Well.... I don't know. I've never tried it. What I have tried is streamwater on my CP's. I had a bad reaction with my D. binata, but that may have been from the significant temperature disparity, rather than a nutrient issue. Personally, I wouldn't, but... The thing about CP's is that for the most part, they operate from a nutrient poor paradigm. That's why RO, rain, distilled, and deionized water are recommended. Tank water will have nutrients, but how much and how significant is difficult to discern.

Hi guys Here is the reply from Cobraplant to my question: "Hi guys I have seen 2 questions on a CP forum that I chat on conserning pitcher plants that seem to have "weak" pitchers that topple over. I myself now have 5 pitcher plants and experienced a few pitchers doing this now and then. One of the causes was large thunderstorms overcame the pitcher covers and filled them up. I feel another reason could be the drastic increase in heat (well over 100 F and over 110 at times) here in Salt Lake City, Utah. Are there any other things that could be a cause of this? Many thanx Sheldon Answer Hi Sheldon, It's possible the heat is causing some of the pitcher droop, but I suspect it's more just regular growth and the season. If you were to look at ours right now you wouldn't see anything any different. All of our Sarracenia oreophila, most of our S. flavas, many of our S. leucophylla "Tarnoks" along with many other species have pitchers falling over. For the flavas and oreophilas they are past prime season and are producing phyllodia instead of pitchers. The pitcher leaves normally fall over. You can stake them up for better appearance, but this occurrence just bothers us more than it does the plants. Stands of Sarracenia I've seen in the wild have pitchers falling over just like our cultivated ones. Good Growing! Jeff Dallas Sarracenia Northwest http://www.cobraplant.com" Cheers Sheldon

Very pretty collection! The leucos have a reputation for putting out nice, big, pitcher at the end of summer.

So. 1 Year in. Where are we? I am actually moving out of my house into an apartment. The apartment will apparently have significantly less sunlight, although I am not sure. My roommate got a "Top Fin" 30 Gallon Aquarium Kit from the local Petsmart, apparently they have a smaller kit that's just a 30 Gallon Aquarium and the Light. It's a single light, about 2 feet long -- I have to wonder if a similar kit would make a serviceable terrarium in an emergency. I split apart my two White Trumpets. The drainless planter they are in was killing them, their media stunk to high heaven. I instead got a second drainless planter and put a plastic pot in each one. This lets me pick the plastic pot out and check the water levels -- in essence, the drainless planters are saucers in this setup. Still, it works, and they still look nice. I repotted my D. Adelae, my Cape Sundew 'Alba', and my D. spatulata in a 7" plastic terrarium bowl that I have had laying around for a long time. I put too much soil in it, so I'm hoping to dig a little out -- and with the help of a little water to make it a bit malleable -- lower the soil level tomorrow. As it stands they're all right at the rim, but... I'd like them to have a little room to grow. The D. Adelae had a stupidly huge root system. It was growing in pure LFS, never repotted from the Deathcube pot. It wasn't doing too great, it was growing great leaves but it's dew wouldn't stick around. I am hoping a better environment will work. The D. spatulata was actually a colony of about 6 plants, I put two back in it's original container and 4 in the terrarium. No sense not keeping a backup. ;) Decided to steal one of my Monkey Cup's guest plants, a Cape Sundew seedling. It's now in the Terrarium too. If my Pygmys do any gemmae, I may sprinkle some in the terrarium between the other plants. Heck, once I have a better idea of my new living situation, I might just move those plants out into individual plants or a more traditional great big 7.5 or 12" pot and fill the plastic fishbowl thing with Pygmy gemmae. Speaking of Pygmys, I repotted mine about a week ago. Took my 2 Butterworts (P. moranensis and P. grandiflora) and my 2 Pygmy Drosera (D. pulchella x nitidula and my lone surviving D. scorpioides) and put them all in a nice big mix of Sphagnum, Perlite, and White Horticultural sand in a huge 7.5" pot. It was kinda scary repotting the pygmys, but I just took them out soil and all and plopped them on top of the soil in the pot, and worked them in. They did not seem to have the huge roots I associate with pygmys, for some reason. The sickly butterwort (Grandiflora, I believe) had stinky media, I think it was approaching root rot. It's very tiny, has died back to just 2 leaves half an inch thick. The other Butterwort lost a leaf in the move, but seems to be ok. It's odd -- wherever the leaves actually touch the ground, they brown up and die. As long as they're not on the ground directly, they're fine. The scorpioides seems to be happier, it has put out 2 or 3 new branches. I was worried because it was doing what it's 4 brothers did -- the tips of it's branches turn crispy and brown and never do anything, then eventually it spreads to the main plant. Similarly, I had lost some of the p. x n. but the majority of them have perked right up since being moved to the bigger pot. About when should I start looking for the signs of Gemmae production? And what are those signs? The main part of the plant swells up a bit and then I see green "peas" in the middle?