Disagree. I've tried skipping dormancy for flytraps numerous times over the last decade or so. Venus flytraps that aren't allowed a dormancy always stall growing eventually, as your (Jagasian) SD Kronos is doing now based on the new leaves and how short and compact they are becoming. It is letting you know it is strongly expecting dormancy. It will almost certainly continue to regress unless it is given a dormant period. Repotting can trick them temporarily, but they absolutely do eventually need a dormancy or they will stall out entirely.
That ICPS article is written by John Brittnacher who lives just across town from me in Ashland, Oregon. I've visited John's place numerous times and seen his Dionaea grow set up. His Dionaea get enough ambient light from the east-facing windows he has that they do enter a very light dormancy due to the shortening of the days in the winter, despite the constant photo period he keeps them on year-round.
Also, to be clear, while that article is on the ICPS website, it really should be labeled as "the ICPS" since John wrote the article and, to my knowledge, didn't have it peer-reviewed by anyone else in the ICPS. Thus, it is only his opinion and personal growing experience he is writing about in the article. He is allowed to publish it on the ICPS website because he is the ICPS webmaster, but I wouldn't take it as the official opinion or stance of the ICPS.
Huntsmanshorn wrote:Also, they grow wild in Jamaica and many tropical growers in the know have good success without dormancy.
This is true, but Jamaica does have enough variance in daylight hours between winter and summer that it likely is sufficient to trigger some minimal rest period for Venus flytraps. See here:
https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/@512252 ... &year=2020
Shortest day of the year in Jamaica is 9 hours and 15 minutes in late December. The longest day of the year is over 15 hours in late June (on the solstices). That's a 6 hour difference in day length, which is more than sufficient to trigger dormancy.
I've seen a lot of growers in the tropical regions have some success, but they too almost always struggle with dormancy. Flytraps can grow indefinitely in tissue culture with the same photoperiod, so it is possible for them to skip dormancy. But what actually happens is that they will peter out and more or less die and then start growing anew again from the rhizome (or any plant tissue in tissue culture). Once they do that, they seem to be able to grow again for about 10-14 months and then they will peter out again and start to decline (like the SD Kronos in the photo is doing).