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Rehabilitating dried out sarracenia

  • Thread starter Turtlekit
  • Start date
Today I went to the garden store and rescued a couple of particularly horribly cared for sarracenia, a 'bug bat' and a 'carolina yellow jacket,' although based on this particular garden store's really serious lack of expertise on the plants I am not entirely certain that they actually ARE said cultivars. When I asked about whether the plants would go into dormancy naturally here despite our relatively warm winters, I was told that they were "tropical" plants that needed to be kept in very warm temperatures year round or they would die. That, obviously, is wrong. Upon closer inspection I noticed that the plants were bone dry, dry enough that I would water my drought-hardy succulents extra if they were as dry as these poor pitcher plants. For what it's worth, the plants do not appear to be in too bad of condition considering the circumstances (dormancy and being dried out) and clearly WERE healthy before their mistreatment.

I have repotted the plants using a mix of about 70% spaghnum peat moss, 15% perlite, and 15% wet long-fibered sphagnum and watered them a lot, and left them sitting temporarily in shallow but full makeshift water dishes. Tomorrow I am going to look around other local hardware and garden stores until I find deeper water dishes for them. Is there anything else I can do to save these plants?
7fd3d6b9ebe57e24a94f2d54894bfae1.jpg

'bug bat'
160979ab82623b4150ec3d846686e94c.jpg

'carolina yellow jacket'
 
You've already done pretty well. I had sarrcenia that would occasionally dry out pretty severely when I was away from home for more than a few weeks. I never lost any to the actual drought. As long as they had plenty of water they all seemed to perk back up.
 
You've already done pretty well. I had sarrcenia that would occasionally dry out pretty severely when I was away from home for more than a few weeks. I never lost any to the actual drought. As long as they had plenty of water they all seemed to perk back up.

I am glad to hear that! All that I had been able to find from a google search on the topic of saving dry sars was that they should not be dry in the first place so I was honestly a bit concerned that it was a death sentence for them. Thanks for the input!
 
As none of the leaves had started wilting yet I'd say they're fine (and I know 'Yellow Jacket' has been registered for certain, but 'Bug Bat' may or may not have been; at the very least it's a trademarked name). The fact someone would call them tropical though...blegh
 
As none of the leaves had started wilting yet I'd say they're fine (and I know 'Yellow Jacket' has been registered for certain, but 'Bug Bat' may or may not have been; at the very least it's a trademarked name). The fact someone would call them tropical though...blegh

That's good! Honestly what I'm more concerned about than whether the cultivars are registered is whether the plants are properly labeled in the first place, I kind of feel like a nursery that calls them tropical and gives them no water might just pick up some random sarrs and slap names of cultivars that look like them on there without actually knowing whether the labels were correct. But yeah, tropical... I was pretty shocked, I feel like they should've at least maybe searched "sarracenia" online real quick before stocking them at their garden store.
 
The plants are fine. No need to worry unless the pitchers are wilting.

While I've never been told that Sarrs are tropical plants before, there's a local nursery here that keeps them in the tropical greenhouse with the houseplants (too warm AND not enough light.) The big botanical garden here in Oregon also has a terrarium inside their tropical greenhouse with mixed subtropical and temperate CPs which somehow looked far healthier last time I was there than the mini bog of Sarrs they had outdoors.
 
The plants are fine. No need to worry unless the pitchers are wilting.

While I've never been told that Sarrs are tropical plants before, there's a local nursery here that keeps them in the tropical greenhouse with the houseplants (too warm AND not enough light.) The big botanical garden here in Oregon also has a terrarium inside their tropical greenhouse with mixed subtropical and temperate CPs which somehow looked far healthier last time I was there than the mini bog of Sarrs they had outdoors.

At least at this place they had them outdoors in full sun, even if they did screw up on the watering and give wrong information about the plants' care requirements and native habitat. It's interesting that the terrarium at the botanical center where you are is doing so well, I suppose sarrs must be a bit tougher than I would've assumed with regards to putting them in the wrong conditions! Maybe they give the terrarium more attention than the mini bog?
 
At least at this place they had them outdoors in full sun, even if they did screw up on the watering and give wrong information about the plants' care requirements and native habitat. It's interesting that the terrarium at the botanical center where you are is doing so well, I suppose sarrs must be a bit tougher than I would've assumed with regards to putting them in the wrong conditions! Maybe they give the terrarium more attention than the mini bog?

I think the terrarium may have been pretty new, considering the size and appearance of all the plants inside, while the mini bog outdoors probably wasn't getting enough sun.
 
I think the terrarium may have been pretty new, considering the size and appearance of all the plants inside, while the mini bog outdoors probably wasn't getting enough sun.

Yeah, that would make sense! Hopefully they'll at least move the temperates next winter so they can have their dormancy.
 
  • #10
That's good! Honestly what I'm more concerned about than whether the cultivars are registered is whether the plants are properly labeled in the first place, I kind of feel like a nursery that calls them tropical and gives them no water might just pick up some random sarrs and slap names of cultivars that look like them on there without actually knowing whether the labels were correct. But yeah, tropical... I was pretty shocked, I feel like they should've at least maybe searched "sarracenia" online real quick before stocking them at their garden store.

I think you can be fairly certain they're named right. 'Bug Bat' is a complex S. minor hybrid with very red, stout pitchers, 'Carolinia Yellow Jacket' is almost pure purp, but the one concern is I'm not sure if they will blush reddish like that (though stress/sunburn might do it) since they're a predominantly yellow (hence name) plant.
 
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