What sort of care are you giving it..IE..what kind of soil mixture..what kind of water..inside or outside..how much sun..do you top water or is it a pot within a tray of water

The "leafy" thing on the right is a weed or something unrelated. Pull it out. The main plant is a Sarracenia plant, not sure of the exact name of this one at the moment. Does it get full Sun all day? You can cut off any brown pitchers.

Thanks Tommyr for the ID and advice. I'll pull the weeds out and clip the brown pitcher.

Mattmega4.. its just in a little dome thing that the kit came with. It sits in a window that receives sun from very early morning to sometime in the late afternoon. I'm in the middle of a feild so no shade really hits the window until the sun starts to go behind the mountain.

I'm not sure what the soil is. It just came with the kit. It is very soft and spongy and stays evenly moist with almost no care from me. I just add some fresh water to it every couple of weeks. I have a water well that I believe is fed by spring water. The PH stays right around 7.0. Sometimes slightly higher or lower. (I test before I use it for my fish tank).

Now that I know what the main plant is I can start trying to do a little research and care for it better.

Is that a sundew below the sarracenia?

One thing I couldn't find is the growth rate of the sarracenia. This one is about a year old and is only about 1 to 2 inches in any direction. Is that normal or have I stunted the growth? I started the plants (including cold stratify) in June 2009.

I'm usually pretty good with plants but only two of the supposedly 10 plants germinated!

Thanks!

Hey bacc!
You have some sort of Sarracenia species. Its a seedling and the thing that is difficult about seedlings is they can be hard to indent in this stage. I will give you some pointers that will help you out on your journey! Most Carnivores have rather slow growth rates and can take any where in the 5-7 year range to mature (To flower). With every passing season the traps will get bigger. Sarr's best grown in 60/40 peat moss to sand or perlite mix and love having a top dressing of live sphagnum moss but isn't an essential. I prefer per lite over sand because some sands can carry salts which will kill your seedlings. You can put this plant outside in another year or so. Try to protect it from strong afternoon suns and try to keep them in temp's no higer then 92 deg with 70-80 being optimal. Keep the soil wet but not water logged and try to water from the top to help flush the soil from salt build ups. Use filtered water with out any additives. Walmart sells distilled water in the gallons which is great to use because of the low PH. The other thing is the PH. Now I never pay any mind to the PH of the soil because peat moss tends to have a low PH naturally. You want the PH to be no higher then 7.0. If you have algae blooms then the PH needs to be lower. I have seen colors in carnivores get very dramatic in the low 6's. To help lower the PH you can make a tea out of your peatmoss by boiling it. Once cooled water the plants and the tenacity will help the plants out a good bit. They will tank you. The last part is... Do not use any fertalizers on your plants. They catch bugs for that reason. Their soil is low in nutrients and have evolved to make up for that also in winter they need a dormancy of at least 4 months of 40-50 deg temp and reduced watering (Damp not wet). I try to adapt my plants to my season in my area so they know when to wake up. When its about sping time in your area and there is no more frost put them in a warmer area or outside and they will wake up and flower.

I hope I haven't confused you! I have grown just about every species of CP's out there in the past 14 years and I love helping people. Please ask questions!! The world of CP's and the network of people from all over the world is rather large.

Thanks JMoore3274 for the info! I live in Central West Virginia, zone 5b I believe. We had an awesomely cold winter with about 3-4 foot of snow on the ground for 2 months straight this winter. That is unusual, but it can be pretty cold here. I know up in our glades, Crannberry Glades, they have VFT and some sort of pitcher plant that grow native up there and they get a ton more snow than here and it gets much colder.

Do you think these would be OK out in the elements in the winter? Or should I over winter them in a storage shed outside or something when they are old enough?

What did you mean by indent?

I actually have two pitcher plants growing. The other looks similar but more erect and they pitchers seem more narrow. It doesn't look near as good as the one pictures above. I always though it would die off but it has hung in there pretty well.

When I touch these, which I don't do often, they move pretty easy like they are not attatched to the ground very well. Is that normal?

Indent I think means to identify.

To find your USDA zone you can use this: http://www.arborday.org/treeinfo/zonelookup.cfm The zones have shifted north... I know I'm in PA and I'm in 6-7 so I don't think you can be in 5 unless it's a micro-clime. Upstate New York is 5 for example.

I'm planning to keep mine on a cold bright windowsill. Too dark in the basement but I'm unsure of just leaving them outside.

This is were I learned everything I know about carnivorous plants:

http://www.sarracenia.com/faq.html

And, it's a funny read too..

I had to repot mine from the Death Cubes they came in. They really don't have much in the way of roots.

Here is a link that might be useful: Zone Map

That zone lookup is outdated by 4 years. Try this one.
http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html

The 'official' gov map is the one that hasn't been updated. Hence my linking to the arbor day org map. (2006 verus 1990)

My bad, but I agree with the gov. map because I see no evidence of global warming. In fact the last 2 years have been slightly cooler in most places. I think the other map is a result of Al Gore and the Go Green team. A bunch of thieves IMO.

Apparently, there are 3 views of g;obal warming.

Here is a link that might be useful: 3 Views

"its just in a little dome thing that the kit came with. It sits in a window that receives sun from very early morning to sometime in the late afternoon."

thats your main problem..*where* you are growing it..
Sarracenia and Venus Fly Traps (VFT) really dont do well as house plants..they need to be grown outdoors, so they can get a proper winter dormancy..

the problem for people who live in areas with severe winters, is that its too cold to leave it outside in the winter, but its WAY too warm indoors! both indoors or outdoors is fatal..so what to do?
you need to find a place that is *cool*..but not freezing..
if you only have one, or a few, plants, the refrigrador is ideal..but the plant has to be outdoors all spring and summer so that it goes dormant naturally *before* it goes into the fridge..I have some detailed ideas on the concept on my webpage..(link below)

Scot

Here is a link that might be useful: CP Dormancy