Herbicide use in Pitchers

[pitcherfreak]

I have been wandering through this forum and after reading some of the interesting posted replies I was just wondering if anyone could help me. I grow a reasonable number of Sarracenia and am sick of constantly weeding them all the time (even though it's theraputic).

I have been trialling the use of a few herbicides over the top of pitchers to see how it goes and was wondering if anyone else has done this and knows of any 'safe' herbicides to use over the top of Sarracenia so far I've used Gallant and Tribunal without noticable damage (yet) and Dicamba which kills Sarracenia dead.

[rsivertsen]

Absolutely NOT!!!

Your Sarr's will eventually die! I use cedar bark mulch which dries out on the surface, and prevents weeds, and it also promotes the opposite if Nitrogen fixing bacteria, which consumes nitrogenous matter, and seems to be good for the plants!

If my plants get overwhelmed with weeds, I just knock them out of the pot, and pull out those grasses and weeds and repot them and use more cedar bark mulch as a media, and a topping.

[pitcherfreak]

So you use the ceder bark mulch partly as a potting mix as well if youi've had to remove the weeds in the top soil of the pot? Ceder barks a bit hard to get round here. Do you think pine bark would work as well?

I'll wait and see what happens to the plants I've sprayed but the suvivors seem to be doing ok so far 3 to 4 months (they are extras I don't need though). I realise sometimes these effects take a while to become apparent. Have you tried a particular herbicide before and found it kills Sarr's

[Clint]

You could use untreated cedar animal bedding. It's cheap, too.

[endodoc]

Pitcherfreak
I am not sure what type of herbicide you use, could you use a pre-emergent to prevent weed seeds from growing?? I can imagine if you have a large collection or limited time there maybe an advantage?? Any thoughts??
regards
ed
If the herbicide you mentioned is a pre-emergent, please disregard

[pitcherfreak]

Thanks JustLikeAPill will ask arpound and see what I can find unfortunately New Zealand doesn't grow much ceder but will try and see what I can find may have to give pine bark a go instead if I can't find anything.

[pitcherfreak]

Yep tribunal is a preemergent but gallant is a postemergent grass killer and should only effect grasses it will be interesting to see if the plants I've tried it on will keep growing normally or eventually die as rsivertsen suggests. Have access to quite a few herbicides so I'll keep trying. Tribunal looks like it kills sphagnum moss though which is a pity.

[Aidan]

I have thousands of plants and would never contemplate herbicide usage. Many wild stands have been damaged or destroyed by herbicide application. A few weeds here and there are simply not worth the risk. Each winter I go through every pot in the collection. Dead growth is removed and every plant is either divided, repotted or top-dressed with fresh media. That takes care of any weeds that have grown during the year.

A simple method of suppressing weed growth is to top-dress pots with a layer of lime-free gravel. It won't eradicate weeds, but will greatly reduce numbers.

[pitcherfreak]

When you top dress with new media do you scrape of the top layer of media before hand? Maybe the quote at the bottom of your response is an apt one.

Am very careful only to try on plants that I really don't care too much about.

Saw those pictures you posted in an earlier thread you plants look excellent. what do you use as media if you don't mind me asking?

[endodoc]

Aidan
I have top dressed with gravel that is lime free; i will agree weeds are kept to a minimum; many of my cp's like vft grew well i think?? because they like the heat sink the gravel provided
any thoughts?
regards
ed

[Aidan]

pitcherfreak said:

When you top dress with new media do you scrape of the top layer of media before hand?

Yes and I have a handy little tool that I call a "Bonsai pick" that simplifies the process.

pitcherfreak said:

...what do you use as media if you don't mind me asking?

2:1 peat and sand/grit. I never use perlite at all.

[pitcherfreak]

Will have to find myself a bonsai pick sounz like it would be great for getting those weeds in round the base of a plant which give me headaches (would use stronger terminology but I suppose I'm not allowed to here).

Thanks for everyones replies.

Another question does anyone know of any genera that are supposedly related to Sarracenacea? They are dicots looking at their seed leaves but has there been any work nmore specific than this on their relationship to other plants?

[Clint]

They are in the family Sarraceniaceae, so they are related to Darlingtonia and Heliamphora. They belong to the order Ericales under the APGII system which is very large and contains the Azalea, tea plant, Kiwi, etc.

[Aidan]

pitcherfreak said:

...does anyone know of any genera that are supposedly related to Sarracenacea?

Try this:

www.tolweb.org/Ericales

[pitcherfreak]

Thanks