Expert: Sarracenia Northwest - 10/23/2011

Question
Hi, I live in Johannesburg South Africa and I Hope you can help me. Yesterday I purchased three healthy, happy looking Vft. They're grown in plastic planters in sphagnum peat that were then packaged in sealed plastic cylinder containers with air holes for ventilation. After i purchased them i had left them in the car, in the sun while visiting family for roughly two hours! And It was very hot yesterday, especially in the car. When I eventually got home I saw to my horror that all three of my plants traps were shut and no longer healthy green but brown and very sad looking. I removed their pots from the plastic cylinder container i purchased them in according to the instructions on the cylinder and placed each pot in their seperate saucers filled with distilled water. My concern: have i killed my lil plants because i left them in their closed containers, in the direct sun in the car or will they recover over time? Today their traps are still shut and their leaves are medium brown on the one plant, the other one was a nice red when i bought it, it now looks like burnt red and my third one has a bit of green but with some blackened patches on its leaves and traps! On all three plants Their trap teeth look burnt brown and dry. I spent a fortune on these plants and am understandably devastated! Please help. What do i do? Should i shade them outside under covering or continue giving them sun? Must i cut the brown looking traps and leaves off or leave them til they fall off. I  unintentionally scorched them leaving them in the car in direct sun, but if there is hope that they'll survive and recover i'd appreciate any good advice given. How do i remedy this? Kind regards

Answer
Hi Meg,

Thank-you for providing a photo.  That always helps.

Unfortunately, I don't want to get your hopes up because plants being left in a hot car like that are experiencing temperatures into the middle 100's F.  It's not just sunburn, they were slow-cooked.

All you can do at this point is cut all the leaves off (a trap is a leaf), keep the pots in some water in a sunny location, and wait.  I need to stress that they do need to be in a sunny location.  The new growth will need full sun to develop properly. (High heat is what damaged them in the car.)  If the rhizomes are still alive you should see some new growth in about 2 weeks.  If you see nothing, I'm afraid they are dead. :(

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