FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hey all

My dormant VFTs, Sarrs and Drosera have frozen completely (still green, though) in both the foliage and the soil. When I lift up the pots, they were rock-hard. My forecast shows that it was 32F this morning, and will continue to be mid-30F to mid-40F for the rest of the week.
Should I bring them inside to thaw out, or is it better to leave them be like this for the rest of the year?

Thanks and all opinions appreciated,
Max

The climate in your location doesn't seem to have much freezing weather. If the freezes don't last too long, then your plants should be fine. If you are worried about the cold weather, you could bring your plants in a slightly warmer spot during the nights. That's what I did with my plants, but they're now full time in the garage since it has gotten too cold for them outside (last night the temperatures dropped to 23 degrees here).

*I am not expert. You can follow my advice at your own risk.

ChefDean wrote: ↑Wed Nov 17, 2021 5:21 pmIf a below freezing temp is forecasted, I bring them in for the night. If it's multiple nights, they're in for a few days. Once the temps consistently stay below freezing at night, they go into my garage for their winter slumber.

Oops. I wrote almost exactly what you wrote. I didn't see that you already posted. (So don't think I'm copying you)

ChefDean wrote: In the wild, they experience multiple freeze/thaw cycles every year. However, they are in the ground, which provides insulation for the roots from the freezing.

Rather than bring them inside, I attempt to mimic their wild conditions. In a flower bed I'll dig a hole about half the depth of the pot and sit the plant, pot and all, in the hole, then mound up around the pot with some mulch/leaves (not covering the pot or plant, but just upto the rim of the pot). I do this with bonsai that haven't hit winter hardiness and some of my vfts in the past. Worked well, as the ground insulation avoids the continuous freeze/thaw cycle.

I'm going to be Debbie downer here. I'm sorry. 249. 249 individual plants were killed overnight by freezing Temps. Now mine dropped to about 20 to 25 F, so colder than yours. It wasn't even supposed to be that cold. The low was supposed to be 45. a lot of our local gardeners lost a bunch of produce and plants. In my opinion, bring them in and let them come to temperature slowly. If it's close to freezing, close to 45 is my comfort point, bring them in. I rebuilt my collection. It's no where near what it was before. But I brought them in every evening. This year I'm keeping them in during winter under a grow light. I don't lose them again to a freeze. It was painful to watch too. I brought them in, rock solid, they thawed after 2 days. But then the leaves slowly turned translucent. It was such a horror to watch them essentially slowly die. I know they're plants, but they meant so much to me. I had 250 before that freeze. I had one plant survive. A week later it too died. But it's furry murderer is still proud of himself.

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Yeah, I'll just not risk it and bring them inside. What @Cross said freaking scared me, don't wanna lose my whole collection in one night...
Also, it just hit 50F, so my plants are most likely thawed out. What I forgot to leave out is that this morning, only the outer half-inch of the soul was frozen, and when I broke it with my finger, the inside was still nice and soft. Does this still affect them?

MaxVft wrote:Yeah, I'll just not risk it and bring them inside. What @Cross said freaking scared me, don't wanna lose my whole collection in one night...
Also, it just hit 50F, so my plants are most likely thawed out. What I forgot to leave out is that this morning, only the outer half-inch of the soul was frozen, and when I broke it with my finger, the inside was still nice and soft. Does this still affect them?

They'll probably be okay if they weren't totally frozen solid. I had just watered them too that afternoon. They were extra wet lol. I really think yours will be just fine. I'm just warning about leaving them out close to freezing. Like chef said, too many times will kill them.

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MaxVft wrote:Yeah, I'll just not risk it and bring them inside. What @Cross said freaking scared me, don't wanna lose my whole collection in one night...
Also, it just hit 50F, so my plants are most likely thawed out. What I forgot to leave out is that this morning, only the outer half-inch of the soul was frozen, and when I broke it with my finger, the inside was still nice and soft. Does this still affect them?

And I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to scare you, just tell you what I wasn't told. I didn't think to expect it, you know?

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Cross wrote: ↑Wed Nov 17, 2021 7:12 pm I'm going to be Debbie downer here. I'm sorry. 249. 249 individual plants were killed overnight by freezing Temps. Now mine dropped to about 20 to 25 F, so colder than yours. It wasn't even supposed to be that cold.

I feel your pain. In January 2018, we had a nasty cold snap roll in: 200 contiguous hours well below freezing (that's nothing for up north, but it was brutally cold for my location). I had moved all of my small pots into the garage, but I left 4-5 large pots (12+ inches / 30+ centimeters in diameter) outside. I lost a beautiful Sarracenia flava var. ornata that I got from Mike Wang 4 years earlier: The pot froze solid. In the spring, I prayed for the sight of a green sprout but saw no sign of life. When I unpotted it and checked the rhizome, it was brown all the way to the core.

Never again. I made a portable cold frame from PVC pipes and connectors, plastic sheeting, and a small greenhouse heater. On those infrequent occasions of exceptionally cold weather, I put up the cold frame, set the heater on 40° F (4° C), and my plants are safe (as long as we don't lose power).

My plants freeze many nights every winter with out any issues. I would be more scared of bringing my plants in side for long periods because no sun no air flow and warmer temperatures breed mold and fungus. I would only consider it if i had deep sustained cold in the twenty's even in day time hours.

I do take my plants in for late freezes in the spring.

I've had a fair amount of trouble with winter rot myself, particularly with flytraps, despite the fairly mild climate here. But this year, we had a nasty ice storm in February with the plants being frozen for a solid week, far worse than any other storm since I started growing. Not a single bit of a rot to be found. The only difference I can see is that my plant table collapsed last year so the trays were sitting on the deck (which is itself elevated several feet off the ground.) I'm not really sure why that would make a difference, but it seems to have.

nimbulan wrote: ↑Thu Nov 18, 2021 4:27 am I've had a fair amount of trouble with winter rot myself, particularly with flytraps, despite the fairly mild climate here. But this year, we had a nasty ice storm in February with the plants being frozen for a solid week, far worse than any other storm since I started growing. Not a single bit of a rot to be found. The only difference I can see is that my plant table collapsed last year so the trays were sitting on the deck (which is itself elevated several feet off the ground.) I'm not really sure why that would make a difference, but it seems to have.

We live a half hour away from each other so I know exactly what happened during the ice storm... we lost power for a week or so.

Anyways, I only started growing CPs right after the ice storm cleared up, so I was quite lucky. And if those storms still didn't do too much rot, then I think a freeze will be fine.