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I mentioned this as a side note in another post, but I think it deserves a separate thread. I've been repotting Sarracenia lately, and I've noticed that with a fair number of my plants, their pots are now oval instead of round. The rhizome has hit one or both sides of the pot and is pushing on it -- hard. This usually doesn't happen with the purpurea and rosea plants, but I've seen it with the alata, flava, leucophylla, and oreophila plants and their hybrids. If this is going to happen, it's usually during winter dormancy.

My theory: During the warm months, the plants put their energy into growing leaves. This allows them to build up reserves to carry them through winter. In the fall, leaf growth more-or-less stops; the plants shift gears and put their energy into growing the rhizome (and maybe a new crown or two). When spring arrives, the plants can now grow even more leaves, and the process starts all over again.

Has anyone else noticed this behavior in their plants?

Intriguing theory. Out of curiosity where are you located? I wonder if in warmer climates this is more pronounced as the plants might not enter fully dormancy. I had 2 alatas that threw pitchers all winter.

My location is in the post header, right below my name. It definitely gets cold enough here to put my Sarracenia in dormancy for 3 months (colder than my rosea plants care to be).

Weird, your location just shows as blank there. If I click your name it shows though. I'll watch this next winter as I'm new to growing, but have some mature size plants. Maybe the opposite is true and this is a colder weather habit. Many of mine kept throwing pitchers so are continuing to put energy into leaves while yours is putting it into the rhizomes?

Jk, I have noticed that on my old iPhone6+ that locations do not show up. I'm on a desktop computer (which I prefer) and the location info is showing on both yours and Mike's posts. But, with my phone it is not showing location info, though, as you stated, I can click on the name and the user info that includes the location is there. I just take it for what it is.

Mike, though I haven't been around long enough to notice what you stated, your observation sounds very logical to me. The plants are making the most of their growing conditions...summer warmth and sunshine for making energy to use and to store, then in the winter the plant uses a bit of the stored energy to make itself stronger/larger. Nice observation!

I am not sure if this theory holds true for Sarrs but I was told by a long time VFT grower that this is what they do. Their energy is all put towards growing a larger rhizome, which is the reason the plant growth itself halts. I can only assume that Sarrs and Drosera would be similar. My plants are all in my garage, somewhat huddled around each other so it will be difficult to tell if they are doing the same until I start putting them back outside. I did take pics of them as I put them in dormancy so it should not be too difficult to see if they in fact grew larger rhizome's.

Very cool observation MikeB! Glad you posted this as stand alone.

Jedikinigit wrote: ↑Mon Jan 29, 2024 11:41 am Weird, your location just shows as blank there. If I click your name it shows though.

That's a weird bug/glitch. I'm in eastern North Carolina, a little ways southeast of Raleigh. It was zone 7b here but has now warmed up to 8a.

Jedikinigit wrote: Maybe the opposite is true and this is a colder weather habit. Many of mine kept throwing pitchers so are continuing to put energy into leaves while yours is putting it into the rhizomes?

The only Sarracenia species native to central Florida is S. minor; it grows the farthest south of any in its genus. Your other species/hybrids are soaking up the mild winter temps.

In my county, S. flava and S. purpurea ssp. venosa grow wild on the eastern side. Climate-wise, I'm in a good location for these two species, and the others (alata, leucophylla, oreophila, rubra, assorted hybrids) don't have any complaints. rosea thinks it's a bit chilly but manages to soldier through. I'd say that my plants have a typical reaction to winter weather.