Expert: Christopher Littrell - 7/31/2007

Question
I need to know why all of a sudden when my hooded pitcher plants were doing so well that now there turnig brown on the top?! Even the young ones! Will it die?

Answer
Hello Ryan,

There are several reasons why a Sarracenia might begin browning on all of it's pitchers.

1.  Leaf burn from being placed in full sun without adapting the plant slowly to higher intensity light.

2.  Fertilizer in the plant's soil eventually changes the Ph and begins to kill the plant.

3.  Hard water minerals build up and also cause changing Ph levels, also slowly killing the plant.

4.  Pests might be attacking your plant, so check the leaves and growth points for pests. Small white, yellow, or green insects might be aphids while brown or grey shell like creatures might be scale. Mealy bugs can also attack carnivorous plants. If you notice pests on your plants you can spray with neem oil based or water based pesticides, like pyrethrines or malathion. You can just soak the entire pot and plant in a bucket of soft water for 24 hours, take it out for a day, then repeat the process again to drown the insects out. Pests can cause browning on the leaves, however; usually attack young leaves, causing them to grow in deformed and damaged looking. If the leaves are still growing in normal looking, then browning suddenly, it sounds like another problem on the list.

5.  Fertilizers sprayed on the leaves can cause leaf burn also.

It sounds like something in the plant's environment is not quite right. Check everything your using for the plants to ensure that minerals and fertilizers are not getting in your plant's soil and slowly adapt the plants to high intensity light.

Christopher