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Sarracenia in the tropics

I am new to CPs and also new to this discussion forum. I live in a tropical climate (Honolulu, Hawaii) and would like to grow Sarracenia outdoors. I understand that, generally speaking, Sarracenia will not grow well in the tropics because they need a dormancy requiring much cooler temperatures and/or much shorter photoperiods. However, I'm hoping that there's a hybrid or two out there that might defy the odds and be able to grow in the tropics. I wonder if anyone has any suggestions.
 
welcome to the forums, tropics!

You can grow any sarracenia outdoors, just bring it inside and bareroot it, then stick it in the fridge for 3 months, and take it back out
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if you do not want to do that, get a nepenthes. they are tropical pitcher plants, and can stay outside where you live and grow perfectly where oyu live
 
Thanks for the suggestions, Spectabilis73.  But I guess I'm just basically a lazy person and would prefer not to have to go through the effort of digging up the Sarracenia plant and putting it in the refrigerator for 3 months.  (And what if someone tries to eat it?)  Do you know of any Sarracenia variety that would not need this kind of attention and would be able to grow outdoors in the tropics year 'round?
 
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Tropics @ Oct. 01 2003,06:31)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Thanks for the suggestions, Spectabilis73.  But I guess I'm just basically a lazy person and would prefer not to have to go through the effort of digging up the Sarracenia plant and putting it in the refrigerator for 3 months.  (And what if someone tries to eat it?)  Do you know of any Sarracenia variety that would not need this kind of attention and would be able to grow outdoors in the tropics year 'round?[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
nope, there are no variations of sarracenia that can go without dormancy...
oh, and you can put it in the fridge in the pot if you wnat
 
before considering growing this plant , you should know that they are not regular house plants that you can forget about and do whatever you want . read the care sheet provided by PFT . anyways , you can grow these plants anywhere , you can oive in the tropicals and grow this plant during the warm seasons tne when witner comes you put them in the fridge and take em out , i don't think anyone would eat it unless grandma has a special recipe for sarra salad . i live in a desert like climate and i have succesfully grown nepenthes , you can ebat the odds by trying to make your climate like theres . and yes , there are not species ro varieties that do not need dromancy but if you wait in the future , probably in 2000 years some mad scientist will create a species that will need nor dormancy , but by then these planst would probabaly be all gone and who can live that long (
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hhhm , probably my great grandma is she hangs in there )
 
Hi Tropics, aloha and welcome!
I agress with Spectabalis. If you don't want to be bothered with dormancy, go for the nepenthes. Honolulu is the perfect climate for them. You would need to chose species/hybrids based on your elevation. There is actually at least one other growing from your area on this forum....Now if I can just remember her name....**)

All Sars require dormancy. Your outa luck with this genous, I'm afraid.
 
If you live in the highland tropics you may want to try a heliamphora wich is a close relative of sarracenia,but does not require dormancy.Just my 1\50th of a dollar
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Thanks to all who have posted replies to my request for information about growing Sarracenia in the tropics. For those who are interested, the following is a summary of information gathered from replies here and on other CP discussion forums, as well as from correspondence with individuals.

The conventional wisdom is that Sarracenia cannot grow in the tropics unless refrigerated during dormancy. Yet, there are instances of individuals growing Sarracenia in the tropics without refrigeration, although it is more difficult than growing them in a temperate climate. As can be expected, Saracenia are more easily grown in the cooler areas of the tropics, such as in valleys and on mountains. In addition, certain varieties may be more adaptable, such as S. leucophylla, S. psittacina, and S. x 'Dixie Lace.'

Now I wonder if plants grown from seed in the tropics would be more adaptable than plants that are imported from a temperate climate.
 
