Red Pitcher from Lowe's today. Advice Please!

[EverDave]

Ok, so here it is. I need advice on how I can keep this from dying on me. It is waaaay too pretty to let die like my last one from Lowe's. What do you all recommend? Key thing is it is in the "death Cube" and was outside in the greenhouse area. One leaf is brown. Should I add some fluid (Water) to the pitchers? Should I re-pot immediately?

Thanks!!!!

 

[amphirion]

taking out of the cube, and sitting it in a tray of water should do well... let it sit outside. the way how the year's progressing, dormancy should be starting up soon so you should prep for that, depending on which part of the States you live in. for areas like michigan, or minnesota, you might want to keep them in a dark cool basement for dormancy, at least till spring starts up again,

 

[EverDave]

Be ok to add it to my Mini Bog that I have?

 

[amphirion]

yeah sure, but i would try avoiding any unnecessary stress the plant might be going through. if you received a relatively fresh box of death cubes, there shouldnt be any problem. if the plant's been there for a while, that's a different story. a small acclamation process might be needed though as the plant probably was fresh out of the TC flask, in which case, you might need to keep the humidity high for a bit (a week) and gradually lower it--a large ziplock bag is great for this. open up the mouth larger to lower the humidity. otherwise, i would refrain from taking it out of the pot since it's going to take a nap until feb/march. best time for repotting sarrs is right before they break out of dormancy--very minimal stress.

my advice would be to keep it in the pot, wait for dormancy to occur, then early spring, unpot and place in your minibog. however, dont take my advice too seriously. im standing on a more conservative approach, as im not particularly a strong sarr grower. im sure more experienced sarr growers have much more useful info than what i've given.

 

[Not a Number]

If you're going to grow outdoors I would acclimate it slowly to direct sunlight over 2 or three weeks.

 

[EverDave]

Ok, so I took it out of the pot and placed it into my Mini bog. Hope this is ok. I will place a baggie over it.

So, I also grabbed up this

Do you recommend the same thing?

 

[UnstuckinTime]

That is a D. adelae, which is a tropical sundew. You will need to keep it warm and sunny all winter.

 

[F R e N c H 3 z]

Be sure to acclimate the sundew, it'll be a lot more sensitive than the Sarrs. There's no need at all to acclimate the Sarr. Only the ones that have been there for quite some time will need to be acclimated. The same can be for VFTs. The few I've gotten from Lowes I've always just placed directly outside without problem. The current leaves will get burnt by the intensity of the sun's light but the new leaves will be ready to take it on. As mentioned be sure to have someplace like a garage or shed ready for dormancy if you plan on letting it go dormant. Congrats on the additions

 

[scottychaos]

Dave,
when you say the plant "was outside in the greenhouse area" do you mean really outside?
the area of Lowes stores with just the thin roof to protect from rain, but not literally inside the store?
exposed to outside air and outside temps?
if so, thats good! because the plant has been probably been in that area for months..which means its been exposed to decreasing light and decreasing temps..(well, it probably hasnt been getting enough natural light, but being exposed to outdoor temps is a definite plus..)

but if the plant has been in the "indoor" part of Lowes, where they keep houseplants, and the part of the store that is heated..thats a bit more problematic..because in that case the plant really has no idea what season it is..its internal clock is all messed up..it doesn't know its autumn and it should be practically fully dormant already..buying a plant like that in April is no problem, because it has all summer to prepare for dormancy..but buying an "indoor" sarr in October is trickier, when it comes to how to handle the plant for the upcoming winter..

although we also have no way of knowing exactly when the plan arrived at Lowes!
but we cant really do anything about that..
just FYI, for future reference, Autumn and early winter are about the *worst* times to buy a new VFT or Sarr..Spring is always best..summer is ok..autumn is definitely the worst, (unless you know for a fact the plant has been grown outdoors all season)..winter is ok if its late winter going into spring.

but..having said all that, the plant looks very healthy! it should do fine..
So where exactly at Lowes was it when you bought it?
the answer to that will determine if you should let the plant think its October, or if you should let it think its summer until Spring..

Scot

 

[EverDave]

Be sure to acclimate the sundew, it'll be a lot more sensitive than the Sarrs. There's no need at all to acclimate the Sarr. Only the ones that have been there for quite some time will need to be acclimated. The same can be for VFTs. The few I've gotten from Lowes I've always just placed directly outside without problem. The current leaves will get burnt by the intensity of the sun's light but the new leaves will be ready to take it on. As mentioned be sure to have someplace like a garage or shed ready for dormancy if you plan on letting it go dormant. Congrats on the additions

Thanks. I will have some reading to do on this Sundew. Is my first.

---------- Post added at 09:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:17 PM ----------

Dave,
when you say the plant "was outside in the greenhouse area" do you mean really outside?
the area of Lowes stores with just the thin roof to protect from rain, but not literally inside the store?

I guess technically it was "inside". Out store is layed out as such...Full Outside Greenhouse area where they store shrubs, typical flowers, mulch, etc... An Inner what I would call "Tropical Greenhouse area where it is slightly heated and they store cacti and the VFT, Sarrs, Sundew etc... And then the INNER store area. Mine were in the middle section. Unlike Meijer (Wal-Mart type store) that keeps them Inside in the cut flower section. Does this help?

