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Are my Conditions for Dionaea/Sarracenia Too Hot?

Hello all. I have been growing two Sarracenia and a VFT outside and have come to wonder if my conditions are not too hot and dry. The temperatures are constantly 95-100+ degrees for almost all of the day and we haven't had rain in weeks. I am of course using the water tray method to keep my plants' soil damp, but I fear that this much heat is too much. I have currently moved my plants to an east-facing area that receives morning sun until about noon and then is in shade/heavily filtered light for the rest of the day. Is this enough light? If not, what can I do to provide more light without also cooking my plants? Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.


PS. I definitely want to keep my plants outside because my house doesn't have any windowsills that get enough light to grow these plants.
 
Tell me....do the plants look ok?
 
Nah. They'll withstand temperatures into the hundreds if you keep them hydrated.
 
Nah. They'll withstand temperatures into the hundreds if you keep them hydrated.

I was leading up to that...but yeah.....pretty much the case, since I'm assuming his plants do not yet look like porkrinds. ;)
 
The plants seem to be doing decently well. My S. x Judith Hindle has put out a few new pitchers. However, only one of them reached the height of the others and did not color up as well. My S. Leucophylla has put out many leaves, but only one developed into a new pitcher. I think this is to be expected though, because I read somewhere that this species tends to hold back on pitchers longer than most. One pitcher's lid seemed a bit crisp though. It might just be due to age. Finally, my VFT turned brown for awhile (acclimating/recovering from shipping?), but is now putting out healthy traps that have some color. However, the traps on my VFT are slow to close and take up to a week or more to reopen, even on small, soft prey.

Note: I've only had these plants for roughly a month.
 
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From:
Responses of Venus Fly Trap (Dionaea muscipula) to Factors Involved in Its Endemism
Patricia R. Roberts and H. J. Oosting, Ecological Monographs, Vol. 28, No. 2 (Apr., 1958), pp. 193-218

Note: by "zone" the authors mean the zones where Dionaea were present. Dionaea are seldom found growing in savannah in the areas of North Carolina used in the study.

TEMPERATURE
Records were kept of maximum and minimum
temperatures from July 1955 to mid-September 1956.
The widest range of air temperature (94°) was
observed at a savannah station (S1) where the minimum
was 21°F in December 1955 and the maximum
was 115°F in July 1956. The widest range (92°)
in a zone (Z1) was from 112°F in July 1955 to 20°F
in December 1955. Since 1955 summer records are
lacking for the savannah, absolute comparisons cannot
be made. However, maximum temperatures in zone
stations were slightly lower in 1956 than in 1955.
Throughout the observation period air temperatures of
both savannah and zone stations were very similar,
except during the spring there was never more than
2° difference in the respective maximum and minimum
temperatures. In the spring, however, (end of
March to beginning of June), the maximum air
temperature in the savannah was up to 14°F higher
than the air temperature of the zones.

Soil temperatures of the zone and savannah, on
the other hand showed a more marked variation during
most of the year, but especially during the spring
when differences of up to 20°F between the respective
maximum and minimum pairs were recorded. At
these times the savannah instruments recorded the
higher temperatures. During the summer the maximum
soil temperatures in the savannah were seldom
below 135°F while the zone maximum soil temperatures
fluctuated between 110°-135°F. The ranges of
soil temperatures were from 20°F (Dec.) -135+°F
(summer) in the zones and from 22°F(Dec.)-135+°F
(summer) in the savannah.

There is probably a definite correlation between
the high evaporation rate and the pure sand soil of
the savannah and its higher soil temperatures. The
soil of the savannah dries out earlier in spring and
more completely than the zones so that the savannah
soil temperatures show a more rapid increase in the
early spring and reach higher maxima.
 
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OMG soil temps of 135 degrees F. :). I don't think I'll worry about the soil temps for my plants now.
 
As long as you don't let it dry out however the study noted that well developed plants (big rhizomes) will go dormant in the summer if the soil dries out. But I bet small pots get hotter than 135°F in the sun.
 
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Alright, thanks a lot for the responses guys. I guess I'm going to move my plants back to the sunnier area and just make sure they don't dry out.
 
  • #10
Actually, I had my mini bog out in a spot that got direct sun from seven in the morning til five at night, and the plants just sorta limped along, and it wasn't until I moved it about ten feet north, getting hours less sunlight, did they start to actually look healthy. Since the soil was fresh as of this spring, I'm willing to bet the black peat heated up really quickly!
 
  • #11
I think you should worry more about maybe humidity in your location(i'm guessing you're in arkansas?), I live just 2 hours away from Lake Waccamaw(natural habitad of the VFT), and i can witness that both climates(mine, and their habitad) are the same, with sometimes a few degrees of difference(sometimes is hotter there or colder, humidity might be higher sometimes...etc). and just to let you know, we had a heat wave yesterday, temps of 109F outside, and the same in Lake Waccamaw. Winter is a whole different story here from there, while we get 8-inch of snow, lake waccamaw only gets about 2-inchs, and sometimes we have a 10 degree difference, which is pretty common but it lasts for a short period of time.
I have been comparing both climates since a year ago, and i should be able to say right now that i just need a huge pot and just leave them outside year round!
So definitely don't worry about temps but i would say more about humidity.
and if you want to replicate, or just know how these plants live in the wild, keep an eye on the weather of lake waccamaw. Zip code: 28450. Good luck! ;)
 
  • #12
...Since the soil was fresh as of this spring, I'm willing to bet the black peat heated up really quickly!

A mulch layer of light colored sand or long fibered sphagnum moss (either living or dead) would reflect much of the heat. The observations of Roberts (1958) and Luken (2005) in their papers on VFT habitat reported the plants were growing in mainly white sand or Sphagnum.
 
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