6 replies to this topic

[MalcolmP]

Hello from North Somerset, SW England.

firstly a confession :
I have from time to time over the years kept various carnivorous plants as curiosity house plants,
but never 'got into' them seriously. ( and some lasted longer than others ! )

However:
last friday I took pity on a pitcher plant and rescued it from the clutches of my local veg/flower shop that were watering all their plants with tap water.
We live in a very hard water area supplied by a borehole taking water from the Mendip (limestone) hills.
So here I am looking for advice :)

I think it is a sarracenea,
I will post a pic later when I have looked round the forum to see acceptable pic posting practice
eg. is it ok to include it in this intro, or should I make ref to a pic posted in the photos section?

How sensitive are sarracenias to calcium, is it dead already I wonder ?
I have flushed its rootball twice with rainwater and wondering what else I should do to maximise its chances.

I think that is long enough for an intro !
I will keep the rest of my questions to post elsewhere, prob. in the General section ?

PS. Edit later: I have posted pics and asked questions in the
General Carnivorous Plant Discussion
HERE


Malcolm.

Edited by MalcolmP, 28 May 2012 - 13:40 PM.

[billynomates666]

Hi Malcolm and welcome.

Well done on hopefully saving the plant from a slow but sure and painful doom.

It sounds like you are doing the right thing flushing it through with rainwater, they are sensitive to any water that contain high total disolved solids, below a 100 is the accepted high norm, but the lower the better.

If you think its a sarracenia and want to post the pictures and questions in that section you will get the answers you need in double quick time.

Welcome again and good luck with your plant.

Cheers
Steve

[jimscott]

Welcome to CPUK!

[linuxman]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

[Carlos 767]

welcome to the forum!

[alexa]

Hi and welcome to the forum, another South West member, there must be something in the water!

I had a look at the photo's and it looks fine, but you've done the right thing and flushed it with rain water and if you can change the growing medium all the better.

Well done for saving the plant, I'm sure it'll reward you next year with some fine blooms.

Best
Alex.

[MalcolmP]

Thanks to all for the nice welcome.

Alex, you could be right about the water :) and we have had enough of it falling out of the sky until recently!

>"and if you can change the growing medium all the better."

I thought about that when I bought it but was worried about losing all the fluid out of the pitchers, but since Steve has said that it is not a worry I think I will now go ahead and change it.

Malcolm.