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Are Smaller Pots Better for Carnivorous Plants?

I have been growing Carnivorous plants outside the last two years. I notice my Venus Fly traps and pitcher plants in the small pots are doing well, while every carnivorus plant I had in a large pot died. Sundews, Pitchers, and Venus Flytraps all bit the dust in large pots.

I wonder if these plants do better in small pots for some reason. Perhaps the small pots provide a growing environment closer to what they have growing wild, with moisture and water flow.
 
hey Barry,

My expierence is that these plants do better in smaller pots ( VFT, Pitcher plants and even Sundews and Butterworts ). This isn't true for all CP's.

I think the reason is that with a bigger pot, the plant has a chance to grow out. This will stress the plant in filling up whatever it can.

In smaller pots the plants concentrate more on growth of pitcher, traps and leaves. Not expanding out.

Make sense? If I have confused you, let me know and I will try to explain another way.
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But I don't think that is why your plants died.

Have they ever had a dormant period? and what about water and lighting? Fertilizer?

Take care!
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Well they all were planted in the same medium as the plants in small pots.

I did make a mistake and left all my plants outside this last winter and they froze. However the plants in small pots survived the hard freeze and came back in the spring. The ones in large pots all did not come back in the spring.

Also when I think about it, most of the plants in large pots actually died last fall, before it even got below freezing. I really think it may have been the size of the pots, as everything else seems to have been the same as the plants in the small pots which are doing well.
 
small 3 to 4 inch plastic pots are the best way to go for cp's, i have had the best of luck with them and i do recommend them
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A few years ago I heard that smaller pots cause Cobra's to produce larger pitchers. One site (don't know if it's still around?, but I can't find it) had comparison photos that showed plants the same size potted into various sized pots, and the smaller pots had the biggest pitchers the following sping. But since these plants like cool roots it is always best to have a large pot to help keep it cool. Smaller pots will heat up faster. I'd only try growing them in small pots if you live in a cold climate. Smaller pitchers is better than having no pitchers at all!
 
I have a questions...Why are CP's bigger in smaller pots? Whouldn't it make sence to have them in bigger pots? How about the CP's plants in the wild are they small because they live in one big pot:)? Just wondering.

travis
 
I have questions...Why are CP's bigger in smaller pots? Whouldn't it make sence to have them in bigger pots? How about the CP's plants in the wild are they small because they live in one big pot:)? Just wondering.

travis
 
That is what I don't understand either. The theory about the plants getting stressed with the roots growing out too much in large pots makes sense, except when the plants grow naturally outdoors they have unlimited root space, and get huge.

Perhaps carnivorous plants growing in pots need small pots as they are being cultivated in somewhat of an unnatural environment.

It seems to me that the pot size is quite important and should be stressed far more than it is in carnivoros plant books. From my experience, these plants just will not grow at all in large pots.
 
I'd like to speculate that it is behavioral.

Large pots tend to go outside sooner, or get left out, because they do not look good indoors, and so the plants get stressed by inclement weather. Large pots get overwatered by the owner, too. And moved around. Etc.

I've got VFTs in large pots, and the plants are doing fine, except for the period that they were exposed to two straight weeks of cold and rain. My indoor plants were spared all this.

--Steve

(Edited by steveo at 4:17 pm on May 24, 2002)
 
  • #10
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Quote: from Barry on 7:15 pm on May 23, 2002
That is what I don't understand either. The theory about the plants getting stressed with the roots growing out too much in large pots makes sense, except when the plants grow naturally outdoors they have unlimited root space, and get huge.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

Actually they most likely don't have unlimited root space. In the wild you get all the other plants growing along with the CPs and their roots are quite likely to limit where the CP roots can go.
 
  • #11
Well, pygmy Droserae are exceptions to this, and prefer deep pots to accomodate their looooooong thin roots. In habitat these penetrate the soil deeply. In the brutal Australian summer these tiny plants survive even with a dry sunbaked surface by being able to reach the moisture deep in the soil. I use mostly 4 inch pots for Droserae and smaller shallow pots for Pinguiculae.
 
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