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Sarracenia hybrid questions

Located in Delaware. I have a pair of Sarracenia on my back deck in separate pots, sitting in about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of distilled/rainwater. The area is mostly shaded, but gets an hour or two of bright, bright sun around noon every day. The two sars (Tarnok and Dana's Delight) just don't seem to be doing much. Tarnok especially seems to be unhappy. Does this sound more like too little water or too little light? I'm hoping to transfer them to a container this weekend, and might be able to then put them out on my front step, which gets a lot more light. I'm trying to avoid that, though, so keep them from being picked at by the neighborhood kids, etc. I'm growing a slew of orchids on this same back deck, and all are showing tremendous growth, with bright green leaves. Any thoughts are appreciated. I'll try to post some pics if necessary. Cheers.
 
You give a sarracenia, a sun LOVING plant, only two hours a day? Only one half inch of water????? Hel!, I wouldn't grow for you either. Meet the requirements for the plant, or don't grow it.
 
VERY true bugweed! Sarracenia are not orchids! i have a few myself and they dont like a lot of sun at all! if your putting sarrs in that kind of light your getting nowhere. Leucophylla(what Tarnok is a form of) need TONS of light in order to keep their pitcher form and color.
alex
 
Idiocy acknowledged. Thanks for the advice. Now, I've got another question. Since it looks like I'll be rebuilding my current bog garden, and my plan for these plants was always to grow them together in a bog container, would you recommend transplanting the sars along with their move? I'm definitely going to have to move them to my front steps, neighborhood pests or not. I'd like to do the best thing for them, without shocking them too much. If possible, I'm going to do this tonight, as I'm afraid of losing the plants in the bog.
 
Might as well transplant. Get Superthrive to stop any shock caused by the move. If you are worried about pests, well, just tell your little brother to move out!!! LOL!!!!!
Over your bog, build a light wood frame, and cover with Bird netting. Kept all kinds of varmints out of my plants when I had to do that, and gave them 100% light for growth and color. Idiocy is not to be acknowledged. It is to be learned from so those mistakes are not repeated! Besides, every last one of us went through idiot before we came to where we are now. Don't worry about it, and do what you now know you need to do.


Superthrive at Home Depot, or Lowe's.
 
Thanks again for the advice. A quick update. I didn't transplant last night.... I came home to find fungus gnat larvae had invaded the Tarnok pot, chewing off all but two young leaves, and turning the growth points to complete mush. This would explain the wilting, along with lowered water levels. I've never even seen the larvae in these pots, prior to yesterday. And believe me, I've been looking. I kept the plants in their pots, applied an insecticide drench, let it flush through, and moved them out front. They're sitting with their pots almost completely submerged now, but it'll be touch and go for a while, I'm guessing. If the added light and water start to perk them up, I'll have to decide how to procede at that point. Why can't the bugs just go into the pitchers, not around them??? Well, at least this might help another newbie out there save the same mistakes. Thanks again...
 
Fungus gnat larvae shouldn't harm an adult plant. I'm not even sure they harm seedlings.

Your plant might have rotted, but the larvae are there by coincidence.
 
Secondary infection. Kinda like magots. They are used in the medical field to eat away netrotic tissue. Purposefully put into wounds by DR. They eat the dead and leave the good.
 
Are you speaking from experience? Everything I've read says that fungus gnat larvae feed primarily on dead organic matter, root tips, and leaf growth. Has anyone who reads this dealt with gnats before? I've seen them in small numbers before, but never like this. I don't really have a good experience base to draw from with the gnats. Maybe I should be encouraging them to clean up dead matter, rather than being afraid of them.
 
  • #10
Fungus gnat larvae are supposed to feed on dead organic matter and supposedly roots. Seedlings with just single roots don't seem to suffer from having a few of the larvae in the peat, so I've seen no evidence of them being a threat.

I have never heard of them eating living leaf.

Uproot your plant, cut off any dead material with a knife (cutting back until you hit firm white tissue), dust with sulphur and repot.
 
  • #11
All:

Thanks again for the quick help. I've moved everything out front, and the pitchers on Dana's Delight are beginning to show some strong pink already. Tarnok is still very questionable, but the new pitcher it's putting up looks strong so far. Waiting with fingers crossed...
 
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