What to do for winter.

[fliffy_stitch]

Hi, I am trying to find out what to do with my fly traps and sarracenia plants over the winter, I know that they need to go dormant over the winter but I have been keeping the fly traps and one sarracenia in the conservatory since the spring. I have some other sarracenia plants outside too so I'm assuming that they will go dormant themselves as winter gets closer but I don't know what to do with the indoor ones, I was thinking about maybe putting them outside during the daytime for a week or so to get them used to outside temperatures and then leaving them outside on the milder nights until they get used to being outside all the time and are able go dormant naturally. