The Pitcher Plant Project

Expand. That’s what going on with the collection right now. I guess that’s what happens when you hybridize and grow things from seed.   In order to prepare for further expansion, I need to shift some seedlings out and move things around.

I have a lot of pots that were once used for other plants that are just sitting there, so instead of buying more pots, I figure that it would be beneficial to use what I already have. I tweeted about the pots a while back and I really love how fellow blogger Bom Gomez (@plantchaser) from Plantchaser put it:

“@SarraceniaDude how many are we who find cleaning pots a portent of good things to come?”
(Bom, Salamat, pare! 🙂 )

Oh so true... some see crappy empty pots. I see space to grow some carnivorous art.

[Old pots, in need of a good scrub down]

So here I have all these old pots that have been used an abused. I wish I was was one of these gardeners that could keep things kinda clean, shiny, and sparkly, but unfortunately… eh… I’m not.  The pots are still in great condition, but they do need a good scrub down to puuurrrrty them up a bit.  What better tool to scrub the crap off them than the good ole’ crap scrubber…

[OH YEAH! LET’S DO THIS!]

The crap scrubber works great on scrubbing crap off the pots. You know, crap like that old dirt that kinda coagulates mysteriously inside those pots… As you can see, I used a brand new clean and shiny crap scrubber that is dedicated only to the crud that one finds adhering to the pots.  It’s an awesome Clorox brand scrubber with the “Antimicrobial protection of the brush fibers”!!

I cleaned off as much crud off as I can for now, then take the pots and lined em up in the handy dandy utility tubs. These tubs also are used for the water trays that I keep the plants in.

[Getting em lined up!]

Next, I soak the pots a bit to soften up that older harder crap. I scrub down again, and I leave the pots sitting in a slight bleach solution for a day to sterilize them.

[Gettin’ a scrub down and a bleach bath]

So now I have all these awesome pots ready to be filled to the brim with potting media goodness.  But wait!  There’s large draining holes there and the media over time will seep out. So, in order to counter this, I am using up my unused rolls of weed block.  Some people use coffee filters, pine needles, or any other course media to stop the flow of media from seeping out of the drainage holes.  I say use whatever works for you.

[Left over weed block going to be used at the bottom of the pots to prevent planting media-leakage.]

As far as the media goes, everyone has their own special mix to use for their carnivorous plants. Again, use whatever works for you. I will use either 1 part peat moss to 1 part sand, or 1 part peat moss to 1 part perlite.  I’ve also just used pure peat, or a combination of all 3.

If working with perlite, it’s a good idea to wear some type of dust mask. It’s not very good for you to be sniffin’ that stuff.

I like to use the sand because of the added weight, especially when growing in pots outdoors.  Perlite is irritating when it rains and it all floats to the top, however you can use the peat/perlite mix at the bottom and add a nice top layer of pure sphagnum on top to prevent the perlite from floating out. Works for me.

[Ahhhh! Nothing like the fresh smell of freshly hand mixed planting media!]

Today I only got to about 18 or so pots, shifting some seedlings out, have another 50 or so more to go. I still have more pots to do after this set is done. I trimmed off the pitchers from the seedlings that were growing in those little square pots as they’re dormant anyway and separated them in clumps as you can see below.   For me, cutting off the pitchers makes it easier to handle the plant, without those pitchers floppin’ all over the place. The pitchers will come up next growing season and the seedlings now have a little bit more room to grow.

[Room to grow.]