Question
QUESTION: Hey,
I have a purple pitcher that i got from home depot and it came in a little see through container and it has almost no information on what to do with it. so i am not sure if you are suppost to put water in the pitchers and also mine is a light green and it hasent cought a single bug or anything. one spider has crawled in it and then it just crawled back out and left it. so there in no liquid in the pitchers and one of the pitchers is super soft and it just lays on its sides. I am not sure what to do with it. it says dont take the cap off because of humidity and it needs direct sunlight but i live in ferndale washington so its not that sunny.

Thanks,
Michael

ANSWER: Hi Michael,

In general, those plants that you get at the hardware store are actually more difficult to grow than those you get from a nursery that specializes in carnivorous plants.  You see, that humidity dome is one of the worst ways to grow carnivorous plants.  The plant that you have grows best outdoors in full sun, not in a humidity chamber.  The plant will never reach its full potential in there.

Unfortunately, the steps to acclimate your plant to outdoor growing is time consuming, so you have to weigh whether it's worth the effort or to simply purchase another plant that is already acclimated to outdoor growing.

First, throw away the instructions that came with your plant.  The instructions are filled with myths and misinformation.  

Next, keep your plant in a sunny windowsill, such as a south window.  But keep it out of direct sunlight for now.  For the next three days, keep the lid on your terrarium open just a bit.  Use a pencil to keep it open.  This will allow excess moisture to escape.  

After three days, increase the opening a bit more.  After another three days, increase the opening even more.  After yet another three days, remove the lid altogether.  Throughout this process, make sure the soil is always moist.  If it starts to dry out, add more water.

When you're able to remove the lid, transplant your plant in a 4-inch pot with a fresh mix of 1 part peat moss or 1 part perlite.  This is your standard soil for carnivorous plants.  Place your plant outdoors where it can get dappled sunlight.  Also keep your plant in a saucer of water.  Make sure the plant is sheltered from the direct afternoon sunlight.  What you're doing at this stage is acclimating your plant to direct sunlight.

During this period, your plant will experience some leaf burn.  This is completely normal and unavoidable.  It's like when you go out in the sun for the first time in summer.  You might get some sunburn, but after a while you can be in the sun without getting burned.

After a couple weeks in dappled sunlight, find a very sunny location to grow your plant.  Ideally it should get 6 or more hours of direct sunlight.  You can cut off the damaged older leaves, but from this point onwards all new growth will be perfectly acclimated to outdoor growing.

For more information about growing Sarracenia pitcher plants and other carnivorous plants, visit our care sheet section on our main website:
http://www.cobraplant.com/caresheets

Good growing!
Jacob Farin

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

QUESTION: Alright cool.
Well another problem is I dont get much sun in Washington where i am at so i dont know what to do with that. And with my other purple pitcher i just put it outside without waiting for it to adapt to my outside climate real recently and it seems to be doing great but they do not eat anything and they do not stand up strait they just droop over.

Answer
Don't worry about cloudy days.  Remember that there are lots of plants that grow outdoors, and they grow just fine even when the days are cloudy.  It's also cloudy here in Oregon where our nursery is, and we have lots of beautiful Sarracenia growing outdoors.

If you prefer to bypass the acclimation process, you can certainly do that.  But again, the drooping you see in your other plant might be due to the sudden change in growing conditions.  It's entirely a judgment call whether or not you feel it's worthwhile to go through the process.

Good growing!
Jacob Farin