FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Redcelia wrote:Can I just ask though, is it possible to tell the difference between a plant that is entering dormancy and one that is just dying? If so what are the signs?

A plant that has a lot of blackening leaves anytime other than the fall is likely suffering. I don't think that plants anywhere in the world should be going dormant right now. In the northern hemisphere we're still in summer, though it's getting closer to the end. Most plants won't start losing leaves until October or November.

I live in Northern Ontario where it gets very cold in winter, anywhere from -30c to -50c and I'm wondering if putting my flytraps beside a North facing window would be sufficient for them to go into dormancy? There is also another South facing window that they could go next to as well. It's August right now and they have been happily living outside. I do have a basement that would get between 5c to 10c but there are no windows down there to provide any light for them. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

IF the temperature where they will sit will be 35-40 and no higher or low sure. Mine go in the fridge. Constant 40 degrees F. No light needed.

Novemberose wrote:I live in Northern Ontario where it gets very cold in winter, anywhere from -30c to -50c and I'm wondering if putting my flytraps beside a North facing window would be sufficient for them to go into dormancy?

North facing window wouldn't get much light, so I'd probably not do that.

Novemberose wrote:There is also another South facing window that they could go next to as well.

That would probably be my choice as long as the room gets cool at night (into the 50s preferably, 60s would probably work).

tommyr wrote:Mine go in the fridge. Constant 40 degrees F. No light needed.

Plants in the fridge, in my experience, are in a state of suspended animation. They don't grow and they don't die, but they will resume growing when taken out. And provided they are allowed to go dormant naturally and put in the fridge after they're dormant, the fridge method can work well. But if you can keep the plants somewhere they can get good sunlight all through winter, they can actually grow quite a lot during dormancy.

Matt wrote:

tommyr wrote:Mine go in the fridge. Constant 40 degrees F. No light needed.

Plants in the fridge, in my experience, are in a state of suspended animation. They don't grow and they don't die, but they will resume growing when taken out. And provided they are allowed to go dormant naturally and put in the fridge after they're dormant, the fridge method can work well. But if you can keep the plants somewhere they can get good sunlight all through winter, they can actually grow quite a lot during dormancy.

Mine go in the fridge just before first frost so they are already pretty much "going to sleep". They're all about 4-5 years old and doing great. All flowered this year too.

Tommyr - I think you're in my general area. How do you put yours in the fridge? Do you cut the growth off of them and "bag and tag" or in the pot?
It's already getting cool at night here, though I"ve been moving "Renfield" indoors at night, which is considerably warmer. I'm afraid that I will have problems with my heated house and keeping him dormant this winter, as I don't have unheated parts of my home except the garage, which hits the outdoor temps of 0F and lower - which is apparently too cold.

Unless someone has a better idea? I also am fairly certain I"ll be moving houses (into an actual house instead of a townhouse, yay) this late fall/winter. What is a good suggested transportation method here? I have houseplants as well that were severely damaged last time I did a winter move (froze in the moving truck enroute) so I'm trying to avoid that.

AshG wrote:Tommyr - I think you're in my general area. How do you put yours in the fridge? Do you cut the growth off of them and "bag and tag" or in the pot?
It's already getting cool at night here, though I"ve been moving "Renfield" indoors at night, which is considerably warmer. I'm afraid that I will have problems with my heated house and keeping him dormant this winter, as I don't have unheated parts of my home except the garage, which hits the outdoor temps of 0F and lower - which is apparently too cold.

Unless someone has a better idea? I also am fairly certain I"ll be moving houses (into an actual house instead of a townhouse, yay) this late fall/winter. What is a good suggested transportation method here? I have houseplants as well that were severely damaged last time I did a winter move (froze in the moving truck enroute) so I'm trying to avoid that.

With the VFTs I just remove them from the water trays, drain off the excess water, spray them with a sulfur based fungicide, put them in a zip lock bag and pop in the bottom of my fridge. With the Sarrs. I cut off all pitchers and do the same thing.

Hi guyz! I was wonderin, my venus flytrap is flowerin rallly late and the seeds might be sowed in like December at the rate the flower stalk is growing so cna I skip dormancy for dese plants fer a year an do dormancy next year or will it kill my traps?

bartbat wrote:Hi guyz! I was wonderin, my venus flytrap is flowerin rallly late and the seeds might be sowed in like December at the rate the flower stalk is growing so cna I skip dormancy for dese plants fer a year an do dormancy next year or will it kill my traps?

You need to slow down when typing and spell check before posting (it makes it easier to read). To answer your question: I would cut the flower stalk and allow it to go through dormancy, because it will flower again in the spring. Plus, I don't recommend skipping the plants dormancy period (the ones that skip it have much shorter lives, and don't normally flower)

If I live in Georgia,USA when would be the correct time to put my venus flytrap into dormancy and would it be fine to have it outside for its dormancy?

TheDoctor108 wrote:If I live in Georgia,USA when would be the correct time to put my venus flytrap into dormancy and would it be fine to have it outside for its dormancy?

In Georgia, you should be able to leave your flytrap outside all fall to allow it to go dormant naturally and you won't have to "put" it into dormancy. It will likely lost most of its leaves by mid November, perhaps sooner if the weather is cool, and will be a low-lying rosette at that time. I suspect that your winters in Georgia are mild enough that you could leave the plant outside all year, but there are some areas of Georgia that are cold in the winter, so giving us a city name or a hardiness zone for where you live would allow us to be more helpful.

Thank you, it looks like I'm in hardiness zone 8. Does this help with the question?

Here in Schenectady, New York about 175 miles north of Manhattan, would dormant VFTs stay healthy in my unheated garage when the outdoor temperature can go below zero?

Bill McEnaney wrote:Here in Schenectady, New York about 175 miles north of Manhattan, would dormant VFTs stay healthy in my unheated garage when the outdoor temperature can go below zero?

Yes if the temps do not go below 35F.

Bill McEnaney wrote:Here in Schenectady, New York about 175 miles north of Manhattan, would dormant VFTs stay healthy in my unheated garage when the outdoor temperature can go below zero?

Probably. In large enough pots, flytraps can stand temperatures down into the teens. I kept some plants outside in half wine barrels all winter here last year and the lows were down into the teens a few times. The pots didn't freeze solid though because daytime highs were almost always above or near freezing. All of the flytraps, even the teeny tiniest ones came back.

But flytraps will do better if you keep them a bit warmer (lows in the mid 40s to low 50s at night is ideal) so they can grow a bit during dormancy.