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Urine smell from sarracenia pot

One of my self-watering pots, which is home to an S. alabamensis 003 and an anonymous S. oreophila, suddenly developed a powerful urine smell.  What's weird is that the pot is on top of a fence; a good 5 ft above the ground.  Our Brittannies (both male) are quite talented dogs, but a trajectory like this would be beyond even their capabilities.  So what happened?

The pot is filled with a blend of LFS and sponge rock, so it should be a pretty free draining and well aerated mix.  And the smell is definately from the mix, not a buggy pitcher.  After getting a whiff of that smell and tracking it to the source, I drained the pot and ran a half gallon of clean water through it.  I'm going to let it air out a bit before watering again.
 
maybe a squirrel or a chipmunk or something.


repot in fresh soil and a new pot .
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (JustLikeAPill @ Oct. 09 2004,5:14)]maybe a squirrel or a chipmunk or something.
Wouldn't want to be standing under their tree. Their bladders would be bigger than they are
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! I was leaning more towards a cat with my guess.
 
lol, then maybe a cat.
 
ok... here's one... my drawer (no... not THAT ONE!!!) smells like urine! I've got no clue why, but it does!
 
people do stupid/wierd things when they'are impoxilate...uh intonsilated...uh, I mean drunk
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One should never underestimate the capabilities of a drunk or a cat, but I don't think either are involved in this. If the smell is still there after all the rinsing I did yesterday and the airing out that's happening now, I'll definitely be repotting. What a rotten time of year for that, though.
 
  • #10
hey... are you saying I get drunk? I don't...
and I don't sleep walk either! nor sleep pee LOL!!!
 
  • #11
I assume there's no flower on the oreophila?

My aunt cleaned the house from top to bottom because she thought her cat had sprayed somewhere. It turned out the S.x catesbaei I gave her had a flower!
 
  • #12
Lol. Alvin! That was alot of work for her I bet,hey when you need something cleaned just flower a Sarr:p
 
  • #13
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Alvin Meister @ Oct. 10 2004,9:20)]I assume there's no flower on the oreophila?
Your are certainly on to something there. Flowers from Sarracenia alata and flava and their hybrids have a strong feline urine smell. People discribe the odors differently.

Philip Sheridan wrote in the December 1991 issue of CPN,
http://www.pitcherplant.org/papers/cpnvol20no4.htm
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Eleven of my friends and co-workers were surveyed for their opinion of the odor of the flowers. A flower was placed in a glass jar and exposed to moderate sunlight. Five of these people detected a clean or fresh spring meadow scent. One individual noted the classic domestic cat urine smell noted in Schnell (1978), while others reported odors of turpentine, "Opium" perfume, fruit, mango leaves or a bitter smell! It is interesting to note the variety of odors reported. I could detect a turpentine odor but could equate this with the spring meadow or fresh odor detected by others. I have detected a reduced domestic cat urine odor associated with a fresh scent. Thus the flower odor of S. alata would seem to be unique, although possibly possessing similarities to S. flava.
 
  • #14
i wonder how they know what "opium" spells like.. hmmm...

i always thought they smelled like rotten citrus fruit.
 
  • #15
I think he ment the perfume "Opium"
 
  • #16
oh lol, i thought it meant the perfume of opium, like the scent


lol, boy do i feel stupid
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  • #18
No flowers this time of year and the smell is gone now. I leached it with a half gallon of water, let it air out a day, ran through another half gallon, and let it air out some more. I have no idea what caused it, but don't like the idea of repotting so close to dormancy. I'll repot after winter.
 
  • #19
In spring I had planted up a 10 Gal. bog planter. before putting pitchers in it I noticed a strong feline urin smell. I was worried over this thinking that overnight a stray had mistaken it for it's own personal library. I flushed the pot and planted anyways. Well the plants are still pitchering well, and I noticed no ill effects on the plants. I would think it's ok to wait to repot, but I haven't noticed and abnormal stress in sarrs regardless of when their repotted.
 
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