Inducing fall S. leucophylla traps
Aug 25, 2015 13:49:25 GMT -5
Jonathan Mejia, kiwiearl, and 13 more like this
Post by meizzwang on Aug 25, 2015 13:49:25 GMT -5
It's no secret that Sarracenia leucophylla produces 2 flushes of pitcher growth: one in the spring/early summer, and then the biggest, baddest, most colorful traps during the fall. Now that we have grown out many genetically different variants from throughout it's natural range, it seems like some populations or individuals are capable of producing both nice spring and fall traps, whereas other populations produce small/crappy spring pitchers and amazing fall trap. to make things even more complicated, the same clone that produces crappy pitchers outdoors for us during the early summer can produce amazing early summer traps under greenhouse conditions!
Some years, the white trumpet pitcher plant produces an incredible fall show for us outdoors here in Northern California, whereas during other years, it merely produces phyllodia all year long and then goes dormant. Why does it behave this way?
For the longest time, we speculated it must be temperature. S. leucophylla seems to love warmer temps, and they seem to produce their best pitchers when it's hot. When it's cooler during the summer/early fall, perhaps that prevents the plants from producing fall traps. That hypothesis was thrown out the window when we saw incredible fall pitchers on S. leucophylla Hurricane creek white clone E, grown in Mendocino County, CA. To give you perspective, the average daily summer temperatures up there are in the mid to high 60's. My average daily temperature during the summer here south of San Francisco, CA is roughly 78-80F. To sumarize, S. leucophylla can still produce incredible fall traps with cooler temperatures.
So back to square one. How do you get S. leucophylla to consistently produce fall traps? I still can't answer this question in its entirety as there are multiple factors that contribute to fall trap production. However, I THINK I figured out one important factor: spacing.
What do most S. leucophylla with nice fall traps have in common? Their growth points are getting hit with direct sunlight! IF you pack S. flava tightly together, and the growth points are shaded by surrounding plants, will they stop producing big old traps? Nope. So why is S. leucophylla so much pickier than S. flava? No idea yet.
Here's some observations that suggest light hitting the rhizomes is one factor that determines fall trap production. Photos taken 8/24/15. In the first picture, the tray of S. leucophylla receives direct sunlight to the left and back. Notice the plants in the front, which are shaded and don't receive direct sunlight to the rhizomes, aren't yet producing pitchers. Please note: these plants were recently "pruned" back so now all of the rhizomes can potentially receive light. Before, the leaves were so thick you couldn't see the rhizomes:
Another view: notice plants on the "edge" of the tray, to the left and right, are producing fall traps. everything in the middle and behind are still only producing phyllodia:
Any S. leucophylla grower will become excited when they see this during the fall-the start of the fall pitcher flush:
And some pretty close-ups of the traps:
To be continued with photos of hurricane creek white doing the same thing!
Some years, the white trumpet pitcher plant produces an incredible fall show for us outdoors here in Northern California, whereas during other years, it merely produces phyllodia all year long and then goes dormant. Why does it behave this way?
For the longest time, we speculated it must be temperature. S. leucophylla seems to love warmer temps, and they seem to produce their best pitchers when it's hot. When it's cooler during the summer/early fall, perhaps that prevents the plants from producing fall traps. That hypothesis was thrown out the window when we saw incredible fall pitchers on S. leucophylla Hurricane creek white clone E, grown in Mendocino County, CA. To give you perspective, the average daily summer temperatures up there are in the mid to high 60's. My average daily temperature during the summer here south of San Francisco, CA is roughly 78-80F. To sumarize, S. leucophylla can still produce incredible fall traps with cooler temperatures.
So back to square one. How do you get S. leucophylla to consistently produce fall traps? I still can't answer this question in its entirety as there are multiple factors that contribute to fall trap production. However, I THINK I figured out one important factor: spacing.
What do most S. leucophylla with nice fall traps have in common? Their growth points are getting hit with direct sunlight! IF you pack S. flava tightly together, and the growth points are shaded by surrounding plants, will they stop producing big old traps? Nope. So why is S. leucophylla so much pickier than S. flava? No idea yet.
Here's some observations that suggest light hitting the rhizomes is one factor that determines fall trap production. Photos taken 8/24/15. In the first picture, the tray of S. leucophylla receives direct sunlight to the left and back. Notice the plants in the front, which are shaded and don't receive direct sunlight to the rhizomes, aren't yet producing pitchers. Please note: these plants were recently "pruned" back so now all of the rhizomes can potentially receive light. Before, the leaves were so thick you couldn't see the rhizomes:
Another view: notice plants on the "edge" of the tray, to the left and right, are producing fall traps. everything in the middle and behind are still only producing phyllodia:
Any S. leucophylla grower will become excited when they see this during the fall-the start of the fall pitcher flush:
And some pretty close-ups of the traps:
To be continued with photos of hurricane creek white doing the same thing!