Fungus on Sarracenia

[tanukimo]

The past few days, I've noticed that the smell of soil has been particularly strong around my plants. Today, I realized that it's probably coming from fungus on my Sarracenia, which I just noticed. I've had the Sarracenia for almost a month. I'm not sure when the fungus started to grow, but it probably hasn't been more than a week. I water it once or twice every day using water from my faucet filtered through a PUR filter that is attached to it. It usually takes several seconds for the water to get down to the tray. I'm not sure why there is fungus growing: my living room is pretty dry, and all my plants receive several hours of sun each day. Also, the water doesn't reach all the way to the top of the soil where the fungus is growing. As far as I can tell, it's not growing in the lower part of the pot where the rhizome is. Can anyone help? Thank you.

[taz6122]

Going by the condition of the plant (pictured in another thread) and the growing conditions, I'm going with not enough light and/or over-watering and/or no air flow. IMO the growing activity of that plant warrants very little water and the elongated leaves tells me it's not getting enough light. I personally would water the plant as though it's entering or breaking dormancy, increase light (supplement if necessary) and increase ventilation.

Depending on where your plant originally came from, it may have been entering dormancy this time last year.

It's already dipped under freezing here and I've begun backing off on watering.

In any case a full soil change and removal on any black/brown mushy/rotten plant matter should be done immediately IMO.

[tanukimo]

I really hope that light isn't the problem, because I'm giving them as much light as possible. The picture in the other thread was when the pitcher was immature and that was when I just got it. I put them on a south-facing windowsill until around 1 or 2 pm and then move them to an west-facing one in the afternoon. Here are some pictures of the pitchers right now.

I definitely agree on the dormancy though. The plant doesn't look like it's sending up any more pitchers. It's been a while since I've cultivated anything that goes through dormancy, and I forgot that I shouldn't water that much during that time. But do Sarracenia normally prefer to be on the dry side? The windows of the living room are usually closed to increase the humidity, but I guess that's not the way to go about increasing humidity. I'll definitely try to remove as much of the fungi as I can tomorrow. I really hope I don't lose this Sarracenia, as it was a gift to me.

[stevebooth]

Hi tanukimo
High humidity isnt required with sarracenia and high humidity and low air flow does of course encourage fungus.
As far as watering during dormancy is concerned they require to be moist (definitely not dry or soggy wet) and cool 3-10 C.
cheers
Steve

[hcarlton]

Humidity has very little to do with Sarracenia growth. Mine rarely see more than 25% here in CO.

[sykosarah]

They just like lots of cool water. If fungus gets difficult to get rid of, I use sulfur spray. It doesn't smell good, but it smells a lot better than neem oil and lasts longer, although it is better to use it before the problem starts.

[tanukimo]

The plant was transplanted a month ago and is doing great!

[sykosarah]

those are some tall pitchers!

[tanukimo]

Yeah, the pitchers were over two feet tall when I got them. The pitchers in the photo are the last ones it made before it went dormant.

[sykosarah]

That would be rough moving that giant.