Expert: Sarracenia Northwest - 5/5/2010

Question
QUESTION: I received 3 Sarracenia oreophila rhizomes about 1" long each. I had potted them up with the rhizomes on top of the soil and placed them outside. Two of them never grew and the third had a green growing tip. One night it got down to 35˚F when the forecast said it was only going down to 40˚F. I woke up to the 3rd tip brown too, but the rhizomes are still firm. Should I keep them or throw them out?

ANSWER: Hi Cindi,

There are a couple factors to consider, such as your climate and how long ago you received the rhizomes.  Since you didn't supply this information, I can't really comment on them or give you a more definitive answer.  The most I can say is to give them another month. Usually by the the end of May, all rhizomes should be coming out of dormancy.  Sometimes new growth will get nicked when the temperature drops.  This is usually of no concern since the rhizome is still viable.  When this happens, you just need to be patient and wait for new growth.

Good growing!
Jacob Farin

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I got them mid-March. We had an exceptionally warm spring, but there were nights were it dropped down to 35˚F. Usually if it was forecasted as that I would bring them in, but if it wasn't then I'd leave them out except for the one night...it was forecasted to be 40˚F, but ended up being 35˚F.

Answer
Those temperatures won't matter.  These plants are well accustomed to experiencing those temperatures in the wild.  Our nursery also experiences those nighttime temperatures.  So I temperature isn't the issue.  At this point, give your rhizomes until the end of the month.  If they don't exhibit new growth by then, they're probably not viable and didn't survive the division.