Expert: Sarracenia Northwest - 3/15/2010

Question
I bought four very small Dionaea from a nursery yesterday. Before I repot them into a more permanent home than their disposable nursery containers and put them outside, I'd like to know if there is a significant advantage to planting them each in their own pots, rather than planting them all in one spacious conainer, about the length of a keyboard. Will they be easier to care for/more healthy in individual pots?
(I'm also going to buy some small Sarracenia, probably purple and white top, or begin some seeds soon, and I'd like to extend the same question for them. Can I plant them with the flytraps or each other without having to worry about any habitat or competitive problems between the plants?)
Currently, they're growing in sphagnum moss, but I'm going to repot them in a peat moss-perlite-sand mix, and I may begin watering them with distilled water as well. I live in Denton, Texas, where we have mild-moderate humidity, hot summers, and four full seasons, but with a short (late Dec.-mid Feb.) winters. I would include a link to a photo, but my camera is acting up, and I'm not sure that a photo is critical for my question.

Answer
Hi Jake,

The only advantage to having plants in individual pots is the flexibility to be able to move plants, or have them in different locations.  For plant health, they almost always do better in big pots, and they don't really have significant competition issues unless you really try and cram plants together.  In large pots the roots have plenty of room, more stable environment, they're less prone to dry spells, and survive cold much better in the winter.  I've also found that big pots are great for getting large groups of sundews going.  Some plants, such as Pinguicula primuliflora, do better this way than any other setting.

Mixtures of plants do fine also.  If you here folks talking in forums about "Mini-Bogs" that is what they are talking about.  I always like to position plants so that sundews and flytraps are in the front area of the pot to get full sun, with Sarracenia toward the back.  I'll sometimes nestle butterworts in-between Sarracenia to give them a little shade.  About every two years you'll have to repot and divide Sarracenia to keep them to a manageable size.  They will in time overgrow the others, but it happens slowly.

Good Growing!

Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.cobraplant.com