FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Is there any correlation between D Binata hibernaculum size and winter survival rate? The binata I started from seed this year didn't get off to a fast start so the few that survived are on the smaller size. One of the hibernaculum is big enough that I could see it making it through the winter easily. Unfortunately the other two are tiny, not much bigger than a pitcher plant seed. Do plants with smaller hibernaculum have lower chances at surviving winter?

Do they even require a winter cool down to survive like pitcher plants and VFTs? I was considering bringing them inside and putting them on the windowsill for the winter with all my capensis so i wouldn't lose them. This is my third attempt, and first successful attempt, at getting binata to grow from seed.

The older plants most likely have a greater chance of surviving than seedlings, but if the temperature isn't deviating too far from their natural habitat the seedlings (which in nature would only be a few months old before their first dormancy) shouldn't have too much trouble surviving.

Apparently some forms of binata require dormancy, while others like Marston's Dragon, extrema forms, etc. are ok without it. That being said, all of them are probably ok with a skipped dormancy or even 2-3 years indoors until they gain some size. I just have mine growing with my other tropical dews and will give them dormancy only when they are adults...but "protected dormancy"...I really hate having things freeze solid for long periods (or go through freeze/thaw cycles) so I have heated boxes that keep my plants (VFT's/Sarr) 30-40*F in the coldest parts of winter so that they are dormant but never falling too far below freezing. I would not let a binata get colder than that since the survival rate will get much lower the colder it gets, and IMO there's not really any benefit of having them get extremely cold.

I'm in Northwest Oregon, Zone 8b, so we don't get too cold (relatively speaking) and only snows a little bit every couple years. I've kept my VFTs outside all year long with no issues (except for the squirrels), although for some reason they almost all died this year at the end of summer. They didn't seem to mind the freeze-thaw-freeze-thaw.

I ended up bringing 1 of the 2 pots with my D Binata indoors just to play it safe. I have some more seeds on the way to get more plants going.

My hope is to eventually plant them by the natural spring in my yard with all my sarracenia, but gotta get them a lot bigger before I trust them to survive on their own out there.

Off topic, but can you propagate D Binata in a jar of water like D Capensis? I have a few jars of Capensis leaves going to see how long they will survive in water.

lowsmurf wrote: Off topic, but can you propagate D Binata in a jar of water like D Capensis? I have a few jars of Capensis leaves going to see how long they will survive in water.

Yes, D. binata is a weed.