Guy Posted June 18, 2018 Report Share Posted June 18, 2018 (edited) A little while ago I bought this S.psittacina from Hampshire Carnivorous Plants. As you can see, it's got lots of dead leaves. Should I leave them there or trim them all off? Thanks. Guy Edited June 18, 2018 by Guy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoLongFairWell Posted June 18, 2018 Report Share Posted June 18, 2018 Dead leaves can be completely removed although it can be fiddly to do. This species (along with purpurea and hybrids of the two) retain their leaves longer than other Sarracnia and therefore shouldn't have an annual 'haircut'. Just remove as they die off like you do with Darlingtonia. This species also likes to be very wet. Mike King and myself grow them in trays of water and live sphagnum just floating bare root in there. They seem to like it, although the Sphagnum quite often needs trimming back to stop it smothering the pstitts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Posted June 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2018 Thanks Richard The idea of growing it in a tray of water and sphagnum is intriguing. What depth trays do you use? Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoLongFairWell Posted June 18, 2018 Report Share Posted June 18, 2018 27 minutes ago, Guy said: Thanks Richard The idea of growing it in a tray of water and sphagnum is intriguing. What depth trays do you use? Guy Cat litter trays. I keep it full of water in the growing season and let it go down naturally to about halfway during the winter. One of them I also keep some aquatic Utricularia in there also, U. gibba I think off the top of my head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoLongFairWell Posted June 18, 2018 Report Share Posted June 18, 2018 I think the trays are around 8-10cm deep. I don't think it matters if it's deeper. I recall Adrian Slack saying to submerge the plants in a bucket in the winter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Posted June 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2018 Thanks again, Richard There just happens to be a cat litter tray in the shed--weird coincidence! Once it's filled with water and moss should I just take the psittacina out of its pot and put it in the tray? Or should all the compost be washed off it first? I also have a much smaller psittacina which can go into the tray as well. Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoLongFairWell Posted June 18, 2018 Report Share Posted June 18, 2018 1 hour ago, Guy said: Thanks again, Richard There just happens to be a cat litter tray in the shed--weird coincidence! Once it's filled with water and moss should I just take the psittacina out of its pot and put it in the tray? Or should all the compost be washed off it first? I also have a much smaller psittacina which can go into the tray as well. Guy Bare root among the moss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Posted June 24, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2018 A floating S.psittacina! Thanks for the advice. This isn't the plant in the earlier photo, but one I bought yesterday from a local garden centre. No idea of its provenance, but it looked healthy and worth trying in this new (to me) set up. It's planted at one end of the tray so another couple of these can be fitted in. Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoLongFairWell Posted June 24, 2018 Report Share Posted June 24, 2018 I would use a wider tray. You need the lobster traps to be in the water. The plant gets quite submerged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Posted June 24, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2018 Oh, right. Didn't realise that. A larger tray will be procured tomorrow. Any thoughts on what could be planted in this smaller tray full of sphagnum? Now I've got it I might as well use it--cost me £5!!! Thanks again. Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoLongFairWell Posted June 25, 2018 Report Share Posted June 25, 2018 Well, you could use the Sphagnum in the other tray. You don't need very much of it. It should be more water than anything else. BTW, I may use live sphagnum but I as of about 5 minutes ago do feel the plants tend to get rather suffocated from it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoLongFairWell Posted June 25, 2018 Report Share Posted June 25, 2018 The tray you have here you could just use as a tray to keep other CPs in on the tray method. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Posted June 25, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2018 44 minutes ago, Richard Bunn said: Well, you could use the Sphagnum in the other tray. You don't need very much of it. It should be more water than anything else. BTW, I may use live sphagnum but I as of about 5 minutes ago do feel the plants tend to get rather suffocated from it. Oh, what happened 5 minutes ago to make you change your mind? Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoLongFairWell Posted June 25, 2018 Report Share Posted June 25, 2018 My memory came back. LOL 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Posted June 25, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2018 Glad to hear it!! Does this look better? I've put a couple of S.purpurea in the other tray to see how they do. Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoLongFairWell Posted June 26, 2018 Report Share Posted June 26, 2018 That's all good. You can even push it into the water a bit more. The purps will do well. Mike grows a few of his that way too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Posted June 27, 2018 Report Share Posted June 27, 2018 Thanks for starting this thread Guy. The info from Richard is excellent and just what I needed to improve the lot of my psittacina, although they appear to be happy a la' Sarracenia treatment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoLongFairWell Posted June 27, 2018 Report Share Posted June 27, 2018 One thing I would say is to be careful in the way you label them. Maybe a bit of fishing line or something literally tieing the label across the plant and hiding it underneath. I didn't do that. I just placed the label under each plant. Trouble is things grow! Including the Sphagnum. So I have a funny feeling that I'm not going to be able to properly pass on my divisions, when that time comes, as a particular clone as it'll be extremely hard for me to discern which is which. Lesson learned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoLongFairWell Posted June 27, 2018 Report Share Posted June 27, 2018 One thing I've just noticed in your second photo @Guy , is that a D. madagascariensis you have there to the left of the tray? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted June 27, 2018 Report Share Posted June 27, 2018 2 hours ago, Richard Bunn said: One thing I would say is to be careful in the way you label them. Maybe a bit of fishing line or something literally tieing the label across the plant and hiding it underneath. I didn't do that. I just placed the label under each plant. Trouble is things grow! Including the Sphagnum. So I have a funny feeling that I'm not going to be able to properly pass on my divisions, when that time comes, as a particular clone as it'll be extremely hard for me to discern which is which. Lesson learned. Yes, this has always been a concern for me... I currently keep my psits in individual deep trays of water but thought about chucking them all into a very large water trough, but never decided on a way to easily keep them uniquely identifable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Posted June 27, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2018 2 hours ago, Richard Bunn said: One thing I've just noticed in your second photo @Guy , is that a D. madagascariensis you have there to the left of the tray? Amazingly well spotted! Yes, it's a D. madagascariensis. And it's looking very sickly. It was in a tray with various other Drosera which went all floppy and smothered it. So I've moved it out to give it some breathing space. It's in the compost it arrived in when I bought it from Hampshire CPs. Not sure it's going to survive, so any tips you have would be much appreciated. Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Posted June 27, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2018 2 hours ago, Richard Bunn said: One thing I've just noticed in your second photo @Guy , is that a D. madagascariensis you have there to the left of the tray? Amazingly well spotted! Yes, it's a D. madagascariensis. And it's looking very sickly. It was in a tray with various other Drosera which went all floppy and smothered it. So I've moved it out to give it some breathing space. It's in the compost it arrived in when I bought it from Hampshire CPs. Not sure it's going to survive, so any tips you have would be much appreciated. Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoLongFairWell Posted June 27, 2018 Report Share Posted June 27, 2018 Just make sure it's getting good light. It's a slightly scrambling species anyway. Mine always seem to die down to the roots in the winter and occasionally I lose one. This is because it's a tropical species. This year it's being moved indoors where it should continue to grow a bit (hopefully). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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