FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hello, I am a brand new member to the forum and a new grower of Venus Fly traps. I have started my collection with 6 plants I bought earlier this summer. I am using the tray method of watering them and they are outside.
They are getting about 12 - 14 hours of sun.

I need advice on winter dormancy, in regards to

1. How can I tell when the plants go into winter dormancy? Can someone please post some pictures of what a plant looks like in winter dormancy?

2. How do I handle the fly traps winter dormancy requirement here in Arizona?

I know venus fly traps require a winter dormancy, but I am not sure how this is going to work in Arizona. It does get colder here around the end of October through about February.

Any advice on this will greatly help me, I want my plants to survive more then one season.

P.S. I am using my phone to submit this I was unable to search other threads for this topic on my phone for some reason so I do apologize if this has been answered for the state of Arizona already

Hi reaper, welcome to the forum and the awesome world of carnivores!

The dormancy period is triggered by reduced daylight and temperatures cooling. Dormant plants are smaller than in full growth, and some die back completely. They tend to stay low to the grow and don't put out much new growth, if any at all. Their traps also won't close, and if they do they'll close very slowly. Watering is needed much less often during dormancy.

Here's a picture of my typical VFTs right at the end of dormancy after I repotted them.


To compare, here's the same pot in July, at the height of their growth.


In Arizona, you will likely be fine just leaving your flytraps outside all year round. As long as you don't have long periods (weeks or more) of temperatures below freezing, your traps will go dormant naturally on their own.

Welcome to the forum, reaper! MM answered your question quite nicely. Arizona is next to New Mexico, where Steve grows his flytraps, so one would assume that yours will do fine. Also, MrsMuscipla, are those flytraps a Yellow cultivar? I ask this because they are obviously quite healthy but have a yellowish tinge. It could just be the photo, though.

Whoops, I did not see that they were typicals. Might be worth keeping an eye on if they look yellow normally and it is stable.

I'd imagine your plants would do quite well outside year round (shaded during the peak of the day in the summer). You guys have really steep temperature drops at night so I don't foresee any problems with dormancy. I'm thinking Phoenix area... so unless you're in the higher elevations where it can potentially freeze overnight they should be alright. I'm a little envious, in-fact moving out there IS on my to-do list.

katya_dog1 wrote:Whoops, I did not see that they were typicals. Might be worth keeping an eye on if they look yellow normally and it is stable.

I'm pretty sure the yellow is on the older traps dying off before they turn black. I haven't noticed any new growth being yellow. Some did stay completely green though!

MrsMuscipula wrote:

katya_dog1 wrote:Whoops, I did not see that they were typicals. Might be worth keeping an eye on if they look yellow normally and it is stable.

I'm pretty sure the yellow is on the older traps dying off before they turn black. I haven't noticed any new growth being yellow. Some did stay completely green though!

Yes, that must be it. The ones in the back look really green.

Thank you for the help, I am sorry for the delay in the response I have been working ALOT lately.

I will leave them outside then as you suggest, we do not have long periods of freezing temps here but if we do we know in advance that they are coming. If a freeze is coming I will move them inside until the freeze is over.