PitcherPlant Questions

[GreyWalker]

About two months ago I bought a pitcher plant from Lowes. It was in the regular dome type thing and was green. I repotted it into a bigger pot and with moss. The moss had some minerals in it and I was worried that it might die but luckily it did not. One of the pitchers died, but there is one that has turned a beautiful red! I am so glad. In the past few weeks, leaves have been literally popping up overnight. I will go to bed, and the next morning there is suddenly another leaf! Also, a green thing has started growing and I need your help. Here are some pictures of my plant, which I am proud of. I live on the NC Coast, where Venus Flytraps are everywhere, so I am hoping that it will be fine. I water it with the water from the water hose...I heard that your not suppose to do that, but I have been and it has been going for two months!


Here is just a general picture of it. I was wondering if the extra leaves would turn into additional pitchers, or are they just leaves?
http://img236.imageshack.us/img236/3217/dsc00288hk1.jpg

Here is a side view of it. As you can see, there is a hole in the pitcher that I believe came from an insect a few weeks ago. Is there any damage that has been done...could it die from this?
http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/3179/dsc00291ht9.jpg

Here is another view of it. The pitcher is full of water, is that ok? Also, I placed a ladybug in there and it died...how do I know if it gets digested? I do not believe it has done anything yet to any bugs, and I don't know that it will if anything gets in it.
http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/6497/dsc00292pt3.jpg

And here is a picture of the green things. They looks like blades of grass..The pot is on a deck, so I'm not sure how grass started growing in it if it is grass...Should I remove the green stuff, what is it? Also, any tips on how to keep it alive, what should I do in the winter? Could it possibly get to hot for the pitcherplant? It gets around 100F here. I'm so proud of it since it turned red...It was green and I saw it at Lowes and was like oh the poor thing and bought it.

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/5649/dsc00294cf8.jpg

 

[seedjar]

Careful about what you water/pot your plant with. Minerals in the water and soil can be harmful to Sarracenia, and it isn't always easy to tell when things start to go wrong. If you've had it like this for two months, the mix you have it potted in is probably OK, but I'd obtain some purified water (distilled, deionized or reverse osmosis) to water with. Check with your local water company about the total dissolved solids (TDS) in your municipal water - if the TDS is below 100 parts per million, it's OK to water with, but if it's much higher than that, you're risking your plant's long-term well-being.
As for temps and local conditions, you'll be just fine. You're in prime Sarr-growing country.
Best luck, and welcome to the forums!
~Joe

 

[GreyWalker]

Thanks! I was just viewing the other threads and some of their plants have flowers! Will mine get flowers? Also, what type of pitcherplant do I have if you know?

Edit: My water comes from a well, so can I still contact a water company? I'm 15 so I don't know all about water companies and all that.

 

[adnedarn]

Hello and welcome to the forum
Tap water in some cases can work fine... it depends on the mineral content. Your plant could do fine with it for months then the minerals build up and the plant fails. It would be recommended that you change over to a pure water source (RO, distilled, rain)

Those are pitchers that never inflated. It could be from poor growing conditions or from a plant coming out of dormancy... The future ones should be traps now that it's getting better light and such.

The hole will not hurt the plant

Yes, this plant fills with rain water. Then the bugs are broken down... It'll take some time and basically it will just look yucky lol

I would pull the grass just so it doesn't get established. It isn't rare for a seed of that to come along with the long fiber sphagnum.
Andrew

 

[GreyWalker]

Thanks! I didn't know the minerals could build up. Can you please explain this in more detail?

Those are pitchers that never inflated. It could be from poor growing conditions or from a plant coming out of dormancy... The future ones should be traps now that it's getting better light and such.

What do you mean by traps, and never inflated?

