Carnivorous Plants - Late Autumn in the Greenhouse 2023

[@Carnivorousplantslife]

Nice collection!

[@davidb5255]

Thanks. Been checking out some of your videos, you have some really nice Sarracenias. I love the dark coloured ones, especially the red ones, with the heavy veining. Your Leucos are lovely. Would have really liked it if you have captioned the names of the species in say your latest August greenhouse tour so I could go looking for some of the ones you had.

[@Carnivorousplantslife]

@davidb5255 thanks man, I will consider titling all future videos. But if you give me time stamps I'd be happy to give you any details you want!!

[@terryw1795]

Excellent video as always , thankyou .would like your advice on how and when you take the young cobras away from the adult darlingtonia ? Thanks again

[@davidb5255]

Hi, glad you liked the video. Personally I like to take the young Darlingtonia plants of when they have a few good roots to ensure that when their umbilical cord to the parent is cut they can survive. As such I tend to do it earlier in the year when its not too hot and so the plants are not stressed too much if they only have a few roots. It's usually quite easy to see when there are young plants which can be taken as they appear around the edge of the parent plants pot. If you carefully knock the parent out you will quite often find that the stolons have gone around the pot several times and then appeared. If the young plant does not have any roots I try and pin it down in the parent pot with a piece of bent wire to encourage it to produce roots before detatching it. Sometimes they grow up and out of the pot so don't get the stimulus to generate roots as they are not touching the damp compost. If there is no room I have sometimes taken the stolon runner out of the parent and pinned it down into a pot next to it, you just have to be careful when moving them as they are connected. Personally I don't take the young plants off the parent if there arn't any established roots as although they will probably produce roots it is a risk and any trap growth may suffer until the roots establish as there will be no effective water uptake. I have however taken stolon runners without any young plants growing off them out of parent pots and pinned them down in a separate tray to encourage the young plants to grow. That is how I got so many little Darlingtonia plants in the seed tray in the video, it was one or two long stolons which had gone around the parent pot several times. That I find works really well as there is no top growth to support so the stolon can take its time sending down new roots and sending up new growth points. Then its just a case of waiting until each of the new growth points have enough roots before separating it from the rest.

[@terryw1795]

@@davidb5255 many thanks for such a comprehensive reply , that has really given me the confidence to tackle the darlingtonia. In fact a separate video on your success with darlingtonia would go down very well with carnivorous plant growers ! , many thanks David

[@davidb5255]

@@terryw1795 Thanks for the suggestion, next time I pot up my Darlingtonia I will definitely make a video.

[@Carnivorousplantslife]

4:44 these black spots are almost mildew looking. They're the reason I went and cut back everything. Im still a rookie and didnt know if that was normal or not so I panicked. From the looks of it, you do not seem to be concerned with the pitchers rotting. I almost regret trimming back everything that was still green and red.. bummerrrrr

[@davidb5255]

To be honest I have never had mildew in a Sarracenia, botrytis (furry grey mold) sometimes but never mildew, either black or white. Botrytis is not usually a problem on the pitchers as its easily removed, if it gets into the rhyzome its more of an issue. I suspect those spots are just discolouration as the pitcher dried out, maybe from the insects inside. As I said in the video I tend to only cut the brown tops off the old pitchers down to the green alive part as they are still photo synthesising for the plant. Interestingly I always thought I was the odd one out as so many people seem to cut all the pitchers off to ground level, dead or alive. But yesterday there was a video from California Carnivoirs where he advocated exactly what I do and left most of the tops on, kzbin.info/www/bejne/pJfdmomnrcycpKc I had not even considered the benefit of leaving the dead traps on as a means to help protect the plants from frost. I only trim the dead off mine because in the UK we tend to get damp and modestly cold winters, not the crisp dry cold you get in some parts of the US. It's that damp cold that quite often encourages botrytis. Removing the fully dead pitchers keeps the crown more open and give better air flow to reduce the risk. Some pitchers I leave on as I just like the look, expecially the really tall ones, 30+", or the deep red ones as they keep their colour to some extent. The tall ones I often save, cut a slot down the side, clear tape it up and then take it along to markets where I sell my spares for charity just so people can see how good they are at catching things. People are always amazed that the pitchers can often be quite literally full to the top, I've even had some so full flies have been ablt to get out due to so many dead bodies in there.

[@Carnivorousplantslife]

@@davidb5255 I appreciate your repsonse David. I am still learning and your pitchers look just like mine when I clipped them. I seen most dead pitchers die back and look the same color brown all the way down, so when I saw all the spots that look like mold spores, I panicked. I just didnt want the mold to go down to the rhizome. Seeing your pitchers having the same spots all over gives me a little more comfort for next winter to leave them on from the green and down. As always, appreciate you being so friendly and informative.