FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hey all. I've had my flytraps in the garage for the winter- they went in around October 27th.

We are experiencing a bit of a cold snap right now at -9c and -18c with the windchill.

I went out to check on the soil dampness (only been watered twice while out there) and the poor things are frozen solid. The petioles and traps feel fine- still has a good amount of green and no visible frost on top. But the pot itself is rock hard.

They did need water so I brought them inside- put them back in the sun and filled their saucer up to water them (unfortunately my garage gets next to no sunlight but my options are extremely limited).

Kind of wondering what my next move should be. I don't want them to wake up early and cut their dormancy time down but I don't want them to perish in the garage either.

Any advice is appreciated!

Joseph Leverre wrote:I've had my flytraps in the garage... We are experiencing a bit of a cold snap right now at -9c and -18c with the windchill.

If they're in the garage, windchill won't be a factor. What's the temp in the garage?

Joseph Leverre wrote:I went out to check on the soil dampness (only been watered twice while out there) and the poor things are frozen solid. The petioles and traps feel fine- still has a good amount of green and no visible frost on top. But the pot itself is rock hard.

The media will freeze first, many times around -1° to -2°C. The leaves will begin to freeze a little lower than that, but the rhizome should be fine down to about -6° to -7°C as long as they don't freeze/thaw.

Joseph Leverre wrote:They did need water so I brought them inside- put them back in the sun and filled their saucer up to water them (unfortunately my garage gets next to no sunlight but my options are extremely limited).

As long as the plant wasn't frozen, put them back out in the garage. Light isn't a factor when they're dormant.
Here are my plants in my garage during dormancy. Aren't they cute?

Joseph Leverre wrote:Kind of wondering what my next move should be. I don't want them to wake up early and cut their dormancy time down but I don't want them to perish in the garage either.

What is the actual temperature in your garage? As long as they're not going below -6°C-ish, put them back in the garage. You could put them close to a wall that's shared with the interior of the house, it'll be slightly warmer there. Space heater in the garage. Move them to a cold basement.
Where you're in the Great White North, you'll want to keep them asleep until spring so you don't have to get strong artificial lighting due to them waking up too early.

Thanks for the reply! I'm trying to check your pictures out but they won't seem to load on mobile, I'm sure they're looking good though . True enough on wind chill not being a factor in the garage lol I didn't quite think that part through. I don't even have a thermometer to check what it actually is out there, or a space heater either... I should have been much more prepared going into winter. We have a storage shelf built around 7 or 8ft off the ground and I've been keeping the plants up there hoping it stayed a *bit* warmer.


I just kind of panicked when I felt the pot and could feel the soil frozen right to the bottom. I was worried too that they wouldn't be able to absorb any water. The top of the soil (while not frozen) is almost dry now and it's time for their monthly water- last watering was around December 25th-28th.

They've been inside since I made the post, gave them water (didn't reach the top of the soil though). I want to follow your advice and bring them back outside asap but should I make sure they're watered first? The bottom of the pot is still mostly frozen but it retained a little water. The top is still almost bone dry though. Petioles are starting to wrinkle but I think that's lack of sunlight.

I'm thinking when I bring them back outside I'll place them on a towel, put their 12x12x12 wire cage around them (pest deterrent in the summer) and cover the cage with a second towel/ blanket- try and trap as much heat in there as I can.

The pics loaded fine, they're showing that mine are sleeping in complete darkness.
Before you start going crazy with all these modifications, find a way to see the actual temp in the garage.
Also, are your current outdoor temps normal? Or are they abnormally low for right now? Will they continue? Do you have a basement or a room that stays cooler to cold?
There could be easier options.

Ohhhh that's hilarious, the black photos went right over my head haha. And it's actually been abnormally warm actually for us this winter. There are another 4 days of colder weather coming up here: -11 tomorrow, -14 Friday, -15 Saturday, -14 Sunday (temp in Celsius). Although on Monday it's going to be warmer: -5 , and it stays closer to 0 for as long as I can see- up to the 31st

No rooms cold enough in the house unfortunately the coolest spot would probably be a basement bedroom window but I doubt it gets lower than around 10c there

10C would actually be pretty close to ideal, just maybe put them on the floor where it will be a little cooler and close the blinds/drapes to get less light. Better there than chance freeze/thaw cycles.