FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I grow them in British Columbia. The media is hard. I water them every three to four days but I only give them a light spray.

A light freeze shouldn't be an issue at all. But try to keep it from freezing if at all possible. They can stand freezes and frosts, but it is better if they don't.

Thank you. To protect my Venus fly trap should I wrap it with something or put in my garage or a fridge?

You may need to look at refrigerator dormancy if you don't have a space where you can maintain them at above freezing temperatures. A quick freeze shouldn't hurt them but they will not survive staying frozen.

Will it be fine to stay outside of the temperatures stays above 0 C but occasionally for 1 to 2 days it goes below 0 C

Thanks. I put my VFT in my fridge because there is snow and freezing temperatures. I will leave outside when the temperatures get to 4 C

I have one last question. Some of my traps have weird shapes and are not closing/reacting or closing late. Is that a sign of something bad or is it a sign of dormancy?

KPRA wrote:Some of my traps have weird shapes and are not closing/reacting or closing late. Is that a sign of something bad or is it a sign of dormancy?

Could be either. Lack of light can cause unresponsive traps and underdeveloped traps. Can you post a good clear photo of the traps?

Here the photo

@KPRA, that doesn't look like a dormant flytrap at all. How long have you had the plant? Looks like it is going through some sort of adjustment period either from transitioning from a different environment (i.e. under lights) or was indoors most of the grow season.

The good news is that it looks very healthy!!

Hi guys,
I've had my VFT for about 16 months now and I have never put it into dormancy. To be honest, until I read about it on this site, I didn't know you had to. I have attached a couple of pics of my VFT's in the hopes that someone can tell me whether I need to get them prepared for dormancy and if so, what do I do?

I live in a small, 2 bedroomed flat (apartment) in the Southeast of England and have no garden. The 2nd bedroom is a spare room so I can use that. The room does get light during the day as there are only net curtains (sheers), but it does stay pretty cold as we rarely use it except for storage. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I'm fairly new to this and keen to turn it from a curiosity into a full-blown hobby!

Hi Fuggle
Your plant doesn't carry much colour, which is generally a symptom of a lack of intense light but otherwise looks healthy. The pot looks like terracotta which is normally a bad choice for VFTs as they can leach out minerals into the soil which can harm the plant. The minerals normally manifest as a white powder on the outside/inside of the pot. Although if its been in that pot for 16 months it obviously isnt causing too much harm, you may wish to change that next spring though just to be sure.
The plant will be invigorated next year after a dormancy, which it sounds like your colder room may get down to the temperatures required of 3-10C, if it doesn't there is always fridge dormancy, for which there are some articles and advice on this site, Ive never done it as all mine live outdoors, but people say it works well.
Cheers
Steve

Hey Steve,
Yeah the colour is definitely fading, no red inside the traps either. I only recently found out about the damage that terracotta pots can do to my plants, it's not been in this particular pot for the whole time which is probably why it's doing ok. I have some new terracotta coloured, plastic pots which I'll switch it over to soon. In fact, I think I'll re-pot tomorrow and put it into the spare room for its winter kip. Thanks for the heads up and the advice Steve.
Cheers,
Brian

my venus flytrap has been outside pretty much since last March. Before that I had it indoors in it’s dormancy. I thought I would just leave it out this winter as it is going back into dormancy now. It looks really bad and I’m scared but I believe I should be able to leave it outside as in Phoenix the temperatures don’t get below freezing very often. does it look like it should at this time of the year?