Floria 2011 is back

[paphioboy]

Originally Posted by TS

They were all established plant and quite healthy I would say. But surprisingly no one seems to go grab after I posted the pictures here. Are those CPs too common?

I think all of us already have those in our collections.. I know I do (apart from VFT)..

[TS]

Probably members are sick of handling dormancy (for Sarra & VFTs), except for new growers maybe they'll buy.
The sarra could be very beautiful in the initial stage, but they tend to die during or after the dormancy in our climate.
Are your Sarracenias growing well after dormancy, Paphioboy?
I wanted to try on the dormancy handling for Sarra years back, but unfortunately I don't have time. I have a few left at home which are quite OK after a couple of years of dormancy. But they are mostly seed grown.

[kevyn chan]

i am so agree with TS, YES...sick of handling dormancy...my sarra collection has been downsized to a few pots and only buy new ones to add in new item into the growlist... shoot as many pics during the prime growth period and when they goes dormancy...finger crossed that they may comeback... after many failed attempts (cold and dry method) i chose to leave them in their growing pots and treat them as if they are still growing (water tray, daily sun) and guess what, my s. mitchelliana came back... strange..

[TS]

Happy that it came back, Kevyn. Please remain as it is till the next domancy, I really wanna know if it still come back. By experiment like this, hopefully we could be able to find a way to grow them for years.

[kevyn chan]

yup...will maintain as it is...one more failure is to polinate the flower... therefore no back up plant if it fail to come back from dormancy...

[paphioboy]

Originally Posted by TS

Probably members are sick of handling dormancy (for Sarra & VFTs), except for new growers maybe they'll buy.
The sarra could be very beautiful in the initial stage, but they tend to die during or after the dormancy in our climate.
Are your Sarracenias growing well after dormancy, Paphioboy?
I wanted to try on the dormancy handling for Sarra years back, but unfortunately I don't have time. I have a few left at home which are quite OK after a couple of years of dormancy. But they are mostly seed grown.

TS, I find sarras very easy. VFTs are a totally different case, I gave up on them altogether. I grow sarras hanging in plastic pots with 100% dead sphagnum moss. I had mine for 4 years already. For the first 2 years, they went dormant and subjected them to the 'dry dormancy' method (as opposed to fridge dormancy). From then they have not gone dormant since.. This is how my purpureas (2 pots, originally in 1 pot) look like earlier this year:


Left one in pure sphagnum moss, right one is a smaller division that I tried in burnt red earth. Makes no difference to the growth. I also have 2 of the taller sarra hybrids, but don't have a good pic of them..

[paphioboy]

Another pic taken this year showing where they are amongst my many orchids:


Front row of CPs: Nep Rebecca Soper, 2 purpureas, red ampullaria and a taller sarra hybrid. There is another taller sarra leucophylla hybrid on the left, partially blocked by a Brassavola Little Star orchid. Neps hanging below are (viking x kuchingensis), viking, northiana and x dyeriana.

[TS]

Paphioboy, I'm very happy that your sarras doing well in your garden, I'm really interested in your method, could you elaborate more on "dry dormancy treatment" that you did to your plant?
Many years ago when I have my first Sarra (that was more then 10 years ago), I really have no idea at all to grow it, when it grew too compact, I divided it to several pots, but at that moment I didn't know what the assisting growing media was (infact it was peat), so I just used the red burnt earth which I have plenty at home. Fortunate enough, they thrive. For the following few years, they gone dormant and came back repeatedly. They eventually died after my negligence.
Wish your sarras happy in your garden, I really hope to see them after 10 or 20 years!!

[paphioboy]

Thanks TS. I water daily when they are actively growing, when they are going dormant, I place them (pot and all) in a shady cool place and reduce watering to once a week only. The sphagnum moss will become a bit crisp on top. I only resume regular watering when the plants stop producing phyllodia (non-pitcher leaves) and resumed normal pitchering. This usually happens under high humidity conditions (heavy continuous rain), but not always. IMHO, purpurea types can be divided into single plants as they recover more easily from the division process compared to the taller alata/ leucophylla types.

[TS]

Thanks Paphioboy, that info is really precious to me. I'll try doing the same way this season when they go dormant.