1. It wouldn't hurt to repot the sarracenia. Some say once a year is good and if it is still in what you bought it in, then yes-'tis time.

You did take the plastic dome off, didn't you?

2. Let the flytraps decide. If they die...toss them. If they live, consider yourself lucky. I hope you get seeds out of it if you're putting the poor plants through all of that effort. Letting flytraps bloom isn't a bad thing-as long as they're grown right. If you get one from a dark interior of a store and let it flower, there is a decent chance that it'll die. Grown outdoors in full sun and I think it would be fine.

Thanks for the info, and yes, I did take the dome off. It's now outdoors in dish of distilled water.

Another thing I meant to ask but forgot: Do I need to add any water to the traps in the Saracenia? Of course I'll keep them in a boggy container, but it may not rain for months here.

What kind of Saracenia is it?

I think the only pitcher that needs water in it is the purple pitcher because it's lid allows water to come in it's not over it.

I have that type of pitcher luckily it's raining some today so nature is taking care of it..

Other Sarracenia have their lids over their pitcher so I assume they don't need water that they make enough nector or something, but I'm new to them this year so I can't really be sure.

It may be a purple pitcher. It looks like the traps would let rain fall into them. I have another Sarracenia that's much taller, but its traps are shielded by leaf tissue that would keep most rain out.

The flies are already out in swarms here. I think my plants will have plenty to eat.

1tecato,

Hey I saw that you said you were from Orange County...I am as well, I live in Yorba Linda...how bout you where are you from? Also, do you know of any local shops around here that are currently selling carnivorous plants or did you pick up your sarr. a while ago? Thanks for any response!!

Zach

Best time to repot Sarracenias is in winter, when they are dormant. But you can do it anytime. I would prepare the bigger pot first and remove the entire contents as one unit so as to minimize root disturbance.

As to VFT's, personally, if I have a plant that has been outside for the growing season and has gone through a dormancy, I would let it flower, with a cleat conscience. If it hasn't met those two criteria, I wouldn't let it flower.

Thanks for the tips, petiolaris. For Zach: I'm in Dana Point now. I've seen carnivores at a number of places around here but they come and go in spurts. I've gotten them at Wal-Mart, Walgreens, Armstrongs and Home Depot. Green Thumb in Lake Forest had some very healthy looking flytraps when I was there earlier this week. OSH in Santa Ana has them now. Most of the time it's just flytraps, and often they look very sick. But every once in a while you'll see sundews and butterworts. There are a couple nurseries near here that had some taller saracenia last year, Dana Point Nursery and Plant Depot in Capistrano. Plant Depot is a great place, by the way.

A couple years ago I went to a garden/plant event at Mission San Juan Capistrano. A guy was selling a lovely butterwort about five inches across and flowering. I didn't buy it, but if you're around the next time they stage one of those events, it might be worth a look.

OK, I checked the label on one of my "Monster Plants" and it says they come from Nurserymen's Exchange in Half Moon Bay, Calif. They have a Web site: bloomrite.com. Like I said, they pitch these as novelty plants. They pop up sporadically in a variety of stores around here. If you find one that has just been put out on the shelf, it'll usually be reasonably healthy. The longer they stay in stores, the sicker they get. A lot of times I see plants that have completely rotted.

Ya I've found a couple stores around here(Lowe's, Armstrong) that have only VFT's. What I'm really looking for are some Nepenthes. I've heard that they sometimes put Neps in the "Cubes of Death" which are usually sold at Lowe's and Wal-mart type places, but I've been calling around lately and none of them seem to have them in stock. I think it might be too early in the season for them but I dunno. So ya I'll just have to keep calling around, and thanks for all the tips on the other places as well!

Thanks,

Zach

A couple of years ago or therabouts I got this S. psittacina at Home Depot as well as a Darlingtonia californica. Below is what I did with the plant and how it has done. Currently it is starting to put out flower spikes and the tips of the leaves are brown. Probably just not humid enough for it. I do not keep it in a bucket of water but water daily. It is really overgrown and needs to be potted up into a much larger pot which I hope to schedule for later this year.
On getting plants I would suggest trying one of the online stores. How about California Carnivores

Only reason I recommend them is that they are in California and so it would only take a day or two to reach you via USPS.
For VFTs check out the 99cent stores in your area. I got one for a buck at the local one here in Santa Maria and have it outside still in its plastic container. It is setting out a flower spike but it will be snapped off tomorrow as I do not care about the flowers or growing them from seed.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sarrencia psittacina

I bought some "cubes of death" about 2 weeks ago at Lowe's (before I started visiting this forum regularly). It appeared they had just gotten a new shipment in - it consisted of mostly VFTs and sundews, but their were one of each size (they had little cubes of horror as well as "beanie baby box" size) of Darlingtonia and Nepenthes. I got one of each, size depending on how healthy the plants looked.

Joel

You can repot Sarracenias any time of the year and at any age with no problem. They are tough plants that can even take bare root repotting in stride. Just be careful to minimize root damage and they will continue growing as if nothing happened. Remember to use only acidic sphagnum peat moss and perlite or silica sand with a 1/1 moss to drainage material mix. Only use mineral free water like distilled, reverse osmosis, or rain water for all carnivorous plants.

As many of the other growers noted, only the squat shaped Huntsman Horn Sarracenia purpurea has no lid, so allows water in so that bacteria can form in the rain water it catches to produce nitrogen from decaying, drowned insect prey. Other Sarracenias tend to use more digestive enzymes of their own manufacture than S. purpurea does, so do not allow rain water to drip into their pitchers by creating a lid over the opening.

Venus Flytraps can weaken if they flower, however; since they do so in the wild with no problem whatsoever, it is only the captive plants that are kept in store shelves for several months before being bought that are in danger. If the plants have adequate light they will prosper, flowers and all. Usually they weaken and die if grown indoors unless you provide strong florescent light of at least 12000 lumens. If you can provide a south facing window with florescent light as a supplement, even better. My Flytrap flowered last year in 12000 lumens of florescent cool white shop lights 1-4 inches from the leaves and has 6 half grown young it produced from its rhizome as well as seedlings. It is now flowering a second time indoors with the south window and the florescent light, so I expect a healthier plant and greater seed production this year. Should I place the plant outside (if I were able to do so without killing it in widely changing climates) it would likely do even better due to full sunlight.