FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hello guys !

today I was wondering how i could possibly take care of my first ever VFT since I live in an apartment. One of the rooms was very cold last year due to the heater not working, it is still left as is but another member arrived in the family (puppy !) and it will live there when we are not home. Most likely it will have to be heated back !

I'm thinking about possibly put my plant somewhere in the apartment where it is cool (probably a window sill), but actually thought about some type of gadget to keep my plant cool !

What about those wine regrigerators ? You know, the type that you put the bottle inside (not the full size one, just enough for a bottle). I'm thinking for either an electric cheap model that I could place on the south window sill in a heated room (not crazy hot but room temp. or buy 2 packs that go in the freezer (which is basically an ice pack) and alternate them ? I saw one electric model that can cool down to about 40 degrees F (4 degrees celsisus) which cost about 40 bucks or less ! I could even add some type of clear plastic lid on it to keep it cool and get some light .

What do you think ?

My only other solution is the fridge, which i read wasn't great. My other option was a friend's/family's basement unheated but unless it gets plenty of sunlight, which I believe it won't, apparently this is just as bad if not worse than the fridge if the plant doesn't undergo deep dormancy !

Thanks !

A fridge is perfect, I've been putting in mine for 4 years now. Steady 40 degree F. temp. Perfect. I zip lock bag mine and put them in after draining the excess water off. Hit them with a little sulfer based fungicide and off they go until late February/early March. Go for it!

Fridge is really the only option, it will be harder than a non-fridge dormancy with an increased rate of fungus! So do get a fungicide soon!

Hey all !

I'm pretty much set on the fridge method for the dormancy.

Once my plant enters dormancy, which I can see it pretty much did yet, how fast can it be placed in the fridge ? Can it be put directly in the fridge once I'm certain that it went dormant ?

Is it possible to provide a dormancy that is too long, can it harm the plant ? (if it goes anywhere from now or october, until march or so since it gets cold here).

How fast should it be taken out of the fridge when the dormancy is over ?

It's gonna be my first dormancy ever...with all the care that I put in my VFT, I would be devastated if it dies....
thanks

Where are you located? When the night time temps. stay stable at around say 40 degrees f. you can put them in. Drain off the excess water first.

Where did you find this wine fridge? I might have to do this myself.

I also had an idea a little while ago to leave the plants in their terrarium, put water retaining dishes under their pots, and place ice cubes made of distilled water in the terrarium (outside of the dishes). This way the don't get any extra moisture from the ice melting and it cools the terrarium down. Think this will work?

Try ebay, someone could sell you an old fridge to keep in your garage.

Had another idea today. Would an LED lighting system work in a regular fridge if placed in the vegetable crisper?

To wireman, just look for bottle coolers or small fridges. For your led questiin, it is not necessary as vft going into deep dormancy in a fridge does not need any light.

Plus I believe that led lights will never be strong enough to actually help a plant grow, in any situation.

sekler wrote:To wireman, just look for bottle coolers or small fridges. For your led questiin, it is not necessary as vft going into deep dormancy in a fridge does not need any light.

Plus I believe that led lights will never be strong enough to actually help a plant grow, in any situation.

I'll keep an eye out for those, as I live in an apartment too. LEDs are actually coming into favor in the aquarium hobby, especially among reef and planted tanks, which require a lot of light, especially reefs.

sekler wrote:To wireman, just look for bottle coolers or small fridges. For your led questiin, it is not necessary as vft going into deep dormancy in a fridge does not need any light.

Plus I believe that led lights will never be strong enough to actually help a plant grow, in any situation.

Actually the plants will still benefit from light even while dormant. Although they need a reduced photoperiod from the active growing season, the plant still undergoes photosynthesis.

Additionally the member/moderator Hackerberry uses LED's for his indoor growing setup. Although just one LED will not provide enough light, an array can work quite well from seeing Hacker's results. I know he used to use an array of red and blue LEDs (to target the peak frequencies that photosynthesis takes place at) and has since moved to white LEDs.

Wow, I didn't know that regarding LEDs !

For the light, I meant for the fridge method, when the temperature is down close to 0 celsius (deep dormancy), the plant will live no problem without any source of light. Otherwise it sure needs it if for example the plant is left in an unheated room next to a window (more about 10 degrees celsius or so)