Growing conditions after removing Sarracenias from the fridge and mold.

[Richard Hole]

Hello

I had placed by Sarracenia bulbs with the roots in the fridge wrapped in moist paper towel in a bag over winter. I then potted them about 10 days ago. I placed them in a greenhouse with white Solarweave plastic on the roof and sides. It blocks out 50% of the sun. I have shade cloth on the western side of the greenhouse that blocks out about 70% of the sun. However, I plan to remove this soon as it may provide too much shade. Eventually, I plan to put the Sarracenias out in full sun again. However, I thought that it would be best to put them in the greenhouse for a few weeks to harden the plants off. Is that a good idea or could it be better to get them into full sun now to perhaps reduce fungus? A problem is some of the crowns of the weaker or dying plants now have mold on them. The plants are sitting in trays of water.

Do you think putting a fungicide on them could help, or would the ones with the mold be an indication that they are going to die anyway? I thought the ones with the mold may be going to die anyway so fungicide may not make any difference. The healthy ones that are going to live may resist the mold naturally. Do you know of any ways to kill the mold that would not harm humans or the plants? It would be good to find a fungicide that is affective where no glove or face mask is needed. I heard that Betadine could work and I could try watering a dilute solution of that on the top of the plants. On one of my earlier posts about mold I mentioned some other alternative fungicides and received some feedback. See http://icps.proboards.com/index.cgi?...nt&thread=3995
Please let me know of anything that works well


Your help is appreciated
Regards Richard.

[Harris Azariel]

SRY i cant help on the fungus part.but i can help on the sun part.yes ur idea is a great one!put it in filtered sun first for the first week or 2,then slowly fullsunlight.

[yonie]

Hi Richard,

I think the growing conditions you're provided are too wet and too shady for growing Sarracenia. As what you said, mold grown on those weak and dried plants. This is because those plants are unable to absorb the water, while encourage the growth of mold. I'd grown Sarracenia from division and i put it under conditions which are similar as yours. And the same things happened on my plants. I scrapped away those mold, sprayed with fungicide and then transfered them into direct sunlight. With controlled the water of the medium, which i keep it moist at the beggining and maintain the humidity up to 60%, and finally its work. SO, if you can provide enough sunlight, control the wetness of the medium and maintain the humidity, and applying very light fungicide twice a week, then mold shouldn't happened on your plants. Don't forget, Sarracenias grow in full sunlight...
What others comment from those experts??? I hope you all can share the experiences and please correct me if i'm wrong

[Richard Hole]

Hello

Thanks for your suggestions. A local grower suggested to put the Sarracenias in semi shade for only about 3 or 4 days before transferring them into full sunlight BEFORE the young shoots start. This way the young shoots would not get burnt as they would not have started. I left it a bit late and the young shoots have started so now I will have to harden them off by perhaps giving them full sun up to about 10.30 AM in the morning and full sun after 3 PM in the afternoon and then cover them with 50 shade cloth between about 10.30 AM and 3 PM. I plan to hopefully have to provide this shading in the middle of the day for about the next 3 days before perhaps giving them only 2 hours of shade for a day and then full sun. Should this be a good idea or do you think they could stand more sun and sooner? The sooner they are put in full sun the better as far as saving us time.

I will post another question asking if I should remove the Sarracenia flowers that in some cases have started to bud before the pitchers start.

Your help is appreciated
Regards Richard.