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floppy sar pitchers, phyllodia, what's going on with my plants this summer?

My plants have never looked so bad. Usually by this time of year they are gorgeous, lots of pretty colorful pitchers. All my tall sars are flopping over, and there is a lot of phyllodia. They look horrible!

I do have them in full sun all day, and I was keeping them in pools so they were in standing water, but I ust recently removed them from the pools thinking it could be the constantly waterlogged conditions that were adding to the problem. I've been obsessing with cutting off the offending pitchers and phyllodia, and perhaps I should just leave it alone, I don't know if that is helping or hurting.

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High water levels + high summer temps = peat moss breakdown

Keep the water levels below 2 inches and top water often.

Check for mealybugs in the roots too.
 
ok, I did take them out of the pools thinking that might be a cause. Maybe they will get better.
 
i certainly wouldn't cut anything off that's green. photosynthesis is the main energy source.
 
I am having the exact same problem with some of my Sarrs. I've also had seed pods ripen way to quickly (the seed looks good at least). This has never happened. I've noticed a deterioration in my Sarracenia growth and "performance" for the past two or three years. I really don't know what to attribute it to. Higher temps? My water quality is actually better now and I don't keep them too wet. Rot seems to be worse now than in the past.


Sarracenia have always been my favorite CP, but are rapidly becoming an ulcer. They rot way too easily and are the genus MOST susceptible to pests in my experience.
 
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Also going through the same problem....nowhere near as robust as last years growth, lanky, phyllodia, the whole lot....
 
Mine cannot be an issue with soil quality/breakdown as most of these were repotted in the fall or are newly acquired plants which equals new pot and peat. My seedlings and tissue culture plants are thriving and doing great, it is my personal collection, large and/or older plants, taller ones, that are having the problems.
 
got a few questions to all seeing this phenomenon. is it S. flava or S. alta and hybrids of them? Possibly S. minor? But mostly S. flava and hybrids.

Seeing similar. Almost thinking virus and/or herbicide drift. Last possibility our county has been adding chloramines to our water and also soda ash. Maybe some goofy changes in the water recently? The soda ash was supposedly added to prevent the lead in people's plumbing from dissolving. However, there is relatively few people with lead pipes so this is being done to everyone for just a few homes.... Might want to check and see if your water department has changed what they are adding to your water....
 
appear to be mostly flava, alata, and luecophylla hybrids, as these are the tallest pitchers - anything that is tall growing is flopping, but my recently acquired tray of leucophylla tarnok from a popular tissue culture company is growing nice and tall, but they are still small seedlings.
 
  • #10
Kulamauiman has a point. My area made some changes to the water about two years ago and my Sarrs, VFTs, Sundews, and Pings started to go down hill about a year or so after using the water. I actually had posted about it on here. I was baffled by all the deaths.

I purchased an RO unit and it has stopped problem. That being said, I still notice that Sarracenia are not growing as well for me as they did in the past. Of course, this is a generalization. Some individual plants continue to grow exceptionally every year.
 
  • #11
got a few questions to all seeing this phenomenon. is it S. flava or S. alta and hybrids of them? Possibly S. minor? But mostly S. flava and hybrids.

Seeing similar. Almost thinking virus and/or herbicide drift. Last possibility our county has been adding chloramines to our water and also soda ash. Maybe some goofy changes in the water recently? The soda ash was supposedly added to prevent the lead in people's plumbing from dissolving. However, there is relatively few people with lead pipes so this is being done to everyone for just a few homes.... Might want to check and see if your water department has changed what they are adding to your water....

For me it is mostly my flavas and leucophyllas. My minors seem largely unaffected. Purps are going strong too. I can't speak for other species because either I don't grow them or haven't had them long enough to compare and contrast past results.

Can't be water for me. I use distilled water. I guess there is a chance quality control isn't doing there job, but I doubt it.
 
