FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

You should be fine for outdoor dormancy. You just need to provide plenty of protection from freezing and thawing. I am in 7b (south Atlanta) and my bogs are outdoors year round. In the winter I pile 6 inches of leaves on top of them and uncover them when frost has passed in the spring. The other option you have is to put it in an unheated garage. I will do that with some of my individual potted plants. They won't need to worry about light until they come out of dormancy in the spring.

Our utility room is outside. Would it be okay to put the plant in there? It would provide protection from wind/snow but there'd be no light.

I think they would be fine. They can't get any less light than being in a refrigerator.

Thanks! Do I top water during dormancy? How often?

Panman wrote:I think they would be fine. They can't get any less light than being in a refrigerator.

That's true, but the fridge keeps them at a constant cold temperature that basically stalls their growth entirely. If Flytraps are left in a low-light or no-light setting and temperatures are warm enough for them to grow, they'll attempt to do so and ultimately fatigue themselves doing so. If left without any light and in conditions that can get mild to warm, they can fatigue themselves to the point they become susceptible to disease and death.

csmith19788 wrote:Thanks! Do I top water during dormancy? How often?

I'd recommend watering from the bottom during dormancy to reduce the risk of crown rot. And water often enough to make sure the soil is always damp but not soaking wet for very long.

Matt wrote: ↑Fri Sep 25, 2020 4:41 pm That's true, but the fridge keeps them at a constant cold temperature that basically stalls their growth entirely. If Flytraps are left in a low-light or no-light setting and temperatures are warm enough for them to grow, they'll attempt to do so and ultimately fatigue themselves doing so. If left without any light and in conditions that can get mild to warm, they can fatigue themselves to the point they become susceptible to disease and death.

Duly noted. In the future, I will qualify with the temperature as well.

Greetings!
I'm approaching what I'd like to call my first real dormancy since the previous years were either failures of various degrees or just subpar environments. I would not want to regress my previous habits but if my proposals do not seem adequate... it's the best I've got.
Previously I've been keeping them in a veranda throughout the winter but that's in my mother's house and I visit once every two weeks. I on the other hand live in an apartment and grow my plants on a well lit south facing window and subsequent balcony(?) (see attached pictures if possible). All of my plants are in small pots that can easily freeze. My previous year was a complete disaster since none of my plants could withstand 10 days of -10C (14F) temperatures outside (who would'a thunk, huh?). Now, my question is - can I move them in (on the aforementioned windowsill) once the temperatures get to or near freezing and just leave them in until spring or relatively safe temperatures? The windowsill is by no means cold or chilly... besides the pepper plants on it .
The climate:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riga#Climate
Really the most troublesome aspects are two things: 1) the frost is VERY inconsistent. We have lots of days where night temps fall to bellow freezing and days range up to 10C (50F). 2) The temps can fall fast, low and for prolonged times. What I fear most is that they'll either: a) freeze to death outside or b) will not slip into proper dormancy from the high temps of the windowsill.

So...Leah and I are trying to do the whole video and social media presence thing. I'm certainly not a natural at it. I've never liked being on camera nor public speaking, so please know that if you decide to watch this video!

The video is a discussion, conversational style, about Venus flytrap dormancy. Hope it will help answer some questions that new growers might have!

Great job! Can I share your video on Facebook?

@Matt: Great video on flytrap dormancy! And nice recovery from the camera "dormancy" toward the end.

I plan to post links to this video on Reddit (r/VenusFlyTraps, r/carnivorousplants, r/SavageGarden) in reply to the dormancy questions that the newbies are asking at this time of year.

@Matt, That was a great video. Think having a presence is a great thing and the information will be very handy for growers. I imagine the biggest question for people with flytraps that have survived the season would be "how do I make them go dormant?" Liked how you guys touched on Sarracenia and some Drosera there too. I've heard all kinds of crazy stuff from people on fb pretending to be the authority. Having videos like this will hopefully save a lot of heartbreaks in the future.

I can't speak for others but I would be inclined to agree about Florida dormancy. Mine began their winter rosettes around a month or so ago. I'm unsure if the plants look better here or if there's just a delay in the plants traps dying off. Mine brave the elements though, I let them get battered by rain and all that. They are a very vibrant green color out there, the reds are getting redder. My Kronos honestly doesn't look much different; the traps are about the same lol. My DC XL has killed off it's tall growth though and it's a more compact plant like the ones in the video. I did notice that my plants are all dividing at this point, I was happy to see my first VFT has finally divided. I got that one when it was the size of a quarter so that was really cool to see. I'm excited about next year though, in march I'll be splitting/spacing the plants and beginning my own "mother pots"

Panman wrote:Great job! Can I share your video on Facebook?

@Panman, Yes, of course! Thanks for doing so!!

MikeB wrote:I plan to post links to this video on Reddit (r/VenusFlyTraps, r/carnivorousplants, r/SavageGarden) in reply to the dormancy questions that the newbies are asking at this time of year.

@MikeB, Thank you for doing that!! It is much appreciated! It will certainly help us garner more traffic and hopefully save some CP lives. I've seen lots of misinformation being propagated about CPs around the web lately.

Apollyon wrote:@Matt, That was a great video. Think having a presence is a great thing and the information will be very handy for growers. [...] I've heard all kinds of crazy stuff from people on fb pretending to be the authority. Having videos like this will hopefully save a lot of heartbreaks in the future.

@Apollyon, Yep, me too! That's part of the reason I decided we should jump into the game of making video content. Seems many people are happy to just have someone talk to them (who may or may not know what they're talking about!) instead of reading well-written content by a subject expert. So perhaps we can make some decent video content to dispel some misinformation out there. I'm hoping I get better at being on camera with time. I am not a "personality" that many people will be excited to watch, so hopefully, the good and accurate content we present is enough to get people to watch

Apollyon wrote:I can't speak for others but I would be inclined to agree about Florida dormancy. Mine began their winter rosettes around a month or so ago. I'm unsure if the plants look better here or if there's just a delay in the plants traps dying off. Mine brave the elements though, I let them get battered by rain and all that. They are a very vibrant green color out there, the reds are getting redder. My Kronos honestly doesn't look much different; the traps are about the same lol. My DC XL has killed off it's tall growth though and it's a more compact plant like the ones in the video. I did notice that my plants are all dividing at this point, I was happy to see my first VFT has finally divided. I got that one when it was the size of a quarter so that was really cool to see. I'm excited about next year though, in march I'll be splitting/spacing the plants and beginning my own "mother pots"

Nice and great news on the "mother pots"! Yeah, it is interesting after observing these different varieties for multiple years to see how they can differ quite a bit in how they grow depending on the time of the year.

Hello,
My flytrap is into dormancy. Last night the temperatures dipped to -1 Celsius. The media froze and some traps aren’t closing. Do I need to do something?

Did the media actually freeze or did you get a frost on it? At -1C it shouldn't have frozen solid overnight. Obviously you have it outside, is it in a pot? You will need to protect it from freeze/thaw cycles and you will also need to make sure that it doesn't dry up. A description of the environment you have them growing in and where you are located would be helpful.

Panman wrote:Did the media actually freeze or did you get a frost on it? At -1C it shouldn't have frozen solid overnight. Obviously you have it outside, is it in a pot? You will need to protect it from freeze/thaw cycles and you will also need to make sure that it doesn't dry up. A description of the environment you have them growing in and where you are located would be helpful.

I live in Vancouver British Columbia. The media is hard in the pot I grow.