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Dormancy Required?

E

Europa

Guest
Hello everyone:
Pretty much, I've been conducting an experiment. Since I've had my plants (about three months) I've never left them out of the florescent lights I've kept them under. Not once, have the plants seen darkness or a drop in temperature.
Based on this, they have grown absolutely huge. One question I have is why their veins are turning a dark red color...is this normal to happen? It almost looks like blood is running through them.
My other question is if dormancy is necessary. If the plants do no detect any drop in temperature, would they really need to go dormant? I mean, they don't have an internal clock do they?
If dormancy is required, I'll take them away from the light, but I wonder what would happen if they didn't fo through the dormant period? They're still growing like crazy and new shoots are popping up from the bottom one after another. Any thoughts?
 
Hey Europa,
Sarracenia are temperate plants meaning that they need dormancy for about I said three months at least.
The consequences of not putting them thru dormancy, the signs will show itself such as weak growth and etc.
 
The plants need to go dormant in you want to enjoy them year after year...
 
Hi guys,

The answer to the internal clock question is 'yes' they do. This was shown to me earlier this year when we had a spate of cold weather just before and through into the early growing season. Most of my sarras are outside in the weather but I bring a few of them in onto my porch every now and then which is protected from the elements. The plants that were on the porch had started growing 3 weeks earlier than those outside, strangely the porch plants did not produce flowers this year but the outside ones did. The cold weather had prevented the outside plants from starting to grow and had also induced flowering (theory to be further researched) I think.

As far as requiring dormancy goes, if you dont give them a dormancy period they will eventually start to fade away, producing ever smaller pitchers until they can't even produce a complete pitcher anymore. Then the rhizome will rot and you'll be looking for a new plant.

While your plants may be growing at a phenominal rate now I highly recomend you rest them or you will not have them to enjoy for much longer.

Are the new shoots new growth points or just new pitchers? If they are the former then your plants are probably experiencing stress and trying to multiply in order to survive. And yes the red veins are a good thing they help to indicate if the light levels are strong enough and I think they make the plants look good, they break up the background colour.

Hope I've Been Of Some Help,

Chris.
 
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