FlyTrapCare Forums

Hello all

So I just saved 5 VFTs from my local Home Depot. They looked starved of light and not very healthy - but still very green, which was kind of expected since they were indoors. None of the traps worked either (they were kind of splayed apart) They were discounted to a dollar each so I just took every plant that was on the counter.

Anyway, at first I wanted to just put them outside and let them recover that way - until I realized that it was the end of the growing season now and it would put them into dormancy. A facebook user suggested I put them indoors, put a grow light over it and just grow them normally for the winter as they said putting them into dormancy in such a rough state could kill the plants.
What do you guys think? I honestly don't have grow lights as I've never tried growing CPs indoors before - the closest thing (I think) I have is this white LED panel that I currently have over my plants. It's probably not good enough but it's the best thing I have right now

I think they may still go dormant if they get exposed to the cold and short days. Since they are in grow lights inside the house they may still grow and not go dormant.


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There is no way of telling if has skipped dormancy on the way to you. Plants that skip dormancy slowly run out of gas, dormant plants explode in growth in spring.

How do you keep your other plants over winter and what state/grow zone are you in?

I’m in Vancouver BC which people have told me is in zone 8-ish? I’m not sure but we do get regularly below freezing temps and during the really cold months a LOT of snow. The only other plants I have at the moment are my tropical s which I already have inside for the winter. The first VFT I had I killed it by accidentally letting it freeze outside, so uh I’m a bit wary about dormancy as well

VFT's come from zone 8b, if you are in 8 you should be good to go. But keep in mind its not freezing that kills VFT's its the Frost Burn caused by prolonged deep cold. I live in zone 8b and once ever 3 years i might have to protect my potted plants for a week max.

Anyway so my
main question is this - should I put them outside and let them go dormant or keep them inside with the light panel thing I have for the winter? I’ve revived VFTs in much worse condition than these ones so I’m sure they’ll survive if I do it right but it’s not the summer anymore which makes it hard...

I personally would put them outside until it got too cool and then bring them into a cool area under lights.

penatrap wrote:Anyway so my
main question is this - should I put them outside and let them go dormant or keep them inside with the light panel thing I have for the winter? I’ve revived VFTs in much worse condition than these ones so I’m sure they’ll survive if I do it right but it’s not the summer anymore which makes it hard...

This is one reason I like growing carnivorous plants, there's always a puzzle to solve. In this case, as you said it's a tough call, I think I would put it outside and treat it like you would any other vft but maybe only do a 10 week dormancy. Then inside under lights until the weather warms up.

thanks. will update as things go along

just a quick update - so they've been outside for some time now, and the temps are dropping into the 5-8C range. I'm assuming they've already gone dormant-ish as there is pretty much no growth happening right now. I actually got a 600w grow light from amazon so when I do bring them inside they'll be going under that.

Otherwise they look pretty fine - ish? Everything's still green so that's a good sign I guess

My VFTs have been in the fridge since October 18th. 2 more months to go!

i got these lights
https://www.amazon.ca/Spectrum-Reflecto ... den&sr=1-8
i know they're most likely not 600w but they'll be good enough for vfts.. right?
i'll probably be bringing them in in about a month or two

penatrap wrote:i got these lights
https://www.amazon.ca/Spectrum-Reflecto ... den&sr=1-8
i know they're most likely not 600w but they'll be good enough for vfts.. right?
i'll probably be bringing them in in about a month or two

That's overkill IMHO. Regular shop lights would be fine and far cheaper. This is until they can go back outside in full Sun right?

tommyr wrote:

penatrap wrote:i got these lights
https://www.amazon.ca/Spectrum-Reflecto ... den&sr=1-8
i know they're most likely not 600w but they'll be good enough for vfts.. right?
i'll probably be bringing them in in about a month or two

That's overkill IMHO. Regular shop lights would be fine and far cheaper. This is until they can go back outside in full Sun right?

yes... I also thought they were overkill, but my friend (who knows I like plants) got them for me as a gift. will it burn the VFTs? I thought they loved full light