 

[seedjar]

Looks like S. purpurea spp. venosa to me. And yes, it will flower, but not this year. As you got it from Lowe's, your plant was probably sprouted in a tissue culture flask a few years ago and hasn't yet had the time to sexually mature, or to even reach adult size. Next growing season, or perhaps the one after that, you might see flowers.
You can compare your plant to photos on BobZ's CP photo finder to pin down its identity.
Also, as for feeding it, if anything stays in those pitchers for more than a day or so, chances are it's getting digested. The thing with most bugs is that unlike vertebrates, the hard indigestible parts are on the outside, so the only way really tell whether or not prey items in Sarr pitchers have been digested is to fish the individual carcasses out and inspect them up close. A digested bug will retain most of its external shape, but will be obviously lacking in certain soft-tissue parts. Also, they tend to break a lot more easily than a live or recently deceased bug.
~Joe

 

[adnedarn]

Well you if we assume your water is at the 100ppm level that means for every 1million parts of "something" 100 of them are minerals. as the water goes away the minerals stay... so water 10 times, and effectively you could have 1000ppm minerals sitting in the media.

Well, those leaves are "traps" since they do catch bugs... pitchers... either way lol ..by inflate, you'll notice the new leaves begin to grow and are flat, then they start to blow up into the bulb this is called inflating.
Andrew

 

[Fryster]

Is it just me or does Image Shack really suck?

Wow.

At home, at work, or on the road; THAT image hosting site is S-L-O-W........

***I can't even view his pics! 10% of an image loads and then the Image Shack server times out...

Anyone else have problems?

 

[Wesley]

Hey GreyWalker,
Welcome to the forums. To get your water tested just take a sample to your local water supply and they'll check it for you. Since you live on the coast (I love the NC coast) if you really wanted to you could just stick the plant pot and all in the ground and leave it. It'd be in the perfect climate and do well.

As for the ID, you got it from Lowes so it is most likely a Sarracenia Purpurea ssp. Venosa. The "ssp" stands for subspecies.

 

[Not a Number]

The plant was in a dome (plastic cup) and not a cube? Did you happen to notice if there was a nursery or company on the label (take peek at this post)?

Yes, it appears to be Sarracenia purpurea most likely ssp venosa. Amazing that it colored up so quickly but then as noted before you are in prime Sarracenia growing territory.

It appears to be potted in Long Fibered Sphagnum Moss (LFS). I'm concerned that you said there were minerals in the moss. Where did you get the moss? Did you just recycle what it was planted in to begin with? In that case it's probably okay and the "minerals" is probably perlite.

These plants have evolved/adapted to waterlogged conditions - acidic, nutrient and mineral poor soils - the constant water seepage washes away most nutrients and minerals. I don't know the exact mechanism but the eventual build up of minerals (salts in particular) from water high in dissolved solids is harmful to these plants.

 

[GreyWalker]

It was in a cube from Botanical Wonders. I am worried about planting it in the ground. I drink from the 5gal bottles of Primo water. Is that safe to use?

The moss had perlite in it that I bought from Lowes.

 

[Clint]

Plant it in the ground? No don't do that unless you have a natural bog.

Primo water is bad. It's distilled or purified through RO first, and thats good, but then they add calcium chloride, magnesium sulfate, and sodium bicarbonate back to it for flavor and that's bad.

 

[Not a Number]

Can you confirm that it is Sphagnum moss? The Spanish Moss and green moss Lowes also sells will surely kill your plant. It doesn't look like Spanish moss. Green moss can look similar to some Sphagnum and sometimes requires close examination.

 

[GreyWalker]

It was Sphagnum moss with perlite that I bought.

 

[Not a Number]

Edit: Final thought - was the perlite with or without fertilizer (Miracle-Gro)?

If without fertilizer other than the question of the quality of your water everything seems fine. Outdoor growing with plenty of full sun should be perfect for that plant. Just keep an eye out for insect damage and you should enjoy your pitcher plant for many years.

If it is with fertilizer - toss out your mix and replant it in straight LFS - which will be just fine for your plant.

See Barry Rice's FAQ.

Here's a snapshot of the one I bought at Armstrong's on New Years Eve (Booman Florals), the third pitcher from the left back row is easily twice the size of the largest pitcher that was on it when I bought it. The color is nowhere as dark as the original pitchers:

Here's what it looked like not too long ago (March 3 trimmed off old leaves except the one in back):