Expert: Christopher Littrell - 7/15/2007

Question
About a year ago my partner bought me a pitcher plant from the local supermarket (of all places), of course I was delighted, nothing says I love you like a carniverous plant (yes we are an odd couple lol). Anyway, a year on and it appears to be thriving, it's a beautiful shade of red and lives on the windowsill in our bathroom. However, it's become rather large and the roots are poking through the bottom of it's original plastic pot. I'm getting the distinct feeling it should be repotted into something deeper and larger to accomidate it's rampant growth. How do I go about doing this? What sort of pot should I use? what ratio of peat/sand/etc and should I do it now or wait till winter/spring to repot it and take the oppertunity to seperate it?

I live in the uk so outdoor potting is unfortunately not the best option, how can I stimulate dormancy? I've read that it needs to go into dormancy for at least 3 months but because our house is at a constant temperature (what with the baby and all) it never gets cold enough to simulate winter. We don't have a garage or a shed, do you have any suggestions on anywhere else to put it? what sort of conditions does it need for winter dormancy in relation to temperature, light, moisture etc?

Thank you.

Answer
Hello Jen,

Your gift does not sound odd to me at all, I wish all my friends and family gave carnivorous plants as gifts.

It sounds like it has some Purple Pitcher Plant in it, however; the exact hybrid and species of Sarracenias really is not so imnportant when looking at general care since they all prefer similar enough environments. Since you have it inside and feel the environment where you live is not good for outside growing, I would suggest a supplemental florescent light over the plant of about 6000-12000 lumens, like a 40 watt set of shop lights or several compact florescents of 100 watt equivalent. The coloring you described is good, so it is obvious your doing the best you can with light for the plant, however; they tend to do even better outside in North America as a garden plant or with supplemental artificial light as an extra boost. Window light cuts off part of the light spectrum and cuts intensity as well.

As for soil, you can pot the plant in premium sphagnum peat moss, the Canadian variety is best, that is often found in dry bales in nurseries and hardware stores. Never use bagged varieties as they usually contain fertilizers. You can dampen and mix the moss in a 50/50 percentage with perlite or silica sand as drainage.

I would not worry much about seperating the plant for now as it is into the growing season. Usually it is best to seperate Sarracenias just at the start of spring as they come out of dormancy so they can spend all growing season reestablishing roots and rhizomes. Best bet is to just repot the entire soil clump with he plants into a new, larger pot for now and wait until next year to repot them and seperate them if they look healthy enough for such. Just don't seperate them too often as that can weaken plants and it will take a long time for them to reestablish themselves. They normally clump in nature, so it is not a big problem. A bigger (much wider) pot will help alleviate some of that clumping too. Use a pot at least 6-8 inches in size and wider than it is tall if you like.

Place a large water tray under the pot and use a tray tall enough to provide several inches of water as Sarracenias love to have their roots in water up to half the pot in depth. Use only distilled, fresh rain, or reverse osmosis water as tap water and drinking water often contains too many minerals that build up and damage the acid Ph of the plant's soil, something that eventually kills carnivorous plants of almost all species.

As for dormancy, there are a couple of options open to you. Since you are having a hard time getting the plant outside, you can put it through dormancy inside, but it will take some work to do. During November, Sarracenias typically experience a shortening of days in North America down from 12 or more hours of sun to only 8 hours of photoperiod. That shortening of days spurs them to begin relying on their rhizome starches like garden potatoes and carrots do in winter. They become resistant to cold weather and their pitchers will die back some or even completely. Some Sarracenias will produce phyllodia (winter leaves with no pitchers) during fall and winter. They typically experience winter cold down below freezing for many species. Water is always present in bogs where they live so they must always remain moist to survive in winter.

Option 1: Refrigeration. If you have a large enough space in your refrigerator, you could place it there as a very basic form of dormancy. First you must acclimate the plant to short photoperiods over the month of November so that it begins producing hormones to protect it during cold periods with little light. Each week of November, give it one hour less of light by closing the blinds or curtains on the window it is in and turning off any additional artificial lights on the plant. The first week, give it 11 hours of light, second 10 hours of light and so forth until it gets only 8 hours. It will slow in growth and you might see some dieback in older leaves as it prepares for dormancy. Next, place it in the refrigerator and periodically spray it with neem oil or sulfur based fungicides every couple of weeks and make sure its soil maintains a barely moist consistency. Do not place it in the freezer as pots make horrible insulation and potted plants cannot survive freezing weather as well as plants in the ground in nature. In February, begin reversing the process by taking the plant out of the fridge and start off by giving it 8 hours of light in the window, stepping it up by one hour per week until the plant is back to its full photoperiod of 12 or more hours per day. If it does not succumb to fungus or another disease, it should come back to life and begin making new spring leaves, possibly even flowering if it is an adult plant.

option 2: Ice Chest Method. I used this method successfully to overwinter Venus Flytraps and stratify Sarracenia seeds with perfect results but it takes more care and work than the refrigerator method. Obtain an ice chest and use the photoperiod shortening method described before. Each night (after it receives its quota of light), place the plant in the ice chest with bottles of frozen water placed several inches from the plant to cool it down to about 50-60 degrees for the first couple of weeks of November. In the last couple of weeks of November, you can add more water bottles slowy each week and place them closer to the plant until they are touching the pot and taking the temperature down to about 40 degrees. That temperature is about right for dormancy without freeze drying the plant. The closed ice chest with bottles of frozen water keeps the environs damp due to condensation so is better than the fridge in my opinion. Remember to take the plant out of the ice chest each day or open the lid so that light can get to the plant and tell it that winter is coming. Just keep shortening the days each week until it gets only 8 hours of light and keep it cool as much as possible. I used artificial light for this, so I just had the light over the ice chest and just removed the lid each day and kept the bottles of frozen water in, keeping the temperature at about 50 degrees by day and 40 degrees at night over winter. After November, I continued to open the lid by day and replaced the frozen bottles twice a day to maintain a fairly consitent cool environ of 40-50 degrees at all times. The opening of the ice chest allows air circulation and some light for part of the day, telling the plant that it is still winter, though light is not really needed during winter. In February, reverse the process by opening the ice chest for longer hours, 9-12 over the next few weeks (one more hour per week) of that month and place fewer bottles of frozen water in with the plant each week until the temperature gets up to about 60. Take the plant out at the end of February and replace it in it's window so it can resume growing. You might need to occasionally spray for fungus as well, but I find that fungus is less of a problem in an ice chest that is opened daily (some light and air flow) than in a refrigerator. Make sure the plant is always in moist soil in the ice chest as well.

As you can see, it will take a lot more care to keep the plant alive for decades indoors than outdoors, but it can be done if you can supply the care and invest time to the task for a few months a year. You can also try some of the tropical sundews, pitcher plants (Nepenthes), and butterworts as those do not require dormancy and would probably enjoy your household conditions year round. A properly cared for Nepenthes is a sight to behold in any home.

Christopher