Is it too late to repot my pitchers?

[Warren]

I just joined this forum and this is my first post...
I have been more of a water gardener (2500 gal pond), but received a pitcher in a trade in May 2002. I've decided I would like to get more into carnivorous plants.

Anyways, onto my question. But first, a little more background...

I just read that carnivorous plants should generally be repotted in March. Lucky me. I just repotted a week or so ago. Then it says that all of the soil should be replaced since some nutrients would have developed in the old soil, and that soil for cp's must be nutrient-free.

Shortly after I repotted (I divided into 2 pots as well), both plants developed a flower bud. I got my first flowers! I didn't even know that these things flowered. It also said that actively growing plants should not be repotted.

So what should I do? Should I wait another year to repot? I'm thinking it might be better to repot and suffer those consequences rather than have the plant die on me because I have bad soil. And what are the consequences of repotting an actively growing plant?

thanks,
Warren

 

[pond boy]

Welcome to the forums! The consoquences of repoting an actively growing sarr is a set back in growth. Hope you have fun on these forums,oh and watch out for Ozzy.........
Happy growin`,
Noah.

 

[Warren]

Thanks Noah. That doesn't sound too bad. In fact, now that I think about it, I received these plants in May. They had to be active then.

I guess I'll find out sooner or later who Ozzy is...

Warren

 

[Sean's Ponds]

Nice to see you made it over from our other forum Warren

Cant help you with your question though since I have only had my Sarracenia's since last year.

Cheers,
Sean

 

[Capslock]

Warren, your plants should be fine as long as you give them good conditions. Wait to repot them until next year, and enjoy your flowers this year! Congrats! And get more CPs!

Capslock

 

[droseradude]

Ozzy is a mod here who is in a battle with spectabilis73, a member here. He posted pics from a porn site.

 

[Warren]

Thanks Sean. I saw you at the foreign trading post area last night. I replied there, thinking that you were the originator of that thread. I guess I got too excited. Anyways, this looks like a real nice forum.

Capstock,
Maybe I'll just repot the one that doesn't look as good. There is a flower bud on that one too, but it's staying real small. I don't think it's going to open. The plant doesn't look as good as the one where the flower did open. This way, I'll manage my risk. I'd hate to lose them both because I didn't repot and they got nutrient poisoning.

Droseradude,
Thanks for the info on Ozzy. Still don't quite get what it's about, but I can imagine.

I'm going to try to post a pic of my flower that I took this morning. It's hanging down, and I had to tilt the pot up to get a photo of it at the angle I wanted to show.

Warren

hmmmm. I'm getting an error that I have an invalid image extension. You are allowed to post .jpgs, no? Does it have to be a gif?

 

[Bugweed]

Warren, repot nothing. Wait until late winter to repot, as that is a good time for them. They aren't quite awake from dormancy, but are getting ready to expand their growing points. Don't sweat repotting at this time, just run pure water through your pot to wash out any mineral salt build-up, and to wash nutrients out of the soil. They will hold for another year, so don't be too hasty to repot. There are a number of us that have been growing for a little while, and you are in good hands. I guarantee it. And, don't listen to Droseradude, Ozzy's a good guy, and the battle is for laugh's and fun!! We have all joined it, and get to put in our 2 cents worth. Welcome to the Forum, and good growing!! BTW, I am a member of the BACPS, are you?

 

[Warren]

OK Bugweed. I will heed your advice. One more thing then, do you think a low flow with a hose for 5-10min would be OK?

I'm going to have to check out BACPS. I understand that they usually meet in Berkeley, and as my in-laws are in Alameda, I'm often up that way on weekends. Can you tell me where/when the next meeting is?

thanks,
Warren

 

[rubrarubra]

Hi Warren, welcome to the forums!

The best way to rinse soil is with clean water i.e. distilled, rainwater. This way you avoid putting in more minerals right away. I suppose you could slowly pour a lot of water in the top, or fill a deep container with clean water and lower the pot in until it is waterlogged, then take it out and let it drain.

Peter

 

[Bugweed]

Warren, Go to Google, type in BACPS, and start reading. I don't go to the meetings anymore as I have other things requiring my attention. Use your computer to get the information. And rubrarubra is right, run only distilled water through your pots, and to water with. Tap water just may kill your babies.

 

[BobZ]

Quote[/b] ]hmmmm. I'm getting an error that I have an invalid image extension. You are allowed to post .jpgs, no? Does it have to be a gif?

A jpg extension should work just fine. You do need to have a valid web site where your photo is located. If you don't have a site, try
http://www.cpforums.org/gallery/

 

[Warren]

Bugweed, I guess either I've been very lucky I havn't killed my plant or it's very hardy. I used to have it sitting on my patio (not full sun) because I was afraid of burning it in full sun. Some time ago, I put it in my pond. The water there must be full of nutrients. SJ water is pretty hard too I think...

