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Carnivorous Plants/When To Expect Growth

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Expert: - 5/9/2011


Question
Hello, this is a question regarding my pitcher plant.  My plant is a hybrid between leucophylla and something else, the cultivar name is Daina's Delight.  It lives in an outdoor bog garden in USDA zone 5.  I was wondering when I should expect to start seeing growth on the plant.  Note that it probably isn't yet at flowering maturity.  Feeling somewhat concerned, I half dug up the plant today to check on the rhizome, which appears to be white by the way.  It appears it survived the hard winter, but if you could give me an idea of when I should start to see the first set of pitchers that would be great.  Also, did I possibly disturb it today by inspecting the rhizome?  Much appreciated.

Answer
Hello Fred,

According to region, when the cold has receded and the temperature has warmed to over 60 degrees, you should start seeing growth in your Sarracenias. Now this could take a couple weeks before you actually see any new leaves growing in, but give it time. Mine are already in growth and tried to flower, but I clipped the flowers back to give them another year before blooming. After coming out of dormancy, it did take a few weeks before they awoke sufficiently to sprout anew. Repotting and any disturbance of roots is best done just before they come out of dormancy, so your fine on that account too (although I really have had no problems with uprooting and repotting plants of all sizes and age groups at any time with Sarracenias).

Christopher

Carnivorous Plants

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Christopher Littrell

Expertise

I am capable of answering questions about the most common carnivorous plants found in cultivation. I have no personal experience with Byblis, Drosophyllum, Aldrovanda, and Heliamphora. I have not cultivated gemmae forming pygmy sundews nor tuberous sundews. For information regarding those aforementioned species, I would suggest contacting other experts. I can answer questions regarding most species of Nepenthes, tropical and temperate Drosera, Mexican Pinguicula, Sarracenias, and Dionaea. I have some limited experience with growing Utricularia, Cephalotus, and Darlingtonia.

Experience

I have grown carnivorous plants off and on for about 27 years. I have made the same mistakes and suffered the same mishaps that many growers make as they attempt to separate the myths from the realities of growing these plants. Currently, I am successfully growing a variety of tropical sundews, a Nepenthes, several Venus Flytraps of varying ages, and Sarracenias. I have been successful in stratifying Sarracenia seeds and providing artificial dormancy requirements for my temperate plants when needed.

Education/Credentials
I hold a Master's degree in Educational Psychology. Over my lifetime, I have constantly read books involving the growing conditions of carnivorous plants. I hope to incorporate the educational aspects involved in psychology with teaching other people how to cultivate carnivorous plants.

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