Darlingtonia not doing well

[RavnKing]

I have a Darlingtonia that is in one of my terrariums.  The temps are approx. 75º - 80º with a relative humidity of about 80% - 85%.  There is lots of light over the terrarium.  When I first brought this out of dormancy this year it started growing nicely right away.  It got a beautiful nice large pitcher.  I had it in a small indoor greenhouse at that time.  Since I moved it to my terrarium the first pitcher has started to turn brown already and the new growth gets brown at the head before the pitcher ever fully develops.  New growth keeps showing up but not in good shape.  The 5" pot is sitting in about 1" of water right now.  Is the temperature maybe a bit too high for Daringtonia's?  Any help here would be great.

Cheers

 

[Tamlin Dawnstar]

Way too warm I would say, and probably nowhere near enough light. This is a difficult species and I think a poor subject for terrarium culture. I would try moving it into cooler conditions and outside. If you go this route, you must be careful to adjust the plant slowly to outdoor conditions. It takes some attention and fussing to keep it from sunburning but I think this would bring you better results.

 

[RavnKing]

Well, I will return it back to the indoor greenhouse then as soon as I have installed my new lighting. Putting it outside is not really an option here as it is waytoo cold right now. What kind of himidity requirements does this plant really have? Can I put it on a windowsill at all? We have pretty low humidity here most of the time.

 

[elgecko]

I grow my Darlingtonia as windowsill plants in a south facing window. Going on there second year this way.
Last year I tried one outside and one inside. As the temps rose in summer the outside plant died. I was even watering it with refridgerated water.

 

[RavnKing]

Hmmmm, maybe I should give it a shot on my windowsill then. I will do that tonight. Thanks.

 

[FlytrapGurl]

Me and Darlingtonia never got along. Way too hot here in the summer and I could never get outside enough (every 30 seconds) to give it more refridgerated distilled water to cool the roots. So needy... we had to break the relationship off.

 

[jimscott]

Darlingtonia seem to be more of outdoor plant, rather than indoor. Pyro once told me that if your plant is established outdoors, then high temps shouldn't be an issue.

 

[Firerock]

Hi,
It's a mountian plant,not a bog plant.It does grow in bogs but not the kind of bogs of the warm south.It grows along mountian streems and ditches where cool water passes thru the roots.Does not like to be sitting in warm water.Grow outside is best, shade the pots.I have seen this plant in the wild growing in red clay.Straight spagnum moss or 50% peat moss 50% perlite. Stay away of the ice cube thing use cool water no exceeding 50 degrees,pour once and a while thru the pot thats the key and good air movment. Keep out of midday sun 50% shadding if possable Hope this helps.

 

[kahnli]

I just ignore my Darlingtonia... I have them in a greenhouse temps never drop below 65 degrees and I water them about every 3-4 days. I do respect their dormancy but I don't fuss over them... and they've been with me for about 2 years now. I've most likely just been really lucky.
I do agree with Tamlin that Darlingtonia would be a poor subject for terrarium.

 

[rattler]

Firerock, in my experiance Darlingtonia doesnt mind sitting in warm, none moving water, atleast mine doesnt. Darlingtonia is a PITA plant. it either grows well for you or you kill it. i rarly hear of it just barly surviving for ppl. on the upside there are lots of TC plants out there so experiment. if you baby it and it regularily dies on you think out side the box and forget all you have read on the species and sit a couple in pure peat in a tray of room temp., warm water. you may be presently surprised by the results. i was. another thing to do is to skip the mass produced Lowes and HD plants and get a division from another hobby grower. their plant is likely to be a bit tougher.

mine sits in pure peat which sits in warm stagnat water(normal tray method) alongside Sarrs and some Drosera in a large, south facing window and its doing wonderfully for me. going by all that i have read my plant should have keeled over a year ago but its thriving. i didnt throw it into dormancy this last winter but it will be going into it this coming winter.

 

[seedjar]

My Darlingtonia seedlings live in stagnant water, but this is their first season so I don't think they're big enough to mind. I use peat and perlite for my mix, with some lava rock and milled peat to lighten it up.
I was hoping to grow some of my seedlings in an outdoor fountain when they're big enough to hold their ground in running water - has anybody tried this? Since they grow near moving water natually I'd think they would be a good candidate.
~Joe