Hi! New sarracenia oreophila owner

Hello! I’m a first-time carnivorous plant owner. I got this from a reptile expo yesterday (I took her to Chili’s and named her Lois).
I’ve put her in my backyard in full sun. Her plastic pot is currently sitting in a ceramic dish filled with about 2 inches of distilled water. I have 6 big questions:

Should I move her into a bigger pot, and if so, what kind of soil/pot should i buy? (I’ve heard terracotta pots dry out soil and that sarracenia can’t have any potting soil/fertilizer.)
Is the ceramic dish of water ok? Should I add more water or switch the dish for something more porous?
What exactly is winter dormancy, and how does it work? What do I have to do?
I live in Northern California, in a fairly dry area (the Bay). Will she be ok in this climate? I don’t really have the facilities for a greenhouse.
Is there such a thing as overfeeding? I keep her outside so she can catch her own food, but my friend offered to help me start an isopod farm. Would it be ok to feed her an isopod once in a while?
How does propagation work? I read something about rhizome division, but I don’t really know what that means.

Any other advice is also appreciated!
it has been barely 24 hours but I would kill for her if she willed it.
Thank you very much :))

by fetusbanquet

pika_pie 1 month ago

Oreos are my favorite plant! Here’s my answers:

1. Not right now, but *oreophilas* get really wide really fast. Mine outgrew its seven-inch pot in two years. Get tall, wide plastic pots, and pot in a mixture of three parts sphagnum peat moss to one part mineral-free sand and/or perlite.
2. I prefer deep glass dishes because they don’t bend if you’re trying to move the pot with it. Unglazed ceramic and terra cotta are absolute no-nos because they can leach minerals into the soil.
3. Winter dormancy for carnivorous plants happens much like trees losing their leaves in the winter: they slow down growth and conserve their energy for optimal growing conditions and flowering in the spring. *Oreophila* are actually the plant that exits and enters dormancy the earliest in the year, breaking dormancy in mid- to late-February and starting to go brown and crusty mid- to late-July. Since you’re in Norcal, just sticking the oreos outside year-round should be fine without having to fuss about them; all their pitchers will shrivel and dry up come August, but they’ll start sending up low-lying, non-carnivorous leaves called phyllodia to continue the photosynthesis process. They’ll tolerate Norcal winters just fine.
4. As stated above, SF is perfect weather for oreos to stay parked year-round. Just give them 6+ hours of full sun a day, only water with distilled or RO water, and don’t let them get hit by ocean spray.
5. There technically is, but at your rate a roly-poly or two a day won’t hurt. *Sarracenias* can be gluttonous pigs.
6. When the rhizome gets big enough, you can break or cut the plant into pieces and have each one grow into a plant genetically identical to the original (like cloning). Right now, your plant is too small to do anything. But once your oreo fills the pot, you can break the rhizome into pieces (the big, woody lump from which the pitchers are growing out) and sell them, give them away, etc.

4 Comments

Huntsmanshorn 1 month ago

1. Not until very early next spring just before new growth starts, but you could easily wait a coupe of years before you get into that. 2. Yes, assuming it is an inch or two deep. 3. See below. 4. Yes, “she” will be fine with that assuming proper care. 5. Let her catch her own food and don’t worry about it. 6. See below.

https://www.flytrapcare.com/store/sarracenia-care-sheet
JSTORRobinhood 1 month ago

1. you can repot it over the winter. plastic pots are the least hassle. your plant doesn’t look like it has outgrown its current pot
2. plastic is the least hassle
3. plant will die back and slow or entirely halt growth over the winter. upright sarrs also shed their pitchers and grow spindly phyllodia during the winter months. seems to be more dependent on photoperiod change than strict temperature bounds in my experience. just leave it outdoors and it’ll be fine. dormancy months in socal tend to be mid sep – early march; this varies by clime and place
4. yes
5. overfeeding these plants is pretty much impossible. individual pitchers might die from either the weight of prey collapsing them or rotting excess prey killing the leaf but you have to really do something crazy to kill a whole plant by overfeeding it
6. when it clumps too much, you can use a sterilized pair of shears or your hands to divide the rhizome into more plants. leave at least one growing point and some roots per rhizome section for best chance of success.

as with almost all carnivorous plants, the best way to keep them alive is just leaving them alone. water it, leave it outside, don’t touch it. it’ll be fine
pika_pie 1 month ago

Oreos are my favorite plant! Here’s my answers:

1. Not right now, but *oreophilas* get really wide really fast. Mine outgrew its seven-inch pot in two years. Get tall, wide plastic pots, and pot in a mixture of three parts sphagnum peat moss to one part mineral-free sand and/or perlite.
2. I prefer deep glass dishes because they don’t bend if you’re trying to move the pot with it. Unglazed ceramic and terra cotta are absolute no-nos because they can leach minerals into the soil.
3. Winter dormancy for carnivorous plants happens much like trees losing their leaves in the winter: they slow down growth and conserve their energy for optimal growing conditions and flowering in the spring. *Oreophila* are actually the plant that exits and enters dormancy the earliest in the year, breaking dormancy in mid- to late-February and starting to go brown and crusty mid- to late-July. Since you’re in Norcal, just sticking the oreos outside year-round should be fine without having to fuss about them; all their pitchers will shrivel and dry up come August, but they’ll start sending up low-lying, non-carnivorous leaves called phyllodia to continue the photosynthesis process. They’ll tolerate Norcal winters just fine.
4. As stated above, SF is perfect weather for oreos to stay parked year-round. Just give them 6+ hours of full sun a day, only water with distilled or RO water, and don’t let them get hit by ocean spray.
5. There technically is, but at your rate a roly-poly or two a day won’t hurt. *Sarracenias* can be gluttonous pigs.
6. When the rhizome gets big enough, you can break or cut the plant into pieces and have each one grow into a plant genetically identical to the original (like cloning). Right now, your plant is too small to do anything. But once your oreo fills the pot, you can break the rhizome into pieces (the big, woody lump from which the pitchers are growing out) and sell them, give them away, etc.
jhay3513 1 month ago

Shout out to Jeff Greene!!!