Hi Barbara,
If it's flowering it means it's happy so it is a good thing.
I'm not sure if flowering deprives energy from sarracenia, but it definatley does
from flytraps.You can let it flower, as alot of sarrs have beautiful flowers but
they might make it grow a little slower.If you want to save it's energy, clip it off at
the base of the stalk
Good Luck,
Adrian

It's normal for Sarracenias to grow flowers. It is what "carnivorousplants" said, your Sarracenia is happy and have enough energy to invest on a flower. If it wasn't happy, it would not produce a flower or abort it totally if it did. The thing about not letting your plants grow a flower stalks seem to be limited only to the VFT.

One thing, they do make beautiful flowers with wonderful fragrant. I would suggest you keep it, but if you feel you would rather err on the side of caution. Go ahead but it will be to bad. You will miss something.

Thank you both for your responses!! I'll let it grow for now, and if it looks like the plant takes a turn for the worse, I'll cut it off. Thank you again!! Barb

Let it grow! I have 6 in bloom or about to bloom right now. One in full bloom. Congrats!

I even let my Flytraps flower, they do so in the wild after all, so it should be no problem unless the plants have not been given enough light. A little fertilizer, after sufficient light of course, from insect prey can help to stimulate additional leaf and flower growth and healthier seed production.

Flowering Flytrap

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S. rubra

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S. rubra flower bud

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S. hybrid juvenile just over one year old

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Beautiful photos!! Are you growing yours indoors? I especially love the glistening look of your S. rubra! Barb

Hey mutant_hybrid,

That Sarracenia rubra with the ruffled wide hood. That looks a lot like S. rubra ssp. alabamensis. Like the golden color. Nice plant!

Many carnivorous plants do well enough indoors, on window sills and/or under artificial lighting. Of those that don't, or at least don't in the long run, VFT's & American pitcher plants really need to be outside, soaking up as much direct sunlight as possible. VFT's flowering indoors are like human women in childbirth.... pain and suffering. Sarracenias flowering is more like the rest of the animal kingdom... a bit stressful but not a major hardship.

Oddly enough, in the past month I have received a few Sarracenias and I've been keeping them at the sliding windows, inside, until Western NY gets done with winter. In the meantime I have a catesbei that has flowered onec, with another along the way. Also, another entwined group of Sarracenias are sending up flower stalks. I may have to hand pollinate them!

Unfortunately yes, I have been growing all my CPs indoors in a South facing window and with additional florescent lighting directly over them. I am going to try some outside this year, but I am hoping the high, near gale force, winds will die down and never come back.

The S. rubra just stated S. rubra on the shipping invoice, so I am uncertain of the exact parentage. It was a freebie anyways. The glistening sheen on the pitchers is nectar droplets. Thanks for the compliments all.

mutant hybrid,
I would like to see the flower bud when it gets a bit bigger if you can post pics.
BTW, how far are the lights from you plants? Mine are 18 inches away and seem
to be doing good.The sarracenia seedlings are doing great! They are already looking
like your 6 month olds from 6 months ago! They are so profolic! I heard they
were supposed to be slow growers but mine are quick.Also, I don't have any
of my nepenthes in a terrarium and they don't seem to be producing pitchers.
The only one pitchering the ventricosa, truncata and sanguinea. The mira lost it's pitchers since the sun got to hot while I was at school. And the Vent. x Inermis swells up its pitchers a little but then stop growing.I am considering putting them back in the terrarium. Also, I also dig cacti now as well.So far I got 1 Golden Barrel, 1 unknown from Ikea, 1 Fishhook Barrel, and 1 saguaro.I could trade if you like any of them.
Thanks,
Adrian

Yeah, I will post more pics as they grow.

I tend to put my plants as close to the lights as I can. My tropical sundews are 4-6 inches from 6000 lumens and have a south window for extra sunlight.

My North American plants are as close as I can get them to 12000 lumens of lights, the Sarracenia rubra about an inch from the lights now, with the south window too. The Flytrap is about 8 inches from the florescents now.

The Nepenthes probably need the extra humidity and a little more light to induce good pitcher production. The sanguinea, truncata, and ventricosa are easy pitchering plants, far more adaptable than other Nepenthes. Your other Nepenthes might need a bit of environmental tweaking to get them to growing well again.

Thanks, one thing I forget to ask is should I cut the Vent. x Inermis to make cuttings. It is currently about 18 inches tall. I think I might so it'll fit in a terrarium with my other nepenthes.
Thanks,
Adrian

It is great you are letting your plants flower, they like the DNA input for optimal performance.

How do you keep them evenly moist? And more humid conditions, terrarium?

Almost as soon as the sarrs came out of the 'temporary' greenhouse a few weeks back, it started to flower. The neps were also moved outside. The larger one has vines over six feet long. Every one is flowering....