re: beginner questions

L235@aol.com
Thu, 25 Jul 1996 08:51:27 -0400

Kenneth Quinn (kenneth.quinn@fishinghole.com) writes:

<Until this summer, I have not grown CPs; I started off by ordering
several Sarracenias from a reputable dealer and have had fairly good
luck. One problem, though, is bothering me - the new pitchers have very
small hoods and are in general underdeveloped. Is this a response to
being shipped and transplanted?

One of the Sarracenias was in bloom when I got it. Two months later,
the bloom, minus the petals, is still on the plant but I see no swelling
of the ovaries. Is this normal?>

Question 1: In my own (albeit limited) experience, I've found that any stress
- transplanting, large environmental changes, major surgery with a bottle of
benomyl and an x-acto knife (grin) will cause the next "generation" of
pitchers on many of my sarracenia (flava, alata, psittacina) to grow very
thin, often deformed, with particularly underdeveloped pitchers.

Question 2: Peter D'Amato once told me that pitcher plants in cultivation on
the west coast (US) don't get naturally pollinated, 'cause the bees don't
know what to do wit h them. He did say that all up and down the east coast
(US) , bees will pollinate pitcher plant flowers naturally. I've found in the
DC metropolitan area of (where we have natural stands of S. purpurea venosa
and are relatively close to historical stands of S. flava) that mine had to
be pollinated artificially. Perhaps it has something to do with the
decimation of the wild be populations, perhaps not.)

FWIW,

Jay Lechtman
L235@aol.com