Expert: Sarracenia Northwest - 8/25/2011

Question
Hi,

First, I'd like to thank you for the help you provided last year that carnivores would grow and enter dormancy under our mild winters here in Perth, Western Australia.

I bought some and somehow managed to keep them all alive despite my inexperience! Winter is nearly over and new growth and flowers are starting to appear, but I'm uncertain what to do next.

Advice from websites said to remove old traps to give new ones room to grow, yet opinions diverged. One site said to remove any trap you didn't like the look of, while another said to be careful and never cut into living tissue.

Some of my plants are crowded with tired old traps, but they're still green near their bases. I don't want to cut them away in case it damages the plants, but I'm worried any new growth will be cramped for space.

Any help will be gratefully accepted.

Cheers,

Steve

Answer
Hi Steve,

I've been on both sides of this issue over the years, and I'm firmly on the side of cut them off.  There is some differences from species to species, but in general cut off all old leaves on trumpet varieties.  This is especially important on any of the rubra varieties since they tend to have dense leaf masses and can harbor fungus.  Cutting the old leaves off allows more light to the rhizome crown and for production of better looking new pitchers.  Leave phyllodia on S. flava, S. oreophila, and any hybrids that have them.  They are still of benefit to the plants.  On S. purpurea and hybrids only cut off pitchers than are browning.  On those you need to be more selective.  Same with psittacina and hybrids.  Even on these, however, I would say if you're looking at a leaf and trying to decide to cut it off or not, cut it.  It won't hurt them.  I've taken plants like Scarlet Belle which have leaves that live around a year, and cut all those off too, and they have come back beautiful as ever.

In all of this leaf removal, do be careful not to damage the rhizome.  That is where all the new growth takes place.

Good Growing!

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