Question
QUESTION: Hey guys! I hope you understand my question/problem. Alright, so i have several flytraps and sarracenia potted in different pots. From 4 inch pots to 12 inch pots. Several of my plants in tall 4 inch pots are growing fast and growing big. Some plants that i have in 12 inch pots though, are not growing as fast. Lets take sarracenia flava. I have a small sarracenia flava, not even flowering maturity, maybe 2-3 years from reaching flowering maturity, in a 4 inch pot and it is growing like crazy as well as dividing several times. While a medium sized flava, maybe 1-2 years from flowering, is in a 12 inch pot and it has neither divided nor is it growing as fast. These are just examples of course. All my plants in large pots are growing slower than ones in small pots. You name it, drosera, sarracenia, flytraps. I guess my question would be, is this normal? Do they take time to get use to the pot size the bigger it is? Could there be something wrong with my plants? Other than not growing as fast they seem really healthy. One thing that i have noticed though is that both my sarracenia judith hindle dont have a lot of color on them. They have some but not the same deep color that your guys' pitchers do. Any thoughts would help put my mind at ease. Thanks!

I live in southern california, zone 9.
All my plants are grown in a 50:50 peat:perlite mix
I use plastic pots.
Reverse osmosis water with no more than 10ppm
10+ hours of direct sun

ANSWER: Hi Manny,

Thank-you for giving such detailed information.  It always helps us to give you better information.

What you have going on isn't really a problem depending upon how you look at it.  Your plants in bigger pots have an overall lower soil temperature than the ones in smaller pots.  This will result in slower growth.  The color difference in the Judith Hindles is from less tannins being released since the peat isn't as warm.  The tannic acid helps the plants produce anthocyanin, their red pigment.  This isn't a bad thing long term, since the media breaks down slower.  Last year I did big planter (old bathtub) with all east coast species.  I noticed the same thing.  The plants looked fine, but they didn't get as big as I expected.  The Venus flytraps especially were smaller than I though they would be, even though they were getting plenty of sun.  This year, the larger Sarracenia looked fantastic, however.  So, just give them time.  They will probably reward you with big strong, healthy plants next year once they have adapted to the larger container.

Good Growing!

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

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: That actually makes perfect sense. So would you recommend me leaving some of these plants in their same containers? I have 4 Sarracenia in a large pot that is 2 feet tall and 1.5 feet in diameter. How often should i repot these? and would you recommend a soil mix. As of now it is in a peat perlite mix and i water every other day. I do not have it in a tray of water. I also have several flytraps in 2.5 gallon containers also growing kind of small. Should i avoid changing their soil every year also? Thanks for all the help! :)

Answer
Hi Manny,

Don't transplant; their fine.  Your soil mix is fine.  As I mentioned before, this isn't really a problem.  You'll be rewarded with larger plants down the road.  In a big container, you probably only need to change the soil when certain plants are getting so big you need to move or divide them.  The way you're watering, the peat will be very slow to break down.

Good Growing!

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