What conditions does a Purple Pitcher Plant need to grow?

Purple Pitcher is a plant what conditions does it need to live with?

What conditions does a Purple Pitcher Plant need to grow?
I'm not sure if you're looking for personal experience but I live in Zone 7b. During summers, I have my Purple Pitcher Plant (sarracenia purpurea) in a saucer slightly filled with rocks and water.





Basically, I use a small margarine tub and I fill it 3/4 of it with rocks (It could be marbles too if you'd like) and then I set my potted plant on top (I imagine yours came from Lowe's in a small red pot and a plastic cup on top - do remove the cup if you're putting it outdoors! It'll overheat!) and I fill it with water. I just basically have the water about a millimeter or two above the bottom of the pot. Nothing to drown it but keeps it moist. Even if the water level starts going down and doesn't touch the bottom of the pot, the evaporating water still keeps it humid around the pitcher plant.





If you also want to add to it, you could also get a spray bottle filled with rainwater and spritz the plant once a day. That's what I do with my Venus Fly Trap that's also set up in the same way. It adds to the humidity.





Whatever you do, you must never ever let them fully dry out. They are bog plants and must have the soil moist at all times but not so much during winter when they're dormant.





When winter comes, I put my Purple Pitcher Plant into the ground (In some garden bed so that it is out of the way from anyone walking on it) while still in pot. This prevents cold weather and the sun from rapidly freezing and thawing the small pot if it was sitting around somewhere out of the ground.





This all depends on where you live as well. I am lucky enough to live in a place where I can leave them outdoors all year long. They have to go through a period of dormancy or they could tire out and die. If you live in a place where the temperature constantly goes below freezing ( 32°F ) during winter or you live in a place where the temperature never gets cold enough, you'll have to find some other way to keep them dormant without losing them. I have no experience in this and don't want to give out any bad advice. However, if it goes below freezing a few times but not longer than a week, your plant should be okay. If you have some nights where it's supposed to be really bad, I'd bring them indoors for the night and then put them back out during the day until the temps aren't so bad.





When it comes to water, the advice is to use rainwater because tap water has certain chemicals that is harmful to the plant. What I do is I use a bucket to gather rainwater from a downspout and then just bottle it up with empty milk jugs so that I can quickly pour water into the saucer and water the plant when I need to. (The reason for the bottling is so that you dump out the excess water from the bucket and it prevents unneeded breeding grounds for mosquitos.).





You must also never fertilize your carnivorous plants. They get everything they need from the bugs.
Reply:The plants prefer an acidic medium such as sphagnum or peat moss, but will tolerate alkaline soils. The soil must be kept moist at all times during the growing period. Reduce the amount of water in the winter months, but do not allow the soil to dry out. Rain water should be used if possible. If you must use chlorinated water, allow it to sit out for 48 hours before use. Plants are usually difficult to grow indoors because they require large amounts of sunlight, which gives them their desirable red color.
Reply:Both of the previous answers gave sound advice. All I can add is a website. If you think you may be interested in growing Carnivorous Plants, then this is the site for you. Friendly people full of good advice.