  • #12
I've had similar issues at my place but I believe it to be mostly a factor of poor/inconsistent light at the beginning of the season and high temperatures now. But seeing all these other folks reporting problems is making me paranoid!
~Joe
 
  • #13
Sorry to hear some of you are having a bad year for Sarrs too.

My Sarrs are producing okay pitchers in terms of quality, but have been really, really slow to produce pitchers. =(
 
  • #14
Wow at least I'm not the only one who has had some iffie pitcher production... Though I blame mine on the unusually harsh winter we had in Virginia... (as I try to let dormancy happen as naturally as possible)

My flavas are actually fine though...
 
  • #15
It doesn't matter how "fresh" your peat moss is - if wet peat moss gets cooked it's going to start breaking down. That's why "nuking" it in the microwave oven to sterilize it is not a good idea. If you cook fresh carrots they still get mushy do they not?

Other than that the commies won 3 or 4 years ago and fluoridation of municipal water supplies has become pretty much standard throughout the US. I don't recall Sarracenia as being fluoride sensitive but you never know.

Mach - doesn't Monsanto maintain GMO research areas on Maui? Who knows what they are releasing into your environment.

And that being said we've been having a very mild spring and summer in Los Angeles. My Sarracenia and Dionaea are two months behind where they usually are. I normally put my South American and South African Drosera outdoor the middle/end of April. They're still waiting for the weather to warm up. This morning when I was watering my Sarracenia I had to put a sweater on.
 
  • #16
And that being said we've been having a very mild spring and summer in Los Angeles. My Sarracenia and Dionaea are two months behind where they usually are. I normally put my South American and South African Drosera outdoor the middle/end of April. They're still waiting for the weather to warm up. This morning when I was watering my Sarracenia I had to put a sweater on.

I wouldn't call our weather mild but we certainly had a harsh and late winter up here. I had Sarracenia blooming up through the beginning of the month, which is late even for me.
~Joe
 
  • #17
For me in Nor Cal I believe the weather has played a little in the "odd" growth from my plants. We had early spring record heat for about 2 months. Then a month of record lows and overcast days (some lasting all day). This caused other plants (non-cp) to flower. Now they are in a funny transition point of kicking out of flowering right into summer (no slow transition). I believe this has effected my sarrs too. I too have the odd growth and phyllodia. It's simple answer, they just thought they were going back into dormancy.
 
  • #18
indeed the big M is here doing corn seed production and other odds and ends. they may be related or not. lots of other plantation size agriculture using growth regulators (ethylene for the pineapple people) and hormonal based herbicides like glyphosate at the the sugar plantation

However, we unfortunately have this very odd wind pattern that causes the air to move in an counter clockwise motion so what ever is sprayed in the air gets spread over the entire south west side of the islands. Could smell the smoke from the fire on the west Maui fire here on the east side, even though the trade winds should have blown it all out to sea. I see what appears to be hormonal herbicide damage on many of my dews being grown outside. if the herbicide was volatilized (ester formulation 2,4-D, or garlon for example) it would stay airborne and be hitting all plants a micro quantities. This is something I have contemplated for a long time. The dews kept inside or in the shelter of the greenhouse are not being as affected either, but are generally different species. However, pitcher deformities only on flava, flava hybrids, alata and minor. i did also have seeds on purpurea purpurea mature what appeared to be too fast also. i have wondered if what I am seeing on the deformed sarracenia are related to a viral infection, something like tomato spotted wilt, could have a very wide host range. i am having off season flowers also. But my climate is odd. Still dropping down to 50's overnight.
 
  • #19
I didn't think of the unusually harsh winter being a factor that could be affecting mine...
 
  • #20
That is really strange that your sarrs are doing this. I wish I had some advice, but I don't. If it's any consolation, all my outside cps (sarrs and vfts) look like crap this year. I'm not getting the floppy growth or excess phyllodia, but in general they are lacking color, robustness, and vigor. Just very weak and pathetic overall.
 
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