FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I live in Minnesota , the winters are below zero at times , my garage is not heated and drops below 30 in there some days , I live in a 3 level town home that stays pretty warm maybe around 68 degrees , I have big tall floor to ceiling windows in my living room with no window ledges , it gets sorta drafty by the windows but no lower than 60 degrees , I’m not sure how to winterize my traps , I have 40+ traps I bought this year and some are very rare I would be so sad if they didn’t make the winter or didn’t go into a full dormancy , I’ve heard of not winterizing at all but then the traps life span is only a couple of years . Fridge dormancy seems sketchy I’m afraid they will die or I will forget about them , is there anyone from the cold Midwest that has cool methods of dormancy or tips that are full proof ?

I'm in Milwaukee, just a little South of you.

I leave my flytraps outside from May until night temps hit mid 30s. Right before the first frost hits, I bring them into my basement and leave them under LEDs until the following May. My basement is cool but still gets into the 60s some Winter days.

Photoperiod is synced to local Civil Dawn and Civil Twilight. I use a Raspberry PI homemade controller. But any cheap astronomical timer will work.

I keep them in a tray with a quarter inch distilled water. I let the tray dry out before I refill it.

I believe the natural low temps and reduced photoperiod put the plant into dormancy. The matching seasonal photoperiod of the LEDs keep it in dormancy. In Spring, the lengthening photoperiod becomes a cue to wake up. Then in early May, it goes outside again.

I'm a Sundew guy, not a flytrap person, but this is how I do it.

My two cents worth.

By the way, Welcome to the Forum!

Good growing,
Mike

Hey thanks Mike , very cool take on dormancy , what LED setup would I need ? Brand ? Model ?

I have a variety.
My highest power rigs are some MarsHydro 300s.
I have some 48 inch T8 LED twin tube shoplights.
I have a homemade fixture with twin 100w equiv LED lightbulbs.
I have some 36w led spotlight in a reflector.
I like to tinker.

My indoor setup is bright enought to Redden up my Sundews and Red flytraps.

Good growing,
Mike

Tell me what lights to buy lol , I want something to keep there color and really keep them going !

Dbright1980 wrote:Tell me what lights to buy lol , I want something to keep there color and really keep them going !

Amazon still sells the MarsHydro 300 for about $68.00.

Set up 24 inches above the plants, it covers a 24 by 24 inch area with adequate light.

I like them, some growers don't.
It's a personal choice.
I recommend doing a lot of reading and online research before investing in LED grow-lights.

Good growing,
Mike

So how many hours a day for light during dormancy ? I’ll set a timer , what time AM to what time PM ?

I have a tornado shelter in my town home or a fruit cellar it’s undernedth the ground , it’s cooler down there , what if I put them down there and ran a portable AC in there and put the lights over them with a timer , I might be able to cool it down to the 50s ?

Dbright1980 wrote:So how many hours a day for light during dormancy ? I’ll set a timer , what time AM to what time PM ?

My lights are controlled to match local Dawn and Dusk times.
Civil Dawn is about 30 minutes before Sunrise.
Civil Dusk is about 30 minutes after Sunset.
A cheap astronomical time will let you program in your latitude and it will track daily Sunrise and Sunset times.
The Menards model lets you pick a zone; once the zone is set, you enter Sunrise/Sunset time for that day and it calculates the fudge factor to keep it in sync with your local photoperiod.

There is a switch made by Leviton, https://www.amazon.com/Leviton-VPT24-1P ... B003AIKQZ8 . With this one, you enter your latitude and it does all the calculation. The downside is that you have to build it into an enclosure and wire it yourself. It is 120 Volts AC. I don't recommend this unless you are thoroughly familiar with electrical work. It will kill you if you do something wrong and it will hurt as it is killing you.

A cheaper alternative is to get a programmable timer and set it weekly with your local Sunrise/Sunset times. You can get these times from your local weather website, look under astronomical data. You can also Google Sunrise/Sunset times and enter your local latitude. These will provide daily or annual data.

Good growing,
Mike

Dbright1980 wrote:I have a tornado shelter in my town home or a fruit cellar it’s undernedth the ground , it’s cooler down there , what if I put them down there and ran a portable AC in there and put the lights over them with a timer , I might be able to cool it down to the 50s ?

The AC unit is not necessary.
Put them in the tornado shelter/fruit cellar.
Get some LED lights and control them to match your local Sunrise/Sunset times.
You'll be fine.

Good growing,
Mike

What if I put the light on top of a fish tank I have it’s taller then 24 inches ? Or would the tank trap to much heat from the lights ?

Dbright1980 wrote:What if I put the light on top of a fish tank I have it’s taller then 24 inches ? Or would the tank trap to much heat from the lights ?

I measure from the light to the plants or top of the pot so you should b fine.

Good growing,
Mike