Burnt Flower Stalks

They're not really burnt, but I don't know what happened. It could be from aphids, or maybe frost that I didn't get my plants in from in time. (I don't know that my plants have seen frost this year.) I took these tonight after I brought them in.

Burnt-looking flower stalk.

Burnt-looking flower stalk.

Burnt-looking flower stalk.

There are plenty of healthy flower stalks on the same plants. Wonder what's goin' on.

Lock Pick Pitcher and Aphids

Bringing my plants in tonight, I noticed more of my pitcher plants are putting up pitchers. The shape of a new pitcher looked so familiar to me, and then I realized why. It looked like a lock pick. So I put the pot of Sarracenia leucophylla " Tarnok" aside to photograph it with a lock pick. I got my lock pick, got my camera, went to take a picture, and I saw them.

Aphid.

More aphids.

'nother aphid.

'nother aphid.

More aphids.

More aphids.

'nother aphid.

I consulted my The Savage Garden book, and saw that it recommends Orthenex. Then I remembered that I already own Orthenex, from the time I bought it for my butterwort, which didn't like it very much at all (butterworts are sensitive). The book did say to avoid aerosol sprays, and that's what my Orthenex is. The internet told me Orthenex has since been taken off the shelves for being too toxic. Good ol' Jeff Dallas from Sarracenia Northwest's YouTube video talked me into going out and buying Bayer's Rose & Flower Insect Killer, feature Imidacloprid. Except he could have talked me into it better by telling me what the product itself was.

Went out to Walmart, got it, came home, and sprayed all my pitcher plants and VFTs, even though I only saw one affected pitcher plant. I hope it doesn't harm 'em. I should have gotten under the leaves of the VFTs better, I bet.

Oh, and

Lock pick and Sarracenia leucophylla "Tarnok"

Whoops

I kept intending to catch up with my posts for all of last year, and kept putting it off, and now it'd take forever to recount the whole year by going through my pictures. So I'm skipping to this year. If I need to, I still have pictures from last year.

My last post said things weren't going as planned, but everything went fine. I put my plants on tables with chicken wire, and other than the stupid trees spitting their stupid litter all over my pots, everything went well. More false vivipary on my VFT... Oh, I guess I repotted twice since my last update.  I found a good source for perlite. Better Feed in Turtle Creek, PA. It's something like 120 quarts for $16.

Body pillow of perlite.

Straight out of New Eagle, PA.

Oh My, Spring isn't Going as Planned

I just noticed recently that some of my pitcher plants are putting up flower stalks. I finally squeezed in front of the car in the garage to look at the VFTs to see if they're doing anything. They're the color of bean sprouts! That spot on the shelf got the least amount of light.  I moved them onto my grow rack until I can put them outside (we're still getting temps dipping below freezing, and I'm afraid to take them from a 55-60 degree garage and put them out into the 30s). I also moved my purple pitcher plant to my grow rack.

The trouble is, I want to repot all these this spring, but I haven't had a nice day to do it outside yet, and I need to get perlite without fertilizer. The place I found 3 miles up the street that sells it doesn't open for the year until April 16, and the only other place I know of to get it (where I got it before) is almost an hour away, near my sister's house. I guess I could stop in and pat her cat on the head while I'm in the area if I go to that one. I've also ordered it from Amazon.com.

I wanted to divide my VFTs, but since they're already growing and not healthy, I may not. I might not have to repot all my plants, but I probably will, because they grew mold, and even though I controlled it with a sulfur-based fungicide, I'd sleep better knowing they have peat that had never been moldy.

I also repotted a friend's VFT I've been taking care of for the winter today. I also spilled a cupped VFT onto the carpet today. Whoops.

Shelf for dormant plants in the garage.

North-facing window, the only source of light for the shelf of dormant plants.

My VFT planter after I turned it 180 degrees. This clump of VFTs here was in the back dark corner, and now looks like bean sprouts.

S. leucophylla 'Tarnok' putting up six flower stalks.

There's a cupped VFT under there somewhere.

A cutting from D. capensis, looking like a curled up millipede.

Pot of cupped VFTs in its new home in a tray, so there'd be room for S. purpurea on the rack.

Recently toppled cupped VFT in its new home in a tray, so there'd be room for S. purpurea on the rack.

Planter of VFTs looking like bean sprouts in their new home until I repot.

VFTs looking like bean sprouts.

VFTs looking like bean sprouts.

S. purpurea just inches away from six T5 bulbs, with potential to burn, until it's moved outside.

Friend's VFT, freshly repotted. D. capensis in the foreground, showing off its flower stalk.

Nepenthes ventricosa Problems

It keeps putting out new leaves, but they don't grow fast at all, like they did back when it was in the window, and one leaf grew all crinkly. I looked at the plant more closely and saw a lot of globs under the leaves. After posting on TerraForums.com, it sounds like that's just nectar, and the problem with it putting out tons of new leaves that don't develop is because it's too hot for the plant. It's probably partly due to my bad sleep schedule, and since it's wintry, I keep the heat on when I'm awake. So the days have been cooler than the nights. I'm an IDIOT.

Ah, at least I learned before I killed it.

Some pics:

Lots of new leaves that don't develop on N. ventricosa.

What I thought were eggs or something insect-related are hopefully just nectar.

Another shot of the nectar on N. ventricosa.

A weirdly formed leaf from too much heat on N. ventricosa.

I Think I Killed My Cobra Lily

Darlingtonia californica, March 8, 2011.

I don't think I'll be trying my hand at these again. I guess it's because I missed some days of pouring new water over the top of the soil, even though it was sitting in water. Or because the LFS they ship them in isn't what it wants to sit in.

It was healthy and grew some while under my care; it looked like this not too long ago:

Darlingtonia californica, February 16, 2011, showing a new, healthy pitcher.

Darlingtonia californica, February 16, 2011, showing a baby pitcher starting to grow.

New VFT I Bought for Parts

I bought a VFT in January just to try propagating new plants from via leaf pullings. I was too scared to try it with VFTs I already have and am attached to. So I bought it and put it under my lights. They say VFTs don't do well indoors.

Well I knew it would happen. And it happened. I'm attached to it. I should repot it and/or do some leaf pullings, though.

VFT I bought for parts in January, 2011.  March 8, 2011.

I'm going to snip the flower stalk to help the health of the plant. I'll stick it in some peat and see if it will propagate a new plant.

But look how nice and red the insides of those traps are!