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Sarracenia purpurea or is it?

gill_za

Never Knows Best
Hi all,

Today I have purchased my second (and third but more in another thread about it) carnivorous plant.
I believe that the plant was mislabeled as its label said Sarracenia sp. and though I have no clue what it means, from the looks of it the plant resembles S. purpurea instead.

It is planted in pure peat moss in small 3" plastic pot covered with clear plastic top.

I have filled the the pitchers with purified distilled water (MilliQ :) ) and plan on removing the cover ones I get home. Also, I have a larger pot filled with thoroughly washed (individually) and microwaved (in the pot sterilized with 3% peroxide) mixture of 1:1 peat:silica sand mixture and plan on repotting the plant in it. I will remove the plant with its original soil intact and replant as is.

Below are the pictures of the plant.
I would appreciate if someone could comment on my suspicion regarding the name and my repotting plants.
I also bought Garden Safe Neem Oil extract insecticide/fungicide. Should I spray the soil with it as a precaution?

Additionally, currently there are frozen bloodworms in my fridge and betta bites pellets.
Can these be used to feed the plant, or do I need to buy small meal-worms or something from a pet store to feed the plant something alive to trigger the digestion mechanism?

Thank you


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S. purpurea, S. rosea, S. montana, etc.. are my favorite kinds of sarrs. I just can't get enough of that short squat pitcher shape.
But other than that.. I can't comment much.

[Edit: The particular taxonomic status of the plants you mention, of course, are quite highly debated. Being variously referred to as species, subspecies, varieties, or other, depending on who you talk to.]
 
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It _is_ Sarracenia purpurea. Generally vendors will get a generic genus sticker for their plants that covers all the various species - since they have generally the same requirements.
Yours looks like S. purpurea subsp. purpurea.
 
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That would be S. purpurea subsp. venosa "red form"...I have one just like it.
 
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Thank you all. Any comments in regards to replanting, desinfection and feeding?

Thank you in advance!
 
That would be S. purpurea subsp. venosa "red form"...I have one just like it.

It looks too narrow to be S. purpurea subsp. venosa.

-B-
 
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Thank you all. Any comments in regards to replanting, desinfection and feeding?

Thank you in advance!

Probably no disinfection needed unless you actually see a problem


As far as replanting..I find that pure peat of LFS actually works well for this species.

Feeding wise?....some bloodworms in the pitchers would probably not be a bad idea...S.pupurea digests by bacteria, so no special movement is needed to trigger it.
 
Ok I'll try that today. So peat:sand is not a good idea?
 
Ok I'll try that today. So peat:sand is not a good idea?

You can use it..but it isn't needed for this species...some sarrs seem to prefer a peat/sand mix..but S. purpurea seems to do fine in plain peat.
 
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  • #10
Also feeding is not necessary all the insects or feeding does is like giving it fertilizer to other plants. But you know it is sometimes good ti give it a boost every once in awhile but everything else looks like your doing pretty good but remember give it FULL SUN! Very nice S. purpurea.
 
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  • #11
Full sun is correct..but make sure you acclimate it slowly....put it in dappled light for a week before putting it in full sun...although that plant is so dark it looks like it;s been grown in full sun already.
 
  • #12
Looks very nice! Congrats! :awesome:

I would hold off on the feeding until it gets used to its new growing environment. That's just me though...

Do you know what kind of conditions this plant came from? Is it dormant? Did it come from a CP grower/collector/vendor or some generic store that wouldn't know how to care for this plant?
 
  • #13
Whoever it was it looked like they knew what they where doing. I acctualy got a S. purpurea from Lowe's not to long ago that was red it was weird because they ussually don't take care of thier plants but this one they sure did they gave it some sun.
 
  • #14
gil za,
My opinion is that your plant certainly appears to be Sarracenia purpurea, most likely Sarracenia purpurea subsp. venosa.

