Should I put water in my sarracenia pitchers?

[Yossu]

Hello,

I seem to remember reading that some sarras rely on rain water falling into the pitcher, whereas some have a hood that prevents this. I just bought an s. Maroon and an s. purpurea ssp. venosa. Haven't quite worked which is which (will post a pic when I have time), but one has upright hoods that are open to the rain.

So, should I put a bit of rain water in the pitchers? Bear in mind that the plants are indoors, so they won't get rained on - I hope!

Thanks

[Blocky71]

With the plants you mention I'd say yes.

Purpurea's do indeed fill with rainwater if left outside in the rain. S. Maroon looks to be a hybrid involving purpurea as one of the parents so I'd give that a drop too .

[Blocky71]

P. S your S. Maroon should be the more upright of the two plants, purpurea's pitchers form a ground hugging rosette..

[Yossu]

Thanks for the replies.

 

How much water should I put in there?

 

I'll try and get some pics up next week, and maybe you could help me identify which is which!

 

Thanks again.

[dykotah]

Your purpurea should be a close rosette like this.

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[FredG]

S. purpurea has squat fat pitchers, it has been called Huntsman's Horn. The S. Maroon is a Carniflora hybrid and looks like it's half S. purpurea. The pitchers will be slimmer and taller, more upright.

As for adding water the answer is if you want to. it's not absolutely necessary. Both plants will still grow without it.

 

Here's a little group that hasn't had water in the pitchers for many many years. It hasn't done them any harm and they do flower quite profusely annually. (They're shown in bud in one of my videos this year)

 

Edited September 11, 2015 by FredG

[Yossu]

Thanks for all the replies and pictures.

Fred, where are those sarras growing? It looks like they are indoors, but hard to tell if it's a greenhouse or bedroom windowsill!

I've added a little water, partly because some of the pitchers looked a little dry on the outside. I'll probably leave them alone, unless I see any need to add more.

Thanks again.

[FredG]

They're in one of my greenhouses Yossu. I found the video from May if you're interested.

 

Edited September 11, 2015 by FredG

[marcus_r]

This is Sarracenia "maroon":

(source: http://carniflora.nl/en/products/sarracenia-maroon.html)

 

Don't put any water in the pitchers of this plant.  All that will happen is that they topple over.  I don't think you will help the plant in any way by filling it up with water.  (Disclaimer: I've never grown this particular creature.  I'm generalising from similar hybrids.)

 

Fill the S. purpurea pitchers with distilled, or RO, or rain water, up to just below the rim, if you want.  They may profit from it (if they get the chance to catch any insects.)

Edited September 11, 2015 by marcus_r

[Yossu]

Thanks for all the replies. As mentioned earlier, I did put some water in the pitchers of both plants. Interestingly enough, most of the pitchers are empty today, so either they have a leak, or the plants absorbed the water. The maroon has water in one or two pitchers (it didn't topple I'm glad to say!), but the other seems to have empty pitchers.

Not sure of the significance of this. We caught a spider yesterday and shoved it into a maroon pitcher, so that one's had something to eat!

Thanks again.