FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi guys, I have a question regarding dormancy. I just bought a small Flytrap plant, and I have read that I should put it in dormancy. Here I see that I don't really have to do it, if it's still a small plant?
Anyways, before realizing that it is not mandatory, this was my idea, so please tell me what you think about it and could it work (and not kill the plant!).
It is around 20 degrees in our apartment, and it is less than zero outside. We don't have a single colder place in the apartment, but we do have old windows, that is - there is around 10cm between two window glasses.
My idea was to put the plant in there, and wrap it up a bit so it doesn't get much light. The temperature in between the windows is around 10 degrees.
Here are some pictures, please tell me what do you think, if this could work and is it safe!
Thank you!

First of all remove the covering on it. Secondly, it is getting too late for dormancy now so forget about that for this year. This fall/winter it will need to start getting yearly dormancy. Acclimate it to as much Sun as you can give it until it's warm enough to place it OUTSIDE for the growing season. These are not houseplants.

I agree with tommyr. Remove the covering, give the plant full outdoor sunlight and let it adjust to the natural growing seasons. Even in winter, flytraps need full sun.

It will be just fine this year and will likely "sleep" a little bit right now as the days are still fairly short. As long as it is given good care, it will settle in just fine. Be sure to give it the following:
- Full sunlight outdoors
- Low-mineral water (distilled, rain or reverse osmosis

If it is still freezing and frosting where you live, it can be kept in the sunniest windowsill until freeze or frost passes, but be sure to get it outside as soon as feasibly possible.

Good luck!

Thank you guys for your advice!

I keep my fly traps in the garage, where it's averaging around 45F each evening. They receive no light. I live in Denver. The days are getting longer slowly, but evenings are still anywhere from 20-30F, almost always below freezing, and sometimes dipping into the teens.

I thought about putting them back in the sun soon, maybe in a few weeks, but taking them inside (it's 60 in the house at night) at night. Or should I wait a couple more months until it stops freezing at night?

Thanks!

I know about a guy that puts his venus flytraps in the fridge for their dormancy and doesn't give them any light at all. But I would recommend using a light on a timer to give them light.

sanguinearocks101 wrote: ↑Mon Feb 03, 2020 12:49 am I know about a guy that puts his venus flytraps in the fridge for their dormancy and doesn't give them any light at all. But I would recommend using a light on a timer to give them light.

I've been doing that for over 12 years now with NO problems at all. A few weeks ago I started waking mine up and re-potting some as a matter of fact.

thanks for the info, this helped!

I take the lazy growers approach and just leave my plants outside. Seeing as I'm practically in the native areas Flytraps already grow, it works perfectly, and as an added bonus, they don't need any special reintroduction to sunlight. Best of any world if you ask me.

Here in Charlotte, NC the winters are cold, but not cold enough to freeze the ground solid. If I were living farther north, I'd definitely had made a dormancy area in my garage.

Artchic528 wrote: ↑Thu May 14, 2020 5:52 pm I take the lazy growers approach and just leave my plants outside. Seeing as I'm practically in the native areas Flytraps already grow, it works perfectly, and as an added bonus, they don't need any special reintroduction to sunlight. Best of any world if you ask me.

Here in Charlotte, NC the winters are cold, but not cold enough to freeze the ground solid. If I were living farther north, I'd definitely had made a dormancy area in my garage.

Me too: in North Georgia, it gets below 20F (-7C) a few times each winter, and my potted plants freeze solid. I'm talkin' the whole pot is a block of ice. They do fine.

Same in Atlanta. I just bury the whole kaboodle in a pile of leaves and dig it out when we are past getting a freeze.

Artchic528 wrote: ↑Thu May 14, 2020 5:52 pm I take the lazy growers approach and just leave my plants outside. Seeing as I'm practically in the native areas Flytraps already grow, it works perfectly, and as an added bonus, they don't need any special reintroduction to sunlight. Best of any world if you ask me.

Here in Charlotte, NC the winters are cold, but not cold enough to freeze the ground solid. If I were living farther north, I'd definitely had made a dormancy area in my garage.

Well that's not a "lazy growers' way, it's the LUCKY growers way and the BEST way to grow CPs. A lot of us can't keeps them outside. You're one of the lucky ones.

This will be my first dormancy (bought the plant in July) and just had some questions. I grow mine indoors and I'm wondering if anyone has any tips for putting it into dormancy. I can put it outside for a couple of the months but I'll have to bring it back in, in January and February. It gets below freezing for an extended period here. My indoor setup has a growlight that I have set on a 12hour timer. I can adjust the timer to eight hours starting in November and then lessen it for December and January. We keep the thermostat at 65 for a majority of the winter so we're not paying an exorbitant amount in electricity. I have it sitting in a water tray and then I also spray with water once or twice a day, just for some slight humidity. Should I continue with the tray and misting for dormancy or should it just be a tray? Is the 65 temp, mixed with decreased light, enough to push it into sleepytime?

Top watering is best. The only benefit of tray watering is convenience. I’d just stick it outside, keeping it inside all year round is very bad for it. 65 degrees is not enough, I’d say mid 30s to low 40s but it may be a bit higher than that. What zone are you in?

I checked and I'm zone 7a