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Post by sykosarah on Jan 20, 2014 23:05:29 GMT
I grew my sarracenia from seed, but it was a bit of an accident. When I ordered a Venus flytrap, I got what were supposedly drosera seeds as a free gift. However, when I looked up drosera seed care online, I noticed that my seeds had no such similarity whatsoever. I mean, compared to drosera seeds, they were gigantic. It turns out that they were sarracenia seeds instead. I looked up what kinds of seeds that company had, and narrowed it down to 3 possibilities: S. flava, S. purpurea, and S. atala. But I have no idea which of those three it could be. My plants are about a month, month 1/2, old and have their first pitchers (one has two). Is there any way to tell what kind they are at this early age? I will post a picture if you guys think that one can accurately say what kind they are right now, it is driving me nuts not knowing.
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Post by astaroth1990 on Jan 21, 2014 0:59:09 GMT
You'll have to wait a while before being able to identify it. If it's a purpurea, you'll know a bit earlier (because its pitchers look nothing like flava or alata). But if you rule out purpurea, you'll have to wait longer to be able to tell if it's alata or flava.
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Post by sykosarah on Jan 21, 2014 1:33:55 GMT
Do the first couple pitchers have enough distinctive traits to at least rule out or verify purpurea?
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Post by hcarlton on Jan 21, 2014 5:55:16 GMT
You will need to wait for a few leaves to grow out. Purp seedlings have relatively squat pitchers from the start, while flava/alata/rubra seedlings tend to have lengthy pitchers rather quickly.
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Post by sykosarah on Jan 21, 2014 6:26:35 GMT
How short is squat? Ones second pitcher is a bit more than a centimeter long.
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Post by carnivorousstu on Jan 21, 2014 14:19:15 GMT
If it is purpurea, your baby pitchers will lie more horizontally. Alata and flava will be upright from the moment they begin to produce traps
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Post by sykosarah on Jan 21, 2014 22:00:11 GMT
Mine shoot up horizontally, then begin to lie parallel to the ground as they mature. The oldest pitcher is nearly horizontal, so does that mean it is purpurea? So far there has been no pigmentation.
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Post by sykosarah on Jan 21, 2014 22:08:43 GMT
I just hope it isn't flava. I heard their flowers smell like cat pee, and I like the coloration of purpurea and alata much better.
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Post by hcarlton on Jan 22, 2014 4:29:54 GMT
Depends on the form of flava for color, as ornatas and rubricorporas, along with certain varieties of cuprea,far outweigh the color of alata or purp, and as long as you don't have the plant somewhere hot and humid, smell shouldn't be a problem unless you directly sniff the flower  . |
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Post by sykosarah on Jan 22, 2014 5:58:22 GMT
now that I look at my two surviving sprouts, I wonder if they are different kinds (I started out with 5 seeds, one was a dud, two were taken out by the evil botrytis monster). even though they germinated practically on the same day, they grow at completely different rates in the same basic conditions, with one growing at almost half the speed of the other, and the slower growing one has a much more vertical trap than the second, which has them hug the ground. that would be great if I got more than one species.
p.s. it is my mom that would have issue with the flower smell, I could grin and bear it, but she thinks I am nuts for even being into carnivorous plants. she would have a 0 tolerance level if she could smell cat pee coming off of my pitcher plant.
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Post by carnivorousstu on Jan 22, 2014 13:30:26 GMT
purpurea tinypic.com/r/2mobn1x/5flava tinypic.com/r/xelly9/5those seedlings are about 1.5 years old. But the purpurea has always had its leaves in that horizontal position since its first pitchers. On the subject of smelly flowers, I honestly can't say that they smell. Unless you stick your nose into the flower its unlikely you will notice anything; besides you can just cut them off when they begin to emerge. |
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Post by sykosarah on Jan 22, 2014 13:33:07 GMT
Not if I want the seeds, which I do. But my plants are less than 3 months old, so those pics won't help much.
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Post by sykosarah on Jan 22, 2014 18:07:15 GMT
This might seem like a dumb question, but I cannot seem to find the answer on the internet or in any of my books, but how old does a sarracenia usually have to be before its pitchers are well developed enough to digest insects? I don't want to risk giving the plant stress or risk it getting an infection by feeding it too soon, but I also want to feed it as soon as possible so it can grow faster.
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Post by Aidan on Jan 23, 2014 0:05:10 GMT
Best just leave them be and accept that it will be quite some time before they are adult.
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Post by sykosarah on Jan 23, 2014 0:23:08 GMT
Have to wait 3 years for the pitchers to eat? I have seen places where they feed them as young as 3 months.
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