Trimming S. purpurea and is this new growth?

[brian]

I recently purchased a purpurea and while the plant is healthy and putting off new growth I don't have the room to transplant it until next month.

Should I cut off the old traps that don't hold water anymore to make room for the new growth?

Does this look like a young purpurea plant?



It looks like there is an over eager gnat already checking out one of the new plants.

[brokken]

It looks more like a grass or a sedge to me. Compare it to your other seedlings.

As far as cutting off pitchers. Most people frown upon cutting living tissue from Sarracenias. The Barry Rice answer that I got is you don't cut living tissue, period. The Peter D'Amato answer was "Trim in February just before first growth". You can see that these answers are somewhat tainted by the line of work that they are in. For Peter - who processes a ton of CPs, sitting there and carefully trimming away dead tissue may not necessarily be economical - while Barry Rice can be more selective as to what is trimmed from the plants - and offering advice on what is right vs. what is practical.

[wadave]

I would agree with brokken, it looks more like a grass.

There doesn't seem to be any features to suggest it is a sarra seedling.

I like to get rid of the old traps when the plant is getting a bit crowded or when the old brown growth looks a bit untidy. But I do tend to leave the green bits as the plant is most likely still absorbing nutrients or photosynthesising.

I've written a reply post explaining how I pull off old growth to expose the rhyzome to let light and air to get in to encourage dormant buds to shoot. However this method is a little more difficult with purpurea and psittacina rhyzomes as they have a more vertical growth habbit, so a little more care is required.

Also remember that purps and psitt's tend to keep their traps for longer than other sarras.

Dave.

[wadave]

take a look at the post "Forcing divisions".

icps.proboards105.com/index.cgi?board=sarracenia&action=display&thread=1183745824

Dave.

[Sean Spence]

Judging by the appearance of the base of the plant, I'd say it was a rush. I'd be ripping it out before its roots take over, they grow much quicker than the plant itself does.

[brian]

Thank you for the excellent advice!

I like the minimal interference approach and I will try waiting till the plants is ready to let go of the leaves. I am hopeful that the method in Dave's post will provide me and my friend with many pitcher plants.

The more the plant in the picture grows the less I think It some sort of pitcher.

I am not unkind to stowaways. I will repot it and see what it becomes.

Thanks again!