FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

So, this is my first year growing VFT's. I picked up a few from Walmart this summer, and they have recovered greatly from their poor conditions. However, now that we're getting into winter months I need to figure out dormancy. I'm in zone 5, so it gets pretty darn cold. I brought them indoors a couple weeks ago due to a huge temperature shift. It went from 80F high and 60F low all the way to 40-50F high and 25F low in just two days!! I brought them in under artificial light to prevent killing them from such a temperature shock. We get sustained 20's high and -3 to -10 lows during the winter (usually lasts the whole month of January and some of February) with some random 40-50 degree rainy days mixed in. Right now the temperatures are slowly climbing back up and will probably be in the 70's soon. These kind of crazy temp shifts happen a lot here.

Now my question is how do I get them dormant and keep them that way indoors?

I've heard that refrigerator dormancy (and other such cold dormancies) are not the best for them since they like to photosynthesize over winter to store energy for spring. I cant burry the pots in the ground as others do because the ground gets water logged and frozen solid over the winter.
Will light induced dormancy work with a temperature of about 65 at night and 70's day?
Right now they are under a 1000 watt LED grow light. I can slowly start moving them away from that light to a lower (maybe 50W?) light and the cooler area.
Any suggestions?
Also worth noting: I have experience with tropical sundews (indoor grown). This is my first temperate plant.

Im in zone 5a/b so I have the same weather but mine are still outside, I wont be bringing them inside my garage until mid November.

Don't worry about the cold weather or temp fluctuations, the plants don't care. Only thing to worry about is the pots freezing solid for too long, like more than 2 days straight but that wont happen in our zone until late November.

When you do bring them in just put them in a south, east or west facing window sill. I have too many plants to do this so I put together a dormancy "rack" in my garage that uses two marshydro300's.

I live here in Alaska and I am dealing with my first dormancy I also made a rack in one of my spare rooms. I don't think my temperatures near the window will get low enough with the number of plants I have. As for the light I have a platinum LED P300 that I paired with a fan and Astrological timer to replicate sunrise and sunset times. I am thinking about taking them all into my work I own a warehouse and have a back section that is not really heated and gets colder. My plans are to divide them in the spring and plant them all in a bog garden that I will put in the back yard.

Fieldofscreams wrote:Im in zone 5a/b so I have the same weather but mine are still outside, I wont be bringing them inside my garage until mid November.

Don't worry about the cold weather or temp fluctuations, the plants don't care. Only thing to worry about is the pots freezing solid for too long, like more than 2 days straight but that wont happen in our zone until late November.

When you do bring them in just put them in a south, east or west facing window sill. I have too many plants to do this so I put together a dormancy "rack" in my garage that uses two marshydro300's.

Thanks, its good to know they can handle some freezing. So, they wont wake up in the window sill? even though its not very cold there?

Its colder next to a window than you think plus its not so much the cold that dictates dormancy. Plants go dormant just fine in Florida (for example) outside without the owners doing anything at all.

Leave them outside until about mid November and then place them in your window sill until spring. Then just repot them about mid April and then throw them back outside. Its really that simple.

I tried the "short photoperiod" dormancy for 4 years indoors, but without a temperature drop they don't seem to be truly dormant, and start shifting their growth cycle. I think it needs to be dropping down to 50*F at least, for them to be fully rested, and I won't ever bring mine indoors ever again. Ideally, I would keep them between 35-50*F all winter. I am in chicago and my solution is to put them in my garage, in a storage box, but I toss in some reptile heating cable and wrap with insulation to prevent them from freezing solid. The heating cable doesn't get too hot, especially with such cold surroundings just keeps them above freezing.

Thanks for the advice. I put them back outside today and I'll leave them till they risk freezing solid. Dormancy for them is going to be much easier than I thought . I just have to make a little platform so they'll fit on the window sill.

mudtrk91 wrote:
I've heard that refrigerator dormancy (and other such cold dormancies) are not the best for them since they like to photosynthesize over winter to store energy for spring.

For VFTs, I drain off excess water from the pots, hit them with a sulphur based fungicide and place in zip lock bags and pop them in the fridge for 3-4 months. I occasionally check them (once a month) for fungus and hit with the fungicide if needed. Late winter around February/March I take them out hit them with sulphur based fungicide again and place in a south and west window until night time temps. regularly stay above freezing then slowly acclimate them to full outdoor Sun. I've been using this method for over 10 years with no losses.