This pitcher plant is the lone survivor of my original carnivorous plants - a small family/variety I bought ~4 years ago. So it has sentimental value for me to save.

Unfortunately it's companions succumb to soil gnats. This pitcher plant barely survived the onslaught. It's sickly appearance in these pictures began during this attack... it's only become worse with the mold.

The mold first appeared after my treatment for the soil gnats: I mixed Neem oil extract and sprayed the soil surface, thoroughly cleaned the water basin the plants pots were in, and then let it all dry out for a few weeks. The whole room stank of the oil for a long while, but the gnats quickly disappeared.

As it was drying, this white fuzzy mold appeared all over the soil and moss (the other plants were too far dead at this point; I waited until too late to treat them apparently). The mold doesn't appear to be on the plant itself (just the moss and soil), but it is not doing well nonetheless.

I've watered it maybe 3x over a few weeks since this treatment, letting it dry between. The mold shrank a bit but is still pervasive, and the moss is all but gone. New shoots of the pitcher plant seem to be struggling out and die quickly before even developing a head.



I use filtered or distilled water and keep it insde in a bright south facing window.

Any advice for a care plan to help this guy revive would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Eric

It's former glory.

@Ewintczak, I wish I had seen this last week when you first wrote.

I don't think anyone has given you good instruction on keeping carnivorous plants. Sarracenia are bog plants, they are ALWAYS in water. The water can be up to the top brims of the pots but not over the crowns.

They also need a cold winter to survive more than just a couple years. Mine live outside year round. The temperatures at my house are in the mid teens during winter and up over 100 in summer (today we're going for 111).

Your Sarracenia aren't dead yet but, soak the entire pot to completely hydrate the moss then leave them always sitting in water. Peel the moss off the tops of the crowns. This winter, find a cold spot (around 40 degrees) and leave it for 3 or 4 months.

These aren't houseplants.

Get a big tub somewhere, sink in the garden, fill with dirt and plant them out. They'll be happier outside year round to fend for themselves.

They can be grown indoors but need a sunny sunny window and a cold (in an unheated garage) winter.

They get huge when happy so you would need a lot of space on your window sill.

I would hit it with SULFUR based fungicide. DO NOT use copper based!

Sarracenia are not houseplants. 99.9% of the time that someone has a problem with their sarracenia it's because they're growing it indoors. They don't last long indoors. They need 6+ hours of direct outdoor Sun a day minimum and indoor Sun isn't as strong as outdoor. And they need 3-4 months of winter dormancy. Water with distilled water, rainwater or reverse osmosis water only. NO tap water (unless the TDS is below 50ppm) or other bottled waters. During the growing season they should be sitting in a water tray of one of the above water types. Taken care of properly they will multiple easily.

Cool

TommyRan said: I would hit it with SULFUR based fungicide. DO NOT use copper based!

Sarracenia are not houseplants. 99.9% of the time that someone has a problem with their sarracenia it's because they're growing it indoors. They don't last long indoors. They need 6+ hours of direct outdoor Sun a day minimum and indoor Sun isn't as strong as outdoor. And they need 3-4 months of winter dormancy. Water with distilled water, rainwater or reverse osmosis water only. NO tap water (unless the TDS is below 50ppm) or other bottled waters. During the growing season they should be sitting in a water tray of one of the above water types. Taken care of properly they will multiple easily.

What do you do with them during the winter?

antsinmypants said: What do you do with them during the winter?

I only have 2 currently. They are medium size and in mid October they go in a fridge until February. Then I start acclimating them and waking them up. Same with my flytraps. Fridge dormancy works great IF you have the room. Bottom of the fridge becomes the dormancy area for me in the fall.

@TommyRan

I don't have room in the fridge I recently acquired 2 4-inch pots of Sarracenia purpurea. I currently have the pots sitting in about an inch of rainwater. I'm unsure if the pots or the plants must be in the water.

antsinmypants said: @TommyRan

I don't have room in the fridge I recently acquired 2 4-inch pots of Sarracenia purpurea. I currently have the pots sitting in about an inch of rainwater. I'm unsure if the pots or the plants must be in the water.

The pots should be sitting in distilled water, rainwater or reverse osmosis water. NO tap water unless it's below 50 ppm TDS.

Pots in water = plants in water as the potting medium will be saturated no matter the level of the water. I fill the cache pots with water up to the pot brims then when its down to less than an inch, I fill them back up.

In winter, they go into the garage or my cold frame (lowest winter temps mid-20's). They would do fine outside in my climate, except for the critters who seem to think my yard is their dinner plate.

I use distilled or RO water (it only rains in the winter). For some reason, its hard to buy distilled water anymore so I got a table top distiller (I keep orchids too and our water is garbage) and my daughter got a small RO unit. A couple hundred $$ investment for both of us but we have made good use of them. I have to make 5 - 6 gallons a week to keep all the plants happy, but if you just have a couple plants, a gallon of water will last quite awhile.

Ewintczak said:





This pitcher plant is the lone survivor of my original carnivorous plants - a small family/variety I bought ~4 years ago. So it has sentimental value for me to save.

Unfortunately it's companions succumb to soil gnats. This pitcher plant barely survived the onslaught. It's sickly appearance in these pictures began during this attack... it's only become worse with the mold.

The mold first appeared after my treatment for the soil gnats: I mixed Neem oil extract and sprayed the soil surface, thoroughly cleaned the water basin the plants pots were in, and then let it all dry out for a few weeks. The whole room stank of the oil for a long while, but the gnats quickly disappeared.

As it was drying, this white fuzzy mold appeared all over the soil and moss (the other plants were too far dead at this point; I waited until too late to treat them apparently). The mold doesn't appear to be on the plant itself (just the moss and soil), but it is not doing well nonetheless.

I've watered it maybe 3x over a few weeks since this treatment, letting it dry between. The mold shrank a bit but is still pervasive, and the moss is all but gone. New shoots of the pitcher plant seem to be struggling out and die quickly before even developing a head.



I use filtered or distilled water and keep it insde in a bright south facing window.

Any advice for a care plan to help this guy revive would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Eric

It's former glory.

Eric, have you been able to save your plant? I did not see any reply from you.

@Lucy68 I've only used rainwater on the Sarracenia purpurea so far but I've gone through a half gallon of distilled water on one little Pinguicula & 2 little cups of Utricularia in 2 weeks.

That's one thirsty Ping!

It's actually the 2 little cups of Utricularia needing so much water.

My Sarracenia purpurea seemed to be drying up so I checked & the pots were bone dry at the top & floated when I put them in deep water so I'm drowning them for a while before I set them back in the tray.