Expert: Sarracenia Northwest - 10/3/2010

Question
Hello! I have a problem with all the Sarracenias that I've
tried to grow.

I used distilled and rain water and a standard 1 perlite 1
peat moss media, the climate of my city (Puebla, Mexico) is
suitable for Dionaea, warm Summer, cold Winter etc..

The issue is that when my Sarracenias hibernate all is good
but when they start to awaken, the new grown sprouts begin
to loose strenght, they become soft and weak to finaly die
within the entire rizome, that's how I've lost all my
Sarracenias (leucophylla, flava, purpurea, psitacina etc).
Somebody once told me that the problem was the sustrate
decay, then I quicly repotted my 3 last Sarracenia  (that
already started to die) and one of them actually survived to
the next year. So the question would be. How critical is the
sustrate decay and how can affect the plant?. Other
carnivores in my home have been in the same sustrate for
more than 3 years wiothout problems but specifically the
Sarracenias die.

Thank you, I hope you could help me.

Answer
Based on your description, it's likely that the problem is fungus or mold.  This is a common problem during the winter months.  It's important to treat it early, otherwise it'll spread very quickly and you can lose an entire collection.

I recommend cutting off the pitcher in late November or early December.  (For your purpurea and psittacina, cut off only the dried, dead pitchers.)  After that, spray your plants with a sulfur fungicide.  You will need to check your local garden center or search for a product online.  I also recommend watching our video on fungicides:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfVUrMaGjVs

For more information about growing Sarracenia, I recommend watching Volume 1 of the Grow Carnivorous Plants DVD series:
http://www.cobraplant.com/DVD

Good growing!
Jacob Frin