So today I picked up the Sarr and a Sundew.

 

[scottychaos]

ok, yeah I know the area of Lowes you mean..we have the same arrangement out here..
well, thats a tricky one then..could go either way with the plant..
its really quite impossible to know what season the plant "thinks" it is in..

So I guess it would be best to stick it with your other plants and try to give it a winter dormancy this winter..it looks quite healthy, so it will probably do fine!

Scot

Scot

 

[jimscott]

D. adelaegrow well on window sills, grow racks, terraria.... Keep watered and lit and it will do well.

 

[EverDave]

Thanks all for the advice and Info. I am excited.

---------- Post added at 03:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:36 PM ----------

As mentioned be sure to have someplace like a garage or shed ready for dormancy if you plan on letting it go dormant. Congrats on the additions

Does it have to go into dormancy this year? Should I feed it something since it has been in the cube virtually starving?

 

[SDCPs]

Lets fix one misconception right now. Carnivorous plants do not need to be fed, and they won't die if they aren't. However, they do grow faster with food.

 

[TheFury]

I'm interested in the dormancy question, too. EverDave - looks like we went on a Lowe's CP shopping spree around the same time! I got myself a VFT, D. Adelae, and S. Purpurea. I'm thinking I'm going to let both the VFT and Sarr skip dormancy this year since they're fresh out of tissue culture and are probably in rough shape after weeks in their death cubes. It'll be a tough year for them, but I think they'll be better off not going through dormancy yet.

Of course, I welcome the *real* experts to put me in my place if I'm talking crazy talk right now!

 

[EverDave]

Those are my thoughts as well. I think if we let them go dormant it might "do'em in".
Expert advice appreciated as well. I may just keep them under artificial light in the house.

 

[scottychaos]

Its another misconception that dormancy is "more dangerous" than no dormancy..
for a normal plant, dormancy is very healthy, necessary in fact..and no dormancy = death.

but yes, these are not "normal" plants..at least not yet..
they need a full year of normal seasons to get themselves acclimated..

I'm thinking I'm going to let both the VFT and Sarr skip dormancy this year since they're fresh out of tissue culture..

thats the crux of the problem..you dont *know* if they are fresh out of TC..of if they have been in the death cubes languishing for half a year..

If they have actually been in the cubes only a few weeks, I agree generally its probably safer to skip dormancy for this winter...but if they have been in the cubes since spring, and in a *somewhat* decent environment, then they might already be attempting to go dormant right now..and it would be best to continue that..

Probably the best way to tell how the long the plant has been in the cube is the overall condition of the death cube plant when you buy it..
If its all perky and fresh and looks really nice, then yes, its probably quite recently out of TC..its not *ready* for dormancy at all, because it hasnt had months to prepare for it..I think in Daves case, his plant probably falls into that category..it could probably handle either method..dormancy or no...at this point, I have to agree No dormancy is probably the somewhat safer course..only because of the time of year, and because the plant looks so good...

but generally speaking, a lot of people seem to think that ANY death cube plant should *always* skip the first winters dormancy..this is not always true..and sometimes that could be a very bad idea..it depends on the plant, its condition, and when you buy it..

any death cube plant purchased March - August should just go outside with the rest of the collection and be allowed to go dormant that winter...Death cube plants really shouldnt be puchased Oct-Feb at all IMO..but if you do buy one in the winter, then yes, the plant really cant handle dormancy, and its probably best to keep it in a bright windowsill all winter, put it outside in the spring, then let it go dormant the following winter...

Scot

 

[EverDave]

Scot,

Thank you so much for the response. I agree with you 100%

 

[TheFury]

Probably the best way to tell how the long the plant has been in the cube is the overall condition of the death cube plant when you buy it..
If its all perky and fresh and looks really nice, then yes, its probably quite recently out of TC..its not *ready* for dormancy at all, because it hasnt had months to prepare for it..I think in Daves case, his plant probably falls into that category..it could probably handle either method..dormancy or no...at this point, I have to agree No dormancy is probably the somewhat safer course..only because of the time of year, and because the plant looks so good...

Looks like I'm in the same boat as Dave here. I picked my plants up the same weekend as him. I had been popping my head into Lowes a couple weekends in a row while setting up my grow rack, and didn't see any CPs. Then, they had 'em. Looks like it was a fresh shipment. I can't imagine they leave the plants sitting around for too long after tissue culture before shipping them out. The plants were also all in nice shape.

These plants were also kept in the indoor section, nowhere near sunlight and shaded from most of the store lighting by other death cubes.

So, looks like I'll skip dormancy! Thanks for the info.

Going forward, though, I'll take your advice and not buy any death cubes outside of the plants' normal growing season. Hoping that during the spring they'll have some darlingtonia death cubes. That would be nice!

 

[EverDave]

Yeah, I am going to let it and my VFT pass through dormacy this year. Think it will be best.
The Sarr is doing well and seems to be taking to the sunlight very well. I did place a few freeze dried blood worms in a few pitchers to help it along since I did re-pot it.