Post by wireman on Jul 7, 2013 13:14:20 GMT -5
Sarracenia are single handedly the easiest carnivorous plant to grow on the East Coast. They range from Texas to Florida, then straight up to Canada. Follow this guide and you have great success with these impressive plants.
Light: Full sun. There's no such thing as too much light with Sarracenia. They thrive in open pine savannahs along the Southeast US. S. purpueea can tolerate more shade than other species, but they'll be much happier in full sun. Seedlings can be grown indoors under lights for their first 2 years, but mature plants require direct sun, and lots of it.
Water: Clean, and lots of it. Distilled, rain, or reverse osmosis are the best options. I have 2 55 gallon rainbarrels installd on my house to collect rain water. They pay for themselves very quickly. Never let the plants dry out. Their natural habitat stays very wet year round.
Soil: 50/50 peat and sand. Dried or live Sphagnum can be used, too. Perlite is another amendment commonly used. Just be sure everything is free of nutrients.
Dormancy: Plants must go dormant in the water. They are nowhere near as delicate as they look. Just like how they laugh at intense summer heat, cold winters are easily handled. Though I suggest not letting them freeze. I grow mine two ways.
First is a bog garden, which is a plastic pond liner with a drainage hole drilled into the shallowest end. That is filled with media and sunk directly into the ground. That way the roots and rhizomes never freeze due to ground insulation.
Second is potted. I move these up against the house mid November so the ambient temps of the building keep their soil from freezing solid. I haven't lost a single plant to Winter using these two methods.
Do not gro the plants elevated! They will freeze rapidly during Winter due to convection and die.
Growing From Seed: seed pods mature late August to early September. They need a period of cold stratification in order to germinate. Simlly place the seeds in a damp paper towel (same clean water, please), seal in a zip-loc bag, and place in the refrigerator for 3 weeks. After they are done stratifying place them on the aboved mentioned media in strong light, keep the media damp, and wait. Seeds will take from 2 weeks to a year to germinate, so don't throw out the "bad" ones. Seedlings can be grown under strong grow lights for a few years before needing dormancy.
Light: Full sun. There's no such thing as too much light with Sarracenia. They thrive in open pine savannahs along the Southeast US. S. purpueea can tolerate more shade than other species, but they'll be much happier in full sun. Seedlings can be grown indoors under lights for their first 2 years, but mature plants require direct sun, and lots of it.
Water: Clean, and lots of it. Distilled, rain, or reverse osmosis are the best options. I have 2 55 gallon rainbarrels installd on my house to collect rain water. They pay for themselves very quickly. Never let the plants dry out. Their natural habitat stays very wet year round.
Soil: 50/50 peat and sand. Dried or live Sphagnum can be used, too. Perlite is another amendment commonly used. Just be sure everything is free of nutrients.
Dormancy: Plants must go dormant in the water. They are nowhere near as delicate as they look. Just like how they laugh at intense summer heat, cold winters are easily handled. Though I suggest not letting them freeze. I grow mine two ways.
First is a bog garden, which is a plastic pond liner with a drainage hole drilled into the shallowest end. That is filled with media and sunk directly into the ground. That way the roots and rhizomes never freeze due to ground insulation.
Second is potted. I move these up against the house mid November so the ambient temps of the building keep their soil from freezing solid. I haven't lost a single plant to Winter using these two methods.
Do not gro the plants elevated! They will freeze rapidly during Winter due to convection and die.
Growing From Seed: seed pods mature late August to early September. They need a period of cold stratification in order to germinate. Simlly place the seeds in a damp paper towel (same clean water, please), seal in a zip-loc bag, and place in the refrigerator for 3 weeks. After they are done stratifying place them on the aboved mentioned media in strong light, keep the media damp, and wait. Seeds will take from 2 weeks to a year to germinate, so don't throw out the "bad" ones. Seedlings can be grown under strong grow lights for a few years before needing dormancy.