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Now I wonder if plants grown from seed in the tropics would be more adaptable than plants that are imported from a temperate climate.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

Hi tropics.  I doubt a plant grown from seed in a tropical climate would act any different.  It's still a seed from a temperate plant that must go dormant in winter to survive.  It expects cold weather when the days get shorter.  If it doesn't get this it will not go dormant and will die. The reverse is also true.  If a tropical palm tree is grown outside in Alaska it will die because it expects continuous tropical temps, even in winter.  So, a native tropical plant expects tropical weather and a native temperate plant expects temperate weather.  Just my .0002 x 10^4 cents
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 (.0002 x 10^4 = .0002 x 10,000 = 2 cents, sorry i have way too much math
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) Anyhow, tropics i hope you find a cp you can enjoy!!  They're a lot of fun!!!  
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   -buckeye
 
  • #10
Actually Tropics, you do have a choice. A friend of mine has a friend who lives in Brazil that has been raising certain sarracenias for several years now without dormancy and they haven't died. My friend also have been raising sarracenias without dormancy and they're very very healthy. I'm also raising the same ones they have cuz I live in Puerto Rico which is very similar to Hawaii. The sarracenias are s. pupurea venosa, s. leucaphylla, s. rubra (I don't know which kind of rubra though), and other s. hybrids which I just can't remember
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. Well that's just me though
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  • #11
Erick....

1) I don't acutally know the person in brazil that has the sarrs, I just read about him and saw his plants on the CP listserv.

2) I've only had the sarrs for a year i think, but they did go into a dormant state last year around December. They did this without any help from me... I think it was the shortened day-length that did the trick.

I'm hoping that my plants will do the same thing again this year.

Jœl
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  • #12
I don't believe that any sarracenia will survive without dormancy. The number of genes which affect appearance are relatively small, so whatever they look like they still require similar growing conditions. Sure there are a few exceptions e.g. oreophila can survive in drier soils, purpurea ssp. purpurea can survive lower termperatures, but they all require a rest period.
I can only assume the Brazilian plants are tissue cultured but will eventually need a rest, or a period of a cool few weeks was enough to satisfy their sleep needs.
A low growing plant such as 'Dixie Lace' shouldn't take up much room in the fridge  
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  • #13
Here's a further update on growing Sarracenia in the tropics. This past weekend I went to a plant sale in Honolulu and was surprised to find someone selling Sarracenia. More accurately, I was on the verge of being overjoyed because it was the first time I had seen Sarracenia for sale in Hawaii. The plants appeared to be quite healthy, and of course I had to get a couple of them. The grower had three varieties. Each S. "Scarlet Belle" plant had about 30 pitchers averaging 6 inches in length. Each S. leucophylla "Tarnok" and S. flava plant had about 10 pitchers averaging 10 inches in length. I asked the grower how he grew them. He said he initially purchased flasks of tissue cultured plants. He chose these particular varieties because they were the only ones available at the time. He later transferred them to pots, which I believe he put in a greenhouse where they were often sprayed with water. Now he has them outdoors throughout the year and waters them daily. (He does not have the plants in trays of water.) He uses water directly from the public water system, which is low in minerals. He grows them in Kaneohe, a town on the island of Oahu that is at low elevation, so it is fairly warm there throughout the year. The lowest temperature is probably about 58 degrees F. (15 degrees C.) during winter months, and the highest temperature is about 90 degrees F. (30 degrees C.) during the summer. Kaneohe is on the windward side of the island, where it is relatively cloudy and rainy compared to the rest of the island, and the average annual rainfall is about 70 inches. The plants are now 2 years old, and have never gone dormant. I asked him if he knew why, and he didn't know. He said that when he got them, he didn't know if they would grow, but he just wanted to see if he could grow them. I'd say he has done quite a good job.
 
  • #14
Welcome Tropics

While my experience is limited, i can tell you that my S. minor went through two winters in my window (in a terrarium). It definitely experienced a dormancy, even though i'm sure it never was below 50F. Several more experienced people have shown that the change in photoperiod alone seems to work with some, if not all, sarrs. I think you'll have a good chance of finding some that will do okay in Hawaii.

Good luck!
 
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