FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hello. I just "rescued" a VFT from a store yesterday which had a sale on a lot of CP in not very good conditions.

Winter is coming here in Sweden (Zone 2B) so right now I put the plant in a mini green house enclosure that is uncovered on the top, for airflow, and has a Cosmorrow 20W full spectrum LED light that provides around 300PPFD at where the plants are located, with a timer set for 16hrs. It is located in a northeast facing windowsill. The VFT is being accompanied by a Drosera Madagascariensis and a Pinguicula Weser. Each plant has its own tray and I'm using only distilled water.

Temperature is around 23⁰ and humidity around 40%.

My question would be if I should induce dormancy in my plant, how should I do it and how to take care of it while it is dormant.

Thank you.

I read their FAQ before. I know that it needs cooler temperatures during the nights.

The light is not gonna be a problem.

I do need help trying to figure out a spot for it while it is dormant.

Temperature all around my place is around 20⁰ during winter. So, is there a way I can lower the temperature in a spot that I choose for it?

Any ideas? Thank you.

There's a little debate about dormancy cues, but a shorter photoperiod can be a bigger prompt for the plant to go dormant. There are VFT's grown in subtropical regions that don't experience the cold, and they tend to go dormant when the days get shorter.
Basically, find the coolest spot you can that doesn't freeze, put the plant there, and don't worry about the lighting. That should kick it into dormancy, and you can put it outside in the spring once the temps stay above freezing.

One option to cool a small area is with ice packs that you refreeze as necessary. You can use a cooler, fish tank, or anything with sides to help keep the cold localized. I am planning to do something similar to cool my dormancy area in the basement once it snows here (zone 4a) by collecting 5-gallon buckets of snow to melt for watering, and surrounding my shelves with them as they melt. It won’t be as consistent as ice packs could be, because it will depend on snow availability, but it should introduce some lower temps that combined with a shorter photo-period should encourage dormancy.

I thank you all for your suggestions.

I was just told by some other people that, since I just got the plant and it is evident that it was lacking proper light from where I got it, that I should skip dormancy this time and keep it under strong light and let it recover.

What are your thoughts on that?

This is the one.

Let's try again. It doesn't look terrible, for sure.

A little bit closer...

A little bit closer...

https://i.imgur.com/JVvjvHw.jpeg

DawnOfVictory wrote: ↑Sat Nov 09, 2024 10:38 pm I thank you all for your suggestions.

I was just told by some other people that, since I just got the plant and it is evident that it was lacking proper light from where I got it, that I should skip dormancy this time and keep it under strong light and let it recover.

What are your thoughts on that?

I think you should put it through dormancy.