FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

i am unsure when to put my flytrap in dormancy. Im planning on putting it in the loft. Hardiness zone 7 here. When should it go dormant and when should it come out of dormancy?

thanks,

oliver

It should go dormant when you leave them outside and let them experience 3 days of frost. A light frost is perfectly ok for them to harden off for the winter.


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Actually, I know for a fact that they go into dormancy when the temperature gets colder and the sunlight lessens it's strength and duration for the winter. They require both the dropping temperature AND the drop in sunlight strength/hours a day for several weeks to fully trigger and enter the dormancy period.

When in the dormancy period a flytrap can endure freezing temps so long as the ground or soil they are in doesn't freeze solid. I live in the central part (called the Piedmont) of North Carolina and have left my flytraps outside all winter with temps that sometimes dip as low as the teens at night. Mind you that cold snap was only for a couple of weeks and then it "warmed" up to hover in the high 20's at night at the very coldest (which is average winter temps here). My flytraps came back fine in spring. The key was to make sure they didn't dry out from the near freezing temps.

You can put them in the unheated parts of the house you know.


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fluffy123 wrote:You can put them in the unheated parts of the house you know.


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That "unheated" part of the house would need to he around 32 degrees F for about 3-4 months to properly trigger dormancy. Light really isn't a factor when the plant is in full dormancy so some folks who live in areas where it's not possible to leave them outside (either too warm year round or winter is too cold) sometimes opt to do fridge dormancy.

A lot of people use unheated porches or garages as well.

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Yes but what month should i put it in the unheated part of the house? and what month should i take it out from there?

outside is not an option as it is to cold and i dont have the resources to make a bog

In the UK a good generalism is that they are now going dormant and will start to wake up in April. At least that is what mine do outside in the UK.
The sooner you get it into the unheated part of the house the better, indoors it will start to wake up earlier, then get it outside as soon as frost has gone and it has warmed up a bit.

Cheers
Steve

Ok, I shall put it in the loft in the middle of november, i recently just got the vft so i want to have it a bit longer before i put it away.