The label on your plant's pot, reads: Sarracenia sp., which means an unidentified species of Sarracenia because the "sp." means one unidentified species. If it were written, "spp." then that would imply the author were discussing more than one unidentified species. The label is likely written this way so they can sell several different Sarracenia species and use the same label.
 
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  • #15
I would agree with S. purpurea subsp. venosa. Since it seems to be the most commonly TCd S. purp.

On a side note, but Joseph I understand the nomenclature adjustments to a degree, but do you absolutely feel the need to go so far with it? It's getting a wee bit over the top in my eyes, as it gets a bit frustrating when someone is always editing every little thing you say or type, we get it, you read thoroughly and are very strict on the appropriate grammatical and taxonomical usage of names, and can obviously edit text to what you see fit. Please, especially if it comes to growlists, consult the member before you edit it, since it may very well me something that is not a commonly known plant, and the user is using the list as a record, but also going so far as to editing a post because someone capitalized the species name, I know not to but big deal, we know what they mean, and it's not like terraforums is a major scientific group who is making a documentary and catalogging plants for reference in a botany book. We are hobbyists, not every single person is paying attention to the caps key, so why basically call them out and make them feel like fools? 90% of the posts in this thread have been edited by you making the thread 90% your posts and not leaving individuals personalities and characteristics.
 
  • #16
I would have said it is S. purpurea subsp. purpurea for the following reasons:

1) Smooth, glossy look to the outside surface of the hoods - S. purpurea subsp. venosa hoods tend to be hairy, rough looking on the outside.
2) Narrow, elongated pitchers with a length at least 3x that of the width of the stoma. The southern S. purpurea tend to have a tubbier look to the pitchers.

Even though these are last years pitchers you can see some of the characteristics I'm referring to.

Clockwise from top - S. purpurea subsp. venosa from Rob Sacilotto in VA, garden center S. purpurea subsp. venosa (Booman Florals), S. purpurea subsp. purpurea Bergen Swamp, NY (seed grown).
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Close up of the Bergen Swamp S. purpurea subsp. purpurea
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Close up of the hood of plant from Rob Sacilotto:
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  • #17
Looks very nice! Congrats! :awesome:

I would hold off on the feeding until it gets used to its new growing environment. That's just me though...

Do you know what kind of conditions this plant came from? Is it dormant? Did it come from a CP grower/collector/vendor or some generic store that wouldn't know how to care for this plant?

Joossa,

Hmm since I am not sure whether I can mention the place I bought it from I'll just say that I bought the plant at a garden center located on Dekalb Pike, North Wales, PA. I am not sure what conditions that plant came from. I have found it amongst a variety of VFT's, Sundews and Sarracenia and it looked like they were just brought in. I plan on going there again soon to get some more plants :)

Since it is pretty cold here in North East Philadelphia at the moment, the plant is currently in my apartment amongst its friends and relatives at around 70F - 75F. The lights are 2x32W 48inch T8 light bulbs. One is 5000K the other is 6500K, and I also have one small 15W T8 bulb that supposed to be 6500K as well but it has such an intense purple tinge to it I suspect it is closer to 8000K (I rarely turn that one on).

When it gets warmer I will drive the plant to my parent's house and try to find the place in their backyard that gets the most sun (it might be a problem though since they usually get too much shade).

Decided not to transplant the plant yet and give it a chance to acclimatize to my place :)

P.S. Sorry for such a late reply :)

That is my small beginner's collection.
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  • #18
Nah, I wasn't asking you to name the place in specific. I was asking about the place in general to tie it in with whether or not the plant was dormant or not.... seeing how nurseries/collectors that focus on CPs know what they're doing rather than big brand stores.

It should do well outside once spring is under way. Good luck!
 
  • #19
Thank you everybody who contributed to this thread.
It seems that I don't have enough light on my shelve as one of the pitchers started to turn just a little greener.
I will buy another 2x32Wx48" T8 fixture today and hope that will help.
 
  • #20
It should and good luck.
 
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