Rumex sanguinea

Is this as invasive as I suspect? One small pot purchased for a bog garden that was supposed to attain a height of 12" has grown, in its second season, to an 18" clump nearly two ft tall with numerous seed heads. Nice leaf color, but removing the prolific seed heads is an every other day chore. I am looking for bog plants to replace it. This bog gets some water from a sprinkler system, so unfortunaely pitcher plants are out.

Is your water from a well? I've known people who have been buying and lugging gallons and gallons of RO and distilled water home for years who tested their well water and found the parts per million to have been under 100 which is well in the acceptable range for Sarracenia. Talk about wanting to kick your own butt over that one. Seriously, there are quite a few people who assumed their water precluded them from choosing pitcher plants only to learn they had ideal conditions for them.

Hmmm, Rumex sanguinea.... Don't quite know how to answer that. A Rumex is a Rumex to me. Would you consider something with a similar leaf and growth form such as an Alisma? Maybe Alisma plantago? Those always look striking when planted with Blue Flag Iris.

Thanks for the plant suggestion equil. The rumex is leaving post haste. This is not a well unfortunately. Hard chlorinated city water. I prefilter any water I add to the ponds with a System IV filter. That works really good for the ponds. Saves on dechlorinator too plus the ph does not bounce around. Much healthier water conditions since I started using the System IV. This is a hose attached prefilter. Use it when you need it. I inquired of my sprinkler guy what a prefilter setup would cost for the whole enchilada sprinkler system. He thought I was nuts. I thought he was nuts when he gave me the price. Double digit four figures. Exactly what parts per million is toxic to those gorgeous pitcher plants I dream of?

I would say that anything over 80 ppm is not good but if you ask anyone who grows CPs, that's going to be all over the board which is why I figured anything under 100 was safe. I use distilled water and I have a Reverse Osmosis system here that I use for more "sensitive" CPs that brings the ppm down to 11 (I can get that down to 7 if I re-connect the DI phase of the system which I currently don't do) but I can't condone someone incurring the expense of an RO system unless they are literally growing hundreds.

Just looked up the water quality testing results for our fair city's tap water. It gives ppm's and ppb's for everything except chlorine and chloramines. Have a call into the city's lab for the director of testing. Apparently the city consistently wins awards for the quality of its drinking water, which I am sure also spells death to carnivores. In reading the posted tests results I was surprised at the sodium (14.75 ppm). The two I don't understand and will question are TTHM 40.8 ppm and HAA 12.2 ppm. Huh? They are defined as "byproducts of drinking water disenfection".

That's what they would be, byproducts of disinfection. TTHM is Trihalomethanes and HAA is Halo Acidic Acid. They are contaminants formed when chlorine reacts with carbon compounds. Don't you have fluoride in your city water too? There are other factors though such as your main line (is it corroded etc.). It is best to have any water you might want to use tested at the tap. My water is at 220 something at the tap but can easily test out higher than 300. Most of what is contriburing to my high ppm are minerals from the well water. The people who have city water test at around 180 but can go up to around 200 ppm. Too high to use on a regular basis but I must admit that when I am running low on water, I will use city water from a friend when there are heavy rains in the forecast. Generally I'm assured if heavy rains are on the way that the high ppm water will be flushed from potted CPs. Not something I'd recommend on a regular basis for obvious reasons but a few drinks of tap water isn't going to kill them overnight.

I forgot to mention that my primary source of water for my CPs is rain water. I have several rain barrels here. Rain water always tests well within the acceptable range around here. I only use RO and distilled water when I run out of rain water.

Oh yeah, we got Fluoride 1.02 ppm, and we got Nitrate 1.02ppm, Atrazine 0.7, Simazine .11 ppm, copper .019 ppm and lead ppb 3. Mineral content is not disclosed. In the winter I have tested nitrate at 12 ppm in aquarium testing. We get a fair amount of fertilizer runoff afer the crops have been plowed and the crop roots arn't taking anything up. Still waiting for the lab guy to call. Might have to put on my "Councilwoman Mary" hat to get the info I want. Don't like to do that as any citizen should get the information they request in a timely and complete manner from any public entity. The ONLY other time I have ever used my "Councilwoman Mary" hat was to adopt a 6 lb chihuahua mix from the pound because they declared him vicious and he was marked for euthanasia. That is a whole other story. He was definitely his own man but vicious, no. We had him for 13 years.

Great news. The city water lab director called me to say that the city softens it water and the ppm is consistently below 90ppm. I think I will stick my toe in the water with a sarracenia. Now which one?

Ever heard of hybrid vigor? I'd contact a place called Dangerous Plants (they're listed in the Garden WatchDog) and tell them that I told you to call. Let him know what you are doing and ask him to pick for you. Don't worry... he has good taste, very good taste. He's a trip and a talker with strange speech inflections but he's a sweetheart who wants to help people grow these plants successfully and you'll get very healthy plants. I'd try for something with flava in it but as long as you're paying shipping you might as well want to toss something with Leuco on your order. How exciting. Just for the heck of it, ask him what he thinks is the maximum ppm.