Easy Carnivorous Pitcher Plants

Easy Carnivorous Pitcher Plants

‘Eat up your flies’ a mother would tell her baby pitcher plants.

Sarracenia exornata

Sarracenia or Pitcher Plants are ideal for an unheated greenhouse, cool windowsills or a conservatory if grown in sphagnum moss with a little sand and peat. They are some of the easiest carnivorous plants to grow.
These carnivorous plants attract insects with nectar on the edge of the pitcher then the trap features a deep cavity filled with digestive juice. This provides Pitcher plants with sustenance from dissolved insects that are digested in a liquid known as a pitfall trap.

North American Pitcher plants belong to the genus Sarracenia and form upright, tubular leaves. The species in the genus Sarracenia readily hybridise, making a wide range of cultivars available.

Sarracenia species to grow:-

Yellow Trumpet Sarracenia flava
Hooded Pitcher Plant Sarracenia minor
Sweet Trumpet Sarracenia rubra
Purple Pitcher Plant Sarracenia purpurea
Pale Trumpet Sarracenia alata rubra below
Alabama Pitcher Sarracenia exornata above

Purple pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea, is the floral emblem of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Plants are also known as Trumpet Pitchers.

Pitcher plant

Cultivation Tips

  • Sarracenia likes to be much wetter than other carnivorous plants. You can’t really over water them pitchers would like to be stood in a couple of inches of water constantly.
  • Tap water isn’t a  good idea, rain water or deionized water is much preferable.
  • Sarracenia will trap insects all year long and will provide you with wonderful nodding flowers.
  • Pitcher plants do not need feeding as long as there are insects around as the trumpets are the plants way of obtaining their food.
  • Pitcher plants like a good bright or sunny position with a cool root run.
  • Sarracenia are bordering on being hardy and can be grown outdoors in the UK if they are given sheltered conditions.
  • They can be grown from seed in kit form from Amazon or bought from a specialist nursery like Hampshire Carnivorous plants

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Other Pitcher plants include Nepenthes which contain about 120 species and numerous hybrids and cultivars. In these Old World pitcher plants, the pitchers are borne at the end of tendrils and tend to be climbing plants rather than ground dwellers like Sarracenia.

Book Cover
The Curious World of Carnivorous Plants: A Comprehensive Guide to Their Biology and Cultivation

The Carniverous Plant Society and International equivalent offer a deal of expertise to help new growers.

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