Bob,
Thanks for the tip. I guess Yahoo photos don't work here. I started an album at the forum gallery. Although I'm a little embarrassed to put them there when I see everyone's stunning photos. Hopefully, I'll have some of my own in years to come.

Warren

p.s. if anyone can help me identify what exactly this plant is, I'd appreciate it.

 

[Sean's Ponds]

Nice photo of the bloom Warren!

Cheers,
Sean

 

[BobZ]

Warren, you have taken the first step in identifying your plant: it has a yellow flower. That narrows it down to about half of the Sarracenia. It could be S. alata, flava, minor, oreophila, or purpurea var heterophylla. But, it might be any number of complex hybrids that also produce a yellow flower. Next, you need to look at a mature leaf. From your photo, there appear to be a couple of new leaves, which seem to narrow the choices down to S. alata, flava, or oreophila (or the hybrids). A good place to get an overview of what the species look like is Barry Rice's site.
http://www.sarracenia.com/galleria/helpdesk.html
scroll down to Sarracenia.
Or, if you want a more comprehensive selection of photos, try
http://www.humboldt.edu/~rrz7001/Sarracenia.html

 

[nepenthes gracilis]

Looking n Dr. Schnell's CP's of NA and Canada I belive it is N. alata. The petals are way to white to be a flava or minor IMHO, and the pitchers in the background couldn't possibly be S. purpurea subsp. purpurea forma heterophylla or S. purpurea subsp. venosa forma luteola so that narrows it down quite a bit to S. alata or S. oreophila. Another good reason it could very well be S. alata is the "frillyness" of the petals, alata, to me, seems to have that ruffled appearance to the petals while other species are predominently smooth and well defined. And of course like Bob said it has great possibility it is a hybrid.

My .02 cents!

 

[pond boy]

Nice pic warren

 

[Warren]

Thanks all. Based on a pic of flava I saw at another site, I don't think it's that either. I'll have to check out the sites that BobZ has pointed out. I may post another pic, showing a better view of a mature leaf.

I like your interest list pond boy. (Shouldn't that be "eatin' ramen noodles"

 

[Warren]

Also, I've been thinking about the distilled water. You all must use lots of distilled water! Does it get to be expensive? I will probably post this question later in general discussion or the appropriate place.

I work at a wafer fabrication facility where DI water is easy to come by, but people will probably start asking questions if they see me carting out jugs of water out.

 

[Nepenthe]

Warren:
It sounds like you were not made aware of the importance of pure water concerning CP's when you were given your pitcher plants.
The general concensus is that the water your plants are exposed to should have as few dissolved mineral salts as possible. If you stick to water that is less than 100 p.p.m of dissolved solids, you'll be safe. Some people are able to use tap water for their plants -it all depends on the area. You can get your water tested for Total Dissolved Solids.

I still use distilled water for my indoor plants. It's cheap and I don't go through much of it. I just save the empty jugs and return to the supermarket to one of those "refill stations" and refill them with DISTILLED or REVERSE OSMOSIS water (not drinking water). The water is about 30-some cents per gallon. Personally, I can afford to spend $4 every other week for ten gallons of water for my lovely plants. If I needed to worry about that kind of money... well then I'd quit smoking, because that costs a heck of a lot more than water.

As you may have noticed, you don't really really totally absolutley NEED distilled water... some people have plants that are grown with hard water and the plants seem to do "fine." There are some people who are SUPER TWEAKY about using ONLY distilled water. Sometimes that seems like overkill, though... You needn't be a "water Nazi" or anything to that effect.
However, I guarantee you that your plants will be much happier with "pure water." Additionally, you run the *risk* of slowly killing your plants if you use non-pure water.

My CP bog garden is in the line of fire of my underground sprinklers. These sprinklers use the hard, icky city water. Sometimes it bothers me that the bog garden is getting a healthy dose of gross city water every other day. However, there is little I can do about that. Sprinklers sprinkle, the water gets into my bog... oh well, life goes on. The PRIMARY water supplied to my bog garden is RO water. I feel that this is sufficient compensation for the non-torrential dousing that it receives from the sprinklers -the garden also gets doused by rain water farily regularly, that serves to flush the soil of the city water. .

By now you may have already discovered this, but I just feel like stressing the importance of the water's purity.

Most of us CP'ers use either
a: distilled water
b: Reverse-Osmosis purified water
c: rain water

The general concensus is that using distilled water is best, and RO water is a close second (a reverse-osmosis purifier is the cat's meow of water purifiers for people who have moderate-large collections). Rain water is acceptable as well (yes, the rain water in some areas is by no means pure, but the odds are that it is more pure than your tap water). Others have used "alternative sources" like dehumidifiers. Dehumidifier water is OK -I used it for a little while a few years ago and my plants were fine.
Sometimes I use "Brita" water on a few of my plants if it's an emergency.
Mineral water or drinking water is not a good idea. Think about it "MINERAL water." Bottled drinking water usually has added salt for taste, so stay away.


Good luck
-trevor