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Do Sarracenias need space?


Question
Water tray setup
Water tray setup
Hello!

The situation: It's been windy here lately and my taller Sarracenias have been continually falling over. To remedy this, I decided to fit them in to a snug water tray with three of my smaller Sarracenias. While this does keep the taller plants from falling over, I'm concerned now that the shorter plants might not be getting as much sun as they should be with this new water tray arrangement.

The question: Do Sarracenia need some space between their pots in order to receive a satisfactory amount of light? Another wording for this question would be, does it benefit shorter plants to be in a separate water tray from the taller ones, or does it not matter?

I've attached an image of the water tray and plants in question. From left to right, back row to front: "Don's Flava" (ordered from you!), alata, "Don's Flava" (also ordered from you!), a very young flava, purpurea, and rubra.

Answer
Hi Josh,

Thanks for the photo.  That always helps.

It's always good to give the plants more space to give them more sun.  This situation pops up in large containers and bog gardens also.  What you try and do is position shorter plants to face the sun more with larger plants in the back.  Typically, this means having short plants to the South, tall plants on the North side of the planter or water tray.

In dealing with wind you can also use rocks in the water trays to help hold pots up.  Just be sure not to use limestone or marble.

Good Growing!

Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.cobraplant.com

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