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Post by plu604 on Jun 16, 2012 14:31:03 GMT
Hello, I got my sarracenia 2 days ago, it arrived in (kind of) poor condition, now I am trying to do anything to keep it alive. I am really worried about some spots on the 'leaves', and the young ones are getting dry on the top. I am posting pictures as well. Can anyone help me with this? Why does my plant look like this? Why are the young sprouts getting dry on their top?     Also, I noticed something strange: I watered the plant, and when I checked if it has enough water (in the tray, under the tile) I saw that the water was... brown. Here are 2 pictures. I put the tile on my desk so it left some water (2nd picture), then I watered it again, with clear water, then put it on the desk again (1st picture). You can see the difference between the two pictures. Is it normal? Or is it something wrong with the soil?   |
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Post by Not a Number on Jun 16, 2012 14:50:58 GMT
What are your growing conditions? Lighting, temperatures, media (soil), water, methods and amounts of watering?
If using peat moss and it is "fresh" (right out of the bag/bale) then the runoff water will likely be brownish/tea colored. There are lots of little particles of peat moss, tannins and what have you in the medium. It will eventually clear.
Brown spots or burns in the middle of the pitcher are usually a case of indigestion. Something may have been trapped that was rather large and acidic or venomous - wasps, bees, some beetles often cause spots like that. Shine a light through the pitcher or peek down the opening if you can and see what's in there.
Browning of the tops could be from too much of a change from previous growing conditions - too much light, not enough humidity etc. Or the pitchers could just be old and the shelf life has expired.
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Post by mbfmark on Jun 16, 2012 16:04:33 GMT
All of the leaves with dry tips are older leaves, not new ones, and the two turning brown in the middle are older too. I don't think its anything to worry about. Give it good care and a couple months time to start growing well under your conditions. The D. binata in the background looks great, so under the same conditions the Sarracenia should look good in time. They are pretty tough plants, but do get set back some in shipping. Most sellers trim off ALL the pitchers before shipping, even in the middle of the growing season. I would say your plant will settle in faster since they were left in tact.
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Post by plu604 on Jun 16, 2012 17:11:25 GMT
Thank you for the quick reply. I am a newbie grower, I received the plants 2 days ago, so I guess the biggest problem is the change of environment. I am trying to give the best conditions to survive, I keep them in a florarium, they're lit by an Osram Fluora (18W). I know it's not enough, but I covered 3 sides of the florarium with tinfoil, and I am working on a cover above the lamp to reflect light right onto my plants. Unfortunately, at this moment I lack both space and money to install another lamp. I am happy to hear that this is a tough plant, it's kind of my favourite, I hope it'll survive  I didn't check for undigested bugs, but when I get home, I'll check it. If I find something, should I remove it? Or should I cut down the older (drying) pitchers? |
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Post by mbfmark on Jun 17, 2012 2:39:53 GMT
Any pitchers that dry up completely can be trimmed off. Otherwise I would leave them until they are obviously on their way out. You should have a steady supply of new, more adult style pitchers develop. I wouldn't worry about any undigested bugs in old pitchers - once they start to turn brown they are probably going to continue, regardless. Is that an anthocynanin free form? I don't see any signs of red veins or coloration on the plant at all.
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Post by plu604 on Jun 17, 2012 10:00:08 GMT
Alright, then I won't trim the pitchers off now, thank you. I think the plant lacks anthocynanin, where I ordered it from they said it's a "Sarracenia purpurea ssp. purpurea". It will most likely look like this one:  |
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Post by paulbarden on Jun 17, 2012 14:01:10 GMT
If you bought S. purpurea purpurea, it will not be all green, it will be a dark purplish red.
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Post by ICPS-bob on Jun 17, 2012 18:08:02 GMT
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