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Is there any hope of saving my Sarracenia Minor?

Wolfn

Wolfn

Agent of Chaos
My Sarracenia Minor is on life support. I'm not sure what's wrong. I have it growing in a peat/perlite mix with the top 1/2 inch being pure peat. I water it with distilled water. And it gets several hours of direct sun a day. About a month or two, it shot up a flower which is blooming now. However, the leaves are dying and turning brown.

Is there any hope of saving my Sarracenia Minor? What's wrong?

sickSarraceniaMinor1.jpg
 
Are those pitchers from this season? If they're from last, then browning is pretty normal.

Have you changed it's location recently?
 
Yes, many of the leaves from the year before will stay green past the flowers and then start to turn brown. Some may even last even after the new pitcher leaves open.

Trim them off or trim just the brown parts or leave them be until new pitchers arrive. It's up to you what you want to do.

Your flower stalk looks a touch wilted. Are you keeping the pot in standing waater?
 
theyellowdart said:
Are those pitchers from this season? If they're from last, then browning is pretty normal.

Have you changed it's location recently?
Click to expand...

The pitchers are from this season. They developed about a month ago and immediately started browning

Not a Number said:
Your flower stalk looks a touch wilted. Are you keeping the pot in standing waater?
Click to expand...

I taped over the holes in the pot so it's now an undrained pot. That allows me to water less. I water it to the point of being waterlogged, and then I don't water again for several days
 
From the looks of it and what you've mentioned my guess is that there's not enough water. I always leave my bogs waterlogged. The medium looks like it's shrinking from the edges of the pot which means there's water loss. You should consider building a larger bog and putting all your sarrs together. That way you can over water and be good for a day or two.
 
I don't know what to tell you. I've had a S. purpurea ssp venosa and a S. minor crash on me soon after coming out of dormancy. They grew like gang busters the year before. Same thing, new leaves would fully open then start to turn brown soon after. New leaves kept getting smaller and smaller until nothing. Maybe they were kept too wet too soon.

It could be there is mineral build up in your pots. Unplug the holes and flush the media out thoroughly several times. Then put a tube down near the edge of the pot that's wide enough that you can see the water level. Plug the holes again and keep the water level an inch or more below the top of the medium.
 
Ahmad said:
I taped over the holes in the pot so it's now an undrained pot. That allows me to water less. I water it to the point of being waterlogged, and then I don't water again for several days
Click to expand...

That could be the problem. In the wild, sarracenia are often found partially or completely submerged in water. They absolutely need to be sitting in water. The more, the better.
 
They absolutely need to be sitting in water.
Click to expand...

Wellllllll, about that... ;)
 
Est said:
Wellllllll, about that... ;)
Click to expand...

That's my experience anyway. I could see trying to water-log if it was a bigger pot, but I have the same size pot and they quickly degrade if (when) I forget to water them, especially in these recent heat waves.
 
  • #10
...Are you sure the tape didn't wear out? Dunno know what to tell you. Seems too dry, though. Try watering more and have a tray.

Edit: Plus, you being in Florida, I would assume "several days" would only be about 3 or 4. Just try to keep it as wet as possible, don't wait for them to dry out and then water.
 
  • #11
I had a bunch of rubra alabamensis do that one spring. I took one to a lab to get it tested. The wilt and subsequent browning was due to fungal attack. Fungus is opportunistic. It attacks stressed plants in the spring because that's the ideal temperature range for fungal growth (I'm remembering between 65 and 85).

The previous posts are definitely on the right track; give your plants ideal conditions and they will flourish. I'm afraid your minor is a goner. For next time I wouldn't recommend letting a plant that size make a flower. I would also protect the roots from heat by growing in 5+ inch tall pots sitting in water. Bigger the better. Its also critical that Sarracenia get at least 8 hrs of direct sun.

Happy growing!
 
  • #12
Didn't you have a post about using tap water for your plants ? Here?

Maybe the mineral build-up from that, probably should repot before it gets worse.

Or it could be something unknown, things just happen yaknow?
 
  • #13
Halt said:
Didn't you have a post about using tap water for your plants ? Here?

Maybe the mineral build-up from that, probably should repot before it gets worse.

Or it could be something unknown, things just happen yaknow?
Click to expand...


Yes, I was using tap-water previously, but a few weeks ago, I replanted all of my plants into fresh soil and started using distilled water.
 
  • #14
Did you repot it after it began flowering? I'm not certain, but it could be root shock if you repotted it after it came out of dormancy.
~Joe
 
  • #15
seedjar said:
Did you repot it after it began flowering? I'm not certain, but it could be root shock if you repotted it after it came out of dormancy.
~Joe
Click to expand...

Yes, I repotted it after it began flowering
 
  • #16
Ahmad said:
Yes, I was using tap-water previously, but a few weeks ago, I replanted all of my plants into fresh soil and started using distilled water.
Click to expand...

a few weeks ago?
thats your problem..
your plant started dying a few months ago..long before you switched to distilled..
the damage was already done when you repotted and switched to distilled..
plus it looked WAY too dry in your photo..

Either hard water, or not enough water, or (probably) a combination of both was killing your plant..
you fixed one problem..by repotting and starting to use distilled..
you still need to fix the second problem..

remove the tape, and sit the pot in a DEEP tray of water..
the water should always be maintained about half-way up the side of the pot, like this:

CP2008-074.jpg


if it can recover, it probably will..if its not too late.

The D. binatas in your photo are also far too dry..you should have them in deep trays of water too..


Scot
 
  • #17
Would it be possible to buy another Sarracenia around this time of the year? Or should I wait until winter?
 
  • #18
It's never too late to buy sarracenia!

scott, did you ever get to repoting that d.binata? ;)
 
  • #19
Halt said:
It's never too late to buy sarracenia!

scott, did you ever get to repoting that d.binata? ;)
Click to expand...

Well, I'm just worried that purchasing a Sarracenia bareroot during growing season would have a bad effect on the plants.
 
  • #20
Ahmad said:
Well, I'm just worried that purchasing a Sarracenia bareroot during growing season would have a bad effect on the plants.
Click to expand...

No need to worry. They will do fine. They are tough.

xvart.
 
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