FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I'm not supposed to know this but my mom ordered me a VFT for christmas, probably from http://www.californiacarnivores.com. According to my sources she had it shipped to her house instead of mine and she's planning to wait until Christmas to give it to me (in the box). I think she ordered it two days ago so it would be in the box 6 days. It should be dormant so I'm thinking staying in the box & kept cold, vs having her try to plant it, is probably its best shot. Is that too long in a box though? :-S

If VFTs are put in the fridge for dormancy they can survive with no light at all, but i think the condition here is that they have to be kept cold.

Ya, I'm not sure how deeply dormant this plant is though. If its from California, would going to the fridge be too dramatic of a change? Also once i bring it home, I'd rather not have to keep it in the fridge. I had my wife tell her to put the box outside where it will be 39/66 F for the time being. But I can have her try to plant it if it won't survive till I get it.

I wouldn't put it in the fridge i'm saying that it should be fine without some light for a few days, better let an expert answer this one me thinks

Oh, gotcha. Thanks man.

Personally, I think it would have the best chance making it through the week in the fridge. Although there may be somewhat of a dramatic temperature change, it shouldn't do any harm if it lasts only a few days. And keeping it inside of a cooler environment like the fridge will also help to prevent the flytrap from drying out.

xr280xr wrote:Ya, I'm not sure how deeply dormant this plant is though. If its from California, would going to the fridge be too dramatic of a change?

During the summer months, at the peak of the growing season, when we have too many plants uprooted to pot all at once, we will often stick them in the fridge until we can get to them. They'll keep much better in the fridge than anywhere else kind of like produce from the grocery store. It doesn't affect them negatively at all to be put in the fridge. We've left actively growing plants in the fridge over two weeks without any problems. It would be even easier on a plant this time of year, I'd guess.

Thank you guys for the quick replies! I'll have her get them in the fridge and post a picture of the plant when I get it.

Turns out it was three plants! S. rubra & leucophylla and a G14 rosetted. They have been in the fridge until today. I know the fly trap looks good but these are my first trumpet pitchers. Hopefully they survive till spring.

When my grandparents gave me a ceph, they left it in the box for about 1-2 weeks at room temperature.
It was fine.
If they are packaged well, they should survive for a long time.
From California carnivores, it should be packaged well and the plats should be fine, especially if it was in the fridge.

They look fine, I surprised that the rubra still have it's pirchers. When I got a rubra jonesii and a oreophylla from them, each had no pitchers ad the Oreo had phyllodilla.