Jump to content

Best way to remove dead growth in dormancy.


Richard Hole

Recommended Posts

Hi

What is the best and easiest way to remove dead growth off Sarracenias during dormancy? I thought it would be best to wait until the pitcher fully dies down to the base and then pull it off without cutting it. That way all the dead growth would be removed including near the base. If I cut it, then a short piece of the dead growth would remain attached to the crown and this could cause fungus. However, someone suggested I would need to be careful when pulling the dead leaves off so as not to expose much tissue on the crown as this could cause fungus. What would be more likely to cause a problem such as with fungus? A small amount of tissue ripped off on the crown to expose living tissue underneath or a small piece of dead leaf attached to the crown?

Would the best option be to pull dead leaves off only if they pull of easily and if they do not rip off easily then cut them as close to the base as possible?

If the leaf is dead on the top and still green on the bottom, is it much of an advantage to only cut the dead half off the top and leave the bottom green half attached? Or would it be best to cut the entire leaf off during dormancy when the first half dies? Or should I wait until the leaf fully dies so that the entire leaf could perhaps be pulled off right at the base? It would be less time consuming over all if the entire leaf was removed at once without having to cut half of it off and then the rest later and possibly pulling the rest of later again.

Your help would be appreciated

Regards Richard.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some suggest gradually cutting back the bits of traps that are dead. I think Mike King does that. I, however, take the approach that Sarracenia Northwest do. That is, I just wait until the End of Feb (I was a s late as the end of March this year with no trouble) and then cut everything (except psittacinas, purpureas and Darlingtonias [basically every bad looking trap]) down as low as I can. This enables more light to get to the new growth on the rhizome which is pretty precious in our muggy climate.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi

Thanks for the replies. It is a matter of doing in the most economical way as I have to pay people to remove the dead growth and I have hundreds of Sarracenias. That is why it may be best to leave the pitchers fully die before removing them to save time and labor as it would take many extra hours for people to make several cuts on the one leaf as it progressively dies. That is so long as it is not detrimental to the plants.

Do you think pulling the dead pitchers off instead of cutting them is a good idea where it can be done reasonably easily? I mentioned the possible advantages and disadvantages in my earlier question. I am not sure if it could cause a problem if some of the tissue is ripped of the crown to expose some underneath. As I would only get this done to leaves dead to the base not much should be removed on the crown.

Your help is appreciated

Regards Richard.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's beneficial to pull the stumps off the rhizome because it exposes the crown and reduces the chance of fungus. Not every stump will be removable though.

But if you have hundreds, it's not practical. You would be best cutting everything to the ground in winter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi

Thanks. That is interesting.

Any more feedback from different people’s experiences with this would be appreciated. I am not sure how important the photosynthesizing aspect is during winter as the plants are dormant. It might be possible that less nutrients gained in photosynthesis may be better to give the plants a better dormancy. Also, people suggest putting the plants in the fridge during winter where there would be no light anyway.

What would be interesting to do is an experiment where someone with identical looking plants was to put them into three groups beside each other in the same conditions. One group would have all the leaves that have some dead growth on them cut off completely down near the base so green growth would also be removed on pitchers that have half died so the only pitchers left would be the ones that are fully green. This could be done around now in mid winter and again towards the end of winter to remove the remaining dead pitchers. On the second group only the dead growth would be removed progressively as the pitchers die. This would need to be done a couple more times to the same pitchers and would therefore be time consuming overall. In the third group, the pitchers would be only removed as they fully die down to the base.

Please let us know of anyone that has done any experiments like this and if there was any difference between the three groups regarding which plants grew the best and what percentage died.

Regards Richard

Link to comment
Share on other sites

During dormancy they can't photosynthesise when it's below about 6C. So it doesn't matter if its dark when it's that cold. But they'll make use of the light during mild winter days.

Richard's winters are at about 25C, that's rather mild :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just cut everything off in early spring before new growth starts.

Leave the stumps of leaves on until you divide or repot the plant.

I have found that leaving pitchers on can delay the start and speed of new growth compared to cutting everything off.

Just my observations,in my climate and to save my poor knackered back.

ada

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

G'day Richard from across The Ditch

As an outdoor grower I allow the pitchers to become pretty dessicated then remove down fairly low into the remaining green zone of each. The major factor for me is to let as much light and airflow into the area of the rhizome which is also an effort to prevent fungal growth and mollusc egg deposition.

Another factor not mentioned is that of phyllodia. On those species that produce them (they are produced prior to significant pitcher dessication) those winter leaves do the business for the plant so I happilly remove the pitchers fairly radically for the reasons above. As to the question of photosynthesis, phyllodia are produced to gain some advantage for those species in over winter survival. My outdoor plants produce copious phyllodia. I prefer to get the old pitchers out of the way to let the phyllodia get on with it unhindered. See this photo as an example of how some of my plants look at the mo'...

IMG_8970Medium_zps63d822aa.jpg

Edited by Kiwi Earl
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...