Yep, if you are diligent about controlling the conditions and constantly feeding Venus flytraps, they CAN grow indefinitely indoors without a "traditional" dormancy -- though they still slow down a lot in the winter if they receive some ambient sunlight, as John's plants do. It is far easier and far less risky to simply let them do what they do naturally in their native environment and that's go "dormant" as we call it.
I just visited John a couple of weeks ago at his home and we talked about this. He said he has to feed them very often to keep them happy. I hadn't read his article yet until just now. This is the fundamental key for growing flytraps indoors and skipping dormancy:
It is critical that the plants be fed regularly. Strong light and regular feeding are the keys to growing VFTs indoors long term. In other words, the plants must be growing constantly and to do that they need lots of light and lots of food.
In the
other thread that Jagasian started about his SD Kronos, it is obvious from the photos that the plant's divisions are wanting a dormancy. But evidently, if you just keep feeding them, they continue to grow and while the original growth point dies, the new growth points just keep going. Sounds like a lot of work to me, particularly if you grow thousands of plants, but it is possible to trick flytraps into skipping dormancy. This is similar to the same way they grow in tissue culture, as I've had several flytraps in TC growing for many years now. However, with this information, I wouldn't go so far as to say that "VFTs don't need dormancy." I would phrase it as "VFTs can be tricked into skipping dormancy if they are constantly fed throughout the winter and provided artificial lighting that is unnatural."
I think the most important paragraph in John's article is this one:
I do not claim that how I grow my VFTs indoors is the best way ever or even if someone tries to duplicate what I do that there will not be problems. So much depends on the exact details of what you can and cannot do. If what you are doing works for you, great! Some of the details are general for any plant you grow in pots; others are critical for VFTs.
In the article, I noted that he also covers the top portion of the rhizome with sand to prevent nasties from growing on the peat moss he uses. That's genius! It will alleviate most of the common mold and rot problems that occur when growing indoors.
Isn't it great that there are people out there who are willing to experiment and then share their knowledge with the community?! John is one of the best at conducting diligent and thorough experiments and I'm very grateful to him for sharing this hard-earned knowledge with everyone!!