FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi all,

I have four flytraps that were going through winter dormancy just fine on my balcony up until recently.

About a week ago, temperatures dropped quickly below freezing (-8C) and stayed there for a week. I didn't think much about it for a few days, then I realized that the pots completely froze, and I moved the plants indoors until it warms up a little. But, the damage has been done. All the leaves are black and wilted, and it looks basically dead.

Here is a photo from the smallest pot -- I was waiting until the end of dormancy to repot. All my the other plants look the same but in larger pots.

After freezing like this, will the flytrap survive? What can I do to help? Trim off the dead leaves, repot, etc?

Any damage to your plant would be caused by dehydration causing tissue damage or as i like to call it frost burn. This takes time and is sped up by air flow. so if it was -8 even in the day time and it was windy you might have a lot of damage. If day time temps were near or above 0 you will be fine. I cant guess from the photo tall traps die back in the winter weather naturally, this is what my plants look like by the end of winter and after they wake up from it.

Winter


Spring after they wake up

Let's say the day before the traps were healthy and bright green. They died off completely only after freezing.

And daytime temps were -2C. It stayed like that for at least two or three days until I brought them inside.

Updating with a photo of the rhizome. To my untrained eye, it looks dead (light green color, not very firm). But at least one root looks alive and white.

Any chance it could bounce back if I replant it?

Based on the picture and your description, that rhizome isn't looking very promising, but it's worth a try.

Pretty sure it is dead, but if you remove everything that looks brown and there's any bit of white left, it might grow back.

I lost many plants to freezing this dormancy sorry for your loss.

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Thanks for the advice/support. It's sad, but I'll take it as a learning experience. Only one plant died from the frost. Not surprisingly, it was the plant in the smallest pot.

I don't think it's the cold that would kill it, even if it was below -15C?. As long as the rhizome doesn't dry out from dry frost, I would think it would be okay?

Short update : all the flytraps that feoze ended up dying. The two sarracenia survived the frost.

As others said, it was probably frozen roots that prevented water from circulating to the plants rather than the cold itself.