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Red Pitcher from Lowe's today. Advice Please!

  • #21
Lets fix one misconception right now. Carnivorous plants do not need to be fed, and they won't die if they aren't. However, they do grow faster with food.

I'm not 100% sure that I would agree with that assertion. For a plant like D. indica, it's feed early and often. Beyond that, and having no statistial data to back anything up, logic dictates that since a carnicorous plants is indeed carnivorous, it is so for a purpose. I would think that given enough time with just light and water, it stands a good chance of dying from lack of nutrition. Again, I have no data and am looking at the carnivorosity angle of the plants.
 
  • #22
Thought I would post a pic or two to let you see how it is doing. I bought it in tonight because it is supposed to get down to 40 tonight and 38 tomorrow.

2010-10-17_22-16-29_153.jpg

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2010-10-17_22-16-29_153-1.jpg
 
  • #23
Ever - i would leave the plants out 24hrs a day 365 days a year....
Sarracenia and flytraps are full sun (means just that, full sun!) and temperate, meaning they go dormant
im not sure if someone has gone over this in a previous post as i have not the time to read over it all at this point, but these plants generally grow from late spring into early/mid fall and are dormant between those times over the winter etc...
in order for this process to occur however, these plants need to be outdoors, as inducing dormancy indoors is a royal pain in the $*%.
depending on where you are, there should be no reason to have to bring these plants in at any point, if they are in a big enough pot, they shouldnt die from a freeze unless its a severe SEVERE one...
ive had my plants go through 4ºF freezes for over a week and still come back in the following spring...
though now i generally place them in the shed if it drops below 20 or so for an extended period of time....
they are much more hardy than people let on to be....
the plants really do need this dormancy time, as it allows them to essentially "rest" for the next growing season...without the dormancy period, the plants will eventually weaken, and die...same goes as if the plants are not in strong enough light, they will etiolate, (stretch out for light, and weaken) and also, through this, eventually die from lack of sufficient light...
 
  • #24
i would leave the plants out 24hrs a day 365 days a year....

No No No...not in Fort Wayne, Indiana..
WAYYY too cold for 24/365 growing..

You can only safely do outdoor winter dormancy in zone 7 or higher..
Fort Wayne is zone 5! very very cold..

Scot
 
  • #25
No worries Scot. It will not be left out all year. Not here in Fort Wayne :)
 
  • #26
You would have to do like WildBill, in Connecticut, and heavily mulch them. But then again, Bill has a whole mess of plants to deal with. There are easier approaches for a small amount of plants.
 
  • #27
how am i supposed to know where he is from unless he puts it on his info..?
 
  • #28
how am i supposed to know where he is from unless he puts it on his info..?

good point..
but you could also not post advice that applies only to your climate, if you dont know where the person lives..or at least say "if you live in zone 7 or higher, then you could do this..."

Scot
 
  • #29
notice i did apply advice that applied for outside of my climate....

allow me to quote myself here

depending on where you are, there should be no reason to have to bring these plants in at any point, if they are in a big enough pot, they shouldnt die from a freeze unless its a severe SEVERE one...
ive had my plants go through 4ºF freezes for over a week and still come back in the following spring...
though now i generally place them in the shed if it drops below 20 or so for an extended period of time....
.
 
  • #31
Sorry about that SirKristoff. I thought I had it in there. Fixed now :) No harm man!
 
  • #32
SirKristoff, Guess what...???...???

I am moving to Washington in December! Fort Lewis to be exact. My family will come a bit later once I have things settled, but yeah the Army is sending me there for 3 years. Sooooooooooooo lol Advice for the area? Plant Wise of course haha Feel free to PM me any other good advice for the area :)
 
  • #33
I got my lowes Sarracenia Purpurea a couple months ago. I'm not sure if you even need to acclimate them to lower humidity, at least for me it didn't really steam up until I removed the plastic separating the water chamber from the leaves.

As for winter care, scotty may be right, if they aren't too important to you (these plants are common at lowes) then you could try leaving them outside, but you will need to mulch them. That's why I got my purpurea, so I could test out mulching this year again, since I think I made a couple of mistakes last year (I don't think I had enough mulch and I had them setting on a table so the bottoms weren't as protected). The safer method is to use a fridge, since that keeps them just above freezing. That's what I'm doing with plants I don't want to lose. Wait until your plants naturally go dormant from outside, then when the weather gets really cold, put the plant in a ziplock back, spray liberally with funguscide, and then put in your fridge. Be sure to reapply funguscide often.

Anyway thats my advice if anyone sees something wrong let me know :D
 
  • #34
I will be moving them indoors once it drops to cold and they will be in Washington State real soon :)
 
  • #35
be careful with that sundew! i got an identical one from lowes. its a D. adelae. it doesnt like to have too much sun or heat, but absolutely needs moisturre. i took mine out of the cube and within a half hour it was all dried up, none of the existing leaves have made dew since then, i put it in a clear container with holes on the top and it has been doin great ever since. partial sun and cool temps are great, preferably 60-80. mine has been outside in freezing temps and was doin good too. but its been gettin too cold lately so its stayin inside for winter

---------- Post added at 03:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:51 PM ----------

whoops haha didn't notice the extra pages...
 
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