FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Leah and I did another video of preparing for winter. This one is mostly geared toward Sarracenia (pitcher plants) because flytraps really don't require much to prepare for winter other than somewhere they can keep above freezing and out of frost.

In our experience, Sarracenia benefit from a trim back of dead pitchers and a preventative fungicide spray as they enter dormancy. It isn't required but it does reduce the risk of mold taking hold and possibly causing rhizomes to rot.

@Dr GreenThumb, I did spend some time learning a video editing software today. Initially I tried DaVinci Resolve but it was pretty intimidating. I then tried Shotcut and found it a little more user friendly.

In any case, here's the video!:

Panman wrote:Hi Matt. Do you think the fungus issue would be a problem if the plants are outdoors?

It depends on the variety. I've grown most of my plants outdoors year round for the last few years. The flavas seem bullet proof. S. leucophylla also are very resilient. But some of the plants that prefer warmer conditions and/or grow in dense clumps don't fare too well here during the winter months.

Panman wrote:I leave all of the growth on my plants and then pile them under leaves after the first frost. They stay that way until spring. It may bee because I have them in a 15 gallon bog instead of pots but I have never run into an issue with mold. I'm in zone 7b so it gets cold but not like up north.

If you've never had any problems, then you likely don't need to change anything! Certainly having larger pots helps, but even in larger pots if the crown has a lot of dense growth on top, the mold can take hold. Flavas and leucos seem to space their pitchers better than alabamensis and jonesii, so they have far fewer problems. At least that's been my experience over the years.