Sarracenia – Temperate Pitcher Plant

 Sarracenia are the American flavor of pitcher plant. The name “Pitcher Plant” refers to five genera of carnivorous plants. They all share the same food catching strategy, but have wildly different growing conditions. Sarracenia expect cold winters, and require a yearly dormancy period to sleep and refresh their foliage for the following spring. Try to grow a Cephalotus or Nepenthes in that manner, and instead of being greeted by a rejuvenated carnivore in the spring, you’ll find an unhappy pile of plant-based mush. Despite the different climates and conditions, all these species have independently developed the same feeding method: The Pitfall Trap.

 A pitcher plant’s trap is made up of an extremely specialized leaf and an assortment of fluids. Sarracenia leaves are hollow, cone like tubes, that grow upwards from a central bulb. The “pit” of the pitfall trap; the plants’ pitchers. In their tubes, the plant produces one fluid that smells irresistible to lure in prey. Next, it produces a thicker, wax like, secretion that coats the upper rims and inner lining of the tube that makes it’s walls slippery and inescapable. Finally, it produces an enzyme that it releases into the water collected in the base of the tube to digest critters unfortunate enough to fall all the way in. This method of feeding requires no movement from the plant but is extremely successful. So successful, even, that some species of Sarracenia can reach heights of over three feet tall.

 Sarracenia require different care than your standard flower or tropical house plant, but once you have the basics down they grow vigorously. I go into greater detail in the species specific guides, but here are the quick Temperate Pitcher Pleases and Please No’s:

• Only water with distilled water.
• Keep your Sarracenia sitting in a saucer of water at all times.
• Give your Sarracenia as much light as you can. Outdoors in full sun is preferable.
• Never fertilize your plant! No root feeding!
• Allow your plant to experience dormancy in winter.

 It is not required to feed your Sarracenia, they subsist mostly on sunlight. Photosynthesis and all that. Additionally, if grown outside they will catch an alarming amount of prey on their own. However, that's why you got a carnivorous plant: to feed it. Drop one fish food pellet in each pitcher after it opens.