Re: Help!

Oliver T Massey CFS (massey@hal.fmhi.usf.edu)
Thu, 25 May 1995 14:36:43 -0400

> Dear Friends,
> One again I'm looking for some help with what I feel is a bug problem.
> First the symptoms!
> leaves on my rubra forms (and one alata) seem to wilt
> from the lid of the pitcher down. They don't get crunchy or dry, they
> just seem to loose all their moisture. After time, the whole upper
> portion of the leaf seems to get all thin and limp.

> These same plants did this last summer as well. Their reply was that there
was nothing wrong! Yet
> the pitcher continued to wilt.

> Sincerely, Carl J. Mazur
<<stuff above deleted for space>>

Carl: I don't believe you have bugs. In my experience S. rubra,
particularly the gulf coast form, (and to a much less degree some of the
other Sarr. species) are susceptable to wilt. This seems to me to be
associated with low water levels and high heat. I have found that the
roots and rhizome appear healthy but the traps wilt, oldest first. New
growth may hang on another week, but if the condition isn't corrected
the whole plant dies. This has happened occasionally to me when I go
out of town and someone forgets to water my plants. :/ When I see wilt,
I cut off the most severely effected traps, mist heavily, and sometimes
put the plant in an aquarium or plastic bag. If its not in an enclosure
I will continue to mist for maybe a week.

Tom in Florida