The straws are just a way of telling different clones apart.
Actually the red and blue straws are both Hummers Giants, just the ones I mark with red are from a plant that gave me the biggest pitchers I ever grew. Even though it is a Hummers Giant like all the rest it is a special plant that I like to keep track of.
You might have seen these pictures before, but this is the plant that I am talking about.
The one I mark with a red straw. Funny thing is, after it produced these huge pitchers it got crown rot. I unpotted it to try and save what I could but everything kept dieing. It got down to just one leaf and one pitcher that I rooted and they survived. It took a few years, but I have brought it back. It has to be real happy to produce really big pitchers like that, and I really haven't been able to get it to produce pitchers of that size since. The thing is, I know it can because it did.
I really don't worry about the soil getting old, but I figure these plants are good for a couple years anyway. I have plants in a tank that are huge and they have been in there for 5+ years. Thats an undrained situation too. Only if I remove a plant from the tank does the hole get replaced with new soil. I do once in a while water with a peat tea and use beneficial fungus.
It is still kind of cold outside here at night and I do bring them in if I think it is going to go down in the 30's. Lately it has been in the 40's to 50 degrees at night. 60's maybe 70 for day temps. A little cool, but they like it.
Going back to straws, I also use a green straw for a large clumping form I got from the CP Jungle a long time ago. A white straw for plants I started from seed myself.
JMatt