About a half year or so ago I got Sarracenia flava from a garden center and planted it in a mix of soil from the pot it came in (which was a lot of sphagnum moss I think) and around that the loamy sand from my own property for bulk in a self-watering container. Back then it was just three flowers (you can see the dried remnants of those in the very top left; they flower at a different time than they feed to not waste their efforts by making pollen to spread out and then eating the critter they put it on) and since then obviously it has grown a prodigious number of traps and also some non-trap phyllodia leaves.
Is anyone familiar with Sarracenia enough to know why so many traps and phyllodia seem crooked or wrinkly? Most Sarracenia flava that I see out and about or planted by other people seem more straight and “opened up” internally. It doesn’t seem to be harming the plant to a great extent as far as I can tell because it has still grown tremendously, but it is kind of weird. Example below of a more normal looking version I saw in cultivation at the Stanley Rehder carnivorous plant garden in NC, as you can see they are basically straight tall and full rather than having the kind of deformed look that mine do:
Also this is how they look in actual nature from pictures in the FloraQuest app by the Flora of the Southeastern United States (FSUS) people:
Just asking concerning the crooked/wrinkliness. I am not concerned about the brown parts on mine. When traps fill up with insects (and almost all of mine’s traps are like chimneys stacked high of fly corpses inside) the excess nitrogen from them has potential to scald the trap locally and if that scalding forms a full ring then the trap above that ring dies. Also the lids have a tendency to get a bit scorched by strong sun at times. But traps are disposable so no big deal as long as the roots aren’t scalded (and I’ve made sure to never fertilize the plant and used the low nutrient loamy sand from my backyard to keep the initial nutrients low). For some other info I always keep it moist if the rain is not enough (you can see some of the moisture loving native Diodia virginiana sprung up in the bottom) and it gets strong afternoon sun. I live in about the center of its native range although the conditions are too dry to grow it properly at my site in particular hence the container to retain water.
There's 3 major causes for that, poor light, poor watering, and pests.
You sound like you have a good understanding of soil needs so I'm gonna guess that you're watering adequately. Check it for any mites, aphids, or the like that may have gotten in somehow.
More importantly, this guy is a full sun plant, it's gonna want at least 6 hours daily. Get a little clip on grow light or move it outside for cooler parts of the day and you'll see it perk right up. Also, like the other guy said, moving air makes for strong plants. I'd set it infront of a low desk fan for a while, rotate it occasionally, the wind will toughen it up.
You know, I think insects are very likely after searching it up based on what you say. It is exposed to the elements and in the middle of its natural range there are undoubtedly insects adapted to give it a chew. I looked up insect damage to Sarracenia and found this website which has this extremely similar looking picture of damage caused by thrips:
So that seems like a highly probable candidate though I don’t have a magnifying glass to make inspecting for them easy at this point.
I think you were under the impression that I have this plant inside. It admittedly has a very artificial looking background and also artificial light from my car in this photo which was taken at night, but it’s out on my front porch uncovered and fully exposed to scorching afternoon sun as well as whatever winds blast down the subdivision so I think those are probably not the issue.