FlyTrapCare Forums

think of your VFT like a bear.

if you go to yellowstone national park in winter your not likely to see an active bear out catching fish, scratching up trees and raiding camp sites because its too busy hibernating for winter.

from my experience so far, vft's look miserable (compared to summer) and do virtually nothing.

your caring for a sleeping bear

I've read over this and as one who's had a venus flytrap, I find myself wondering what I did wrong. I'm wanting to get another venus flytrap but I'm nervous about spending money on it if I'm not going to be able to get it to live through the dormancy.

I live in West Virginia (USA) and I did the dormancy period from a lot of research on how to do it. A cool place, low light, based on the research, I had taken it out of it's pot and wrapped it in sphagnum moss and the plant looked good. Spring came, I potted it... and rather than take off growing, it died on me despite my best efforts.

Are there any suggestions on how to bring it OUT of dormancy? I'd really love to get another venus flytrap but the dormancy thing makes me very nervous. I've tried following all the suggestions.

Krisshawnee wrote:Are there any suggestions on how to bring it OUT of dormancy?

As the days get longer in the Spring and the sun becomes higher in the sky and more intense, Venus Flytraps come out of dormancy naturally, according to their own time schedule. Even Venus Flytraps grown together will not all begin their vigorous Spring growth at the same time; there may be a variation of up to 2-3 weeks, but you don't need to try hard to bring them out of dormancy. If you protect them from freezing and keep the nighttime temperatures from falling too low in Spring, they will probably emerge from dormancy a few weeks sooner than plants grown outside and exposed to the extremes of temperature variation.

Basically, Venus Flytraps let you know when they want to become dormant, and will emerge from their dormancy also according to their own schedule and with light and temperature cues, whether natural or artificial (under indoor lighting and temperature control).

Good luck and best wishes--

that was great but i still have a q:
i got a plant from a friend just yesterday and i belive it to be dorment
(it wont close) is it okay if i put it on a window sill that get light and just water it for its
dormancy?

I got a question? Is it a good idea to put them in a fridge? The fridge has a light inside is that ok?

No! I am opposed to fridge dormancy. The light really won't make much of a difference. Avoid the fridge atall costs.

i got a question, how about the tropical country? the condition remains the same throughout all the year, but yet, there were monsoon season where there are rain almost everyday. It is possible for us to give them low temperature gradually, but when you mean low temperature(lower than 10celcius), what we can do was to pack them inside a plastic bag, and let them have their dormancy inside the fridge, that range of time, vft do not receive any light, except when we take out our food that store in the fridge, will it be a problem to them?

where should i put my VFT if i cant put it with the fridge and how can i get light?

Hi! My venus fly trap went dormant in october . Would it be too early to wake it, or i should leave it more?

whoah whoah whoah too many questions ok i'll answer the ones i can

voxxxlll i'd leave leave it till spring,waking it up after a month is too early

wiki234 a windowsill should dp the trick fine

allenphoon i reckon a fridge would be the only way where you are,unless someone else has a better idea


ok that covers it

Hi,

I am quite new to VFT and have started to have them planted indoor (near window) for about two months. I fed them with LIVE insects once a while and I started to notice that some of the traps and leaves has started to turn brown/black. For the traps, some of them turn yellow then black gradually. Is that a sign of dormancy and how can I tell?

I am staying in southeast Asia (tropical country) and have water them with distilled water once every 3 days.

As it has also been raining recently, I am thinking to use artificial lighting on the plant, can I used LED light (the one that people use for aquarium plants) and also with UV functionality.

Appreciate anyone that can help to advise and give guidance, thank you!

Regards
Kwok Meng

Thank You moof, very good information, indeed . The flytraps look awesome, especially 'Saw Tooth', just love it

Okay, I know it's mid summer in the states right now but I wanted to do all my research about my flytrap ahead of time and I had a question about the dormancy. I did read over the cite and this entire posting to see if anyone brought up any of the questions or situations that I had and I didn't see them so here I go.

I live in Pennsylvania and as I read it is too cold to keep the plants outdoors all winter because it goes well below 32F here. So I was thinking of leaving the plant out until maybe September, November so it could naturally and gradually go into dormancy but I have a problem once i need to bring it in. I have no place to put it that is unheated and gets natural light. Another problem I have is I'm going to be at college two hours away and I won't be able to constantly rely on my sibling to take care of it. My original idea was to put it in my garage and use a plant light turning it on for many three, four hours a day to resemble the shorter days but like i said, I'm going to be away at college and can't rely on my sibling to turn the light on and off every day. So here are my main questions:
Would that idea have worked at all in the first place?
If I had my sibling turn the light on and off every other day or so would the plant still be okay?

Any recommendations would help greatly.

l0v3lyink wrote:Would that idea have worked at all in the first place?
If I had my sibling turn the light on and off every other day or so would the plant still be okay?

Putting the plant under light would work, but you don't need to make the photo period so short (3 or 4 hours is too short). An 8 to 10 hour photo period would be sufficiently short. And you don't need to rely on your sibling to turn the light on and off. Just buy a $5 timer at Wal-Mart. You will have to rely on someone for watering though....

All my VFTs and Sarrs. go in the fridge just before first frost and stay there until late February/March. They get no real light during that time except when I open the fridge. Some of my plants are 5 years old now.