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S. oreophila dormancy

Hi -

I know that S. oreophila goes dormant fairly early, even when kept in the same conditions as other Sarracenia, but is now a normal time?  

I expected the plant to go dormant in August, but mine's pitchers have begun to turn yellow/brown/orange and spotted, and it has many green phyllodia emerging from the base.  Is this typical for July?

Also - does this species release seed early in correspondance with its dormancy, or at the same time as other Sarracenia?

Thanks.

- Patrick
 
Yep, it's about now that they turn coppery and start to grow phyllodia and pyllodiform pitchers. I think seeds are ripe at the same time as other species, no earlier.
 
Patrick,
Mine are starting to go down now as well. A few new pitchers are coming up but most have turned brown or fallen over.
 
It makes me feel even better to hear that yours have fallen over.  I left it out of my post by mistake, but of seven pitchers one of my oreos put on this year, only 3 are still standing.

That raises another question - when pitchers on your plants fall over, what do you do with them?  Prop them up, cut them off, leave them alone, or what?  I have just been leaving mine be, but it looks really messy.
 
Yep, mine too is dying back and putting out phyllodia. I looked in the Savage Garden and read that they do this because in their natural habitat it usually gets drier in midsummer and this carries over into cultivation. So are the plants done pitchering until next spring or will they send out more pitchers in early fall?? This is my first year i've had a oreophila.


-buckeye
 
I was having a discussion with Bugweed about this very thing. I live not far from oreo country and in the mountains of North Georgia summer is not the dry season. In fact, that area of the country is considered a temperate rainforest with over 72" of rain a year having daily afternoon thundershowers like FL. Also, the habitats that oreos would be growing in would be fed by springs and even in dry weather they don't go dry. I am not sure what adapation this behavior plays. Perhaps eons ago the weather patterns were different and the plants have not evolved beyond this behavior.

I just leave the pitchers when they fall over or tie them up. I never remove them until they brown out. My feel is they are still feeding and photosynthesizing so long as they are green.
 
I'm glad to hear other people questioning the dryness adaptation of S. oreophila.  I've though the same thing before about north Georgia - it simply doesn't dry out during the summer, except in years when we have drought which is NOT typical.

Does anyone know about the weather of northern Alabama? That's the area that Don Schnell says has the weather patterns to trigger early dormancy. Of course, that doesn't explain why Georgia oreos do dormant, too...you'd expect local varieties as there are with some other species.
 
Thought I'd post a picture of my very sad looking oreophila.  Sad, because it's one of the best in April and May.  Dirt is from heavy rains that constantly splash peat and topple pitchers - I assume because I don't have dense enough ground coverage.

oreo.JPG


- Patrick
 
My oreophila didn't get enough water and is making phylodia now.
smile_h_32.gif
 
  • #10
You can't avoid the phyllodia by giving it water. The dormancy is programmed into its genes.
 
  • #11
what is intersting (to me anyways) is that my oreophila, last year in virginia, were making phyllodia by this time. this year, in WI, i have yet to see any. perhaps temperature plays a role. it has been an unusually cool summer in northern WI, not to mention a cold, wet spring.
 
  • #12
That is interesting. Maybe it has more to do with temperature and photoperiod than it does with water.

Not that logical conclusions can be drawn from the photoperiod, since WI is at a higher latitude. But in any case, when you move a plant from it's normal habitat, it gets confused.

- Patrick
 
  • #13
An alternative idea is that is has a specific amount of time to grow after breaking dormancy, like VFTs from seed "know" that their first season will be short.

When did your oreo break dormancy?
 
  • #14
Everything broke pretty early in Virginia Beach. I'd say flowers were starting to shoot up from most plants by the end of march. we moved to WI in mid-april, and it was like everything went into standby mode until late may. in fact, some of my s. rubra's, a rubra x minor, and a 'Bug Pipes' are still flowering right now. i'm positive the cold spring in WI caused the flowering delay. also, some flowers just stopped growing altogether. i picked several last week that stopped growing at about 4 inches in height. i opened them up and saw that everything looked normal, except the petals were brown. not sure what that means. anyway, it's been an interesting year so far. i hope the plants don't get too screwed up from it.
 
  • #15
Oh, I didn't realize the move was this year. I'd be interested in seeing when the oreos break dormancy and then when they go dormant again next year. Perhaps it will be for the same time period but at a later time.
 
  • #16
One of my Oreo. is actually still sending up new pitchers here in Oregon. It's been mighty warm and I thought they'd be heading downhill for the year but it's not done yet!

The plant has probably three growth points and the smallest one is starting to dry up but the 2 large ones both have new pitchers.
 
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