FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

In the northeast this weekend it fell from like the upper thirties to like the upper single digits in less than 24 hours. My dormant fly traps on my window sill were dozing as usual but after this weekend the pots have all frozen completely which I've read is fine but the plants themselves have taken on some pretty crazy colors. They've gotten way darker and the reds have kind of turned a more purple color.

First three pics are how they look today. Last three are a few weeks before the freeze. Are they okay? Should I be doing something or just stay the course?

It's going to be going back up into the thirties tomorrow if that helps.

Thanks!

That's tissue damage in the leaves on your post-freeze pictures. Freezing water expands and ruptures cell walls.Those leaves will turn brown, then black, then fall off. They're toast.

New growth should be OK though.


Just my 2¢ worth.

As shadowtski mentioned it's cold damage and the leaves will die completely, although there is a chance everything will regrow from the rhizome in the spring. Or maybe not. It was events like this which made me build winter shelters with heating cables in the bottom in my garage to prevent my flytraps from ever getting below 25*F in the winter.

not looking so hot. the pots are mostly thawed out but the tissue damage is pretty severe. the biggest of the three looks the best out of all of them and actually has two or three traps that look like nothing has happened to them at all.

is there anything I should be doing right now? should I dig up the rhizomes and check for life? cut back the obviously dead or dying growth to help lessen the load on the rhizome?

I'm so sad guys lol. dormancy was such smooth sailing until this happened.

They say rapid freeze and thaw cycles will do more harm than just letting in freeze but IMO after a certain threshold they are just goners no matter if they are warm and stable beyond that point or kept cold. If anything just keep the best looking one more insulated. If further freezing is inevitable in your area, possibly just stick it in the fridge to continue dormancy without freezing, or perhaps just start the growing season early indoors.

Personally, I would prepare to throw at least two of those in the garbage. If it's as bad as the freezes I used to get the rhizome will be damaged a decent amount and the plant completely dead and brown in two or three days.

Don't worry about it.

Mine freeze like that multiply times throughout the winter. They freeze and thaw so much that by spring all the top growth it gone, you would think there were no plants in the pots at all.

I just repot in the spring and they bounce right back like nothing happened.

And it's still freezing up here! These freezes are why I brought mine in for the winter. I was so afraid of forgetting one outside. Then I'd feel horrible. I can't wait for them to go back outside so they can get some good sun. I'm sorry about your plants. Hopefully you've hung onto them. I've read of plants coming back from conditions like this. I mean my cat ate two of my vfts to the rhizome and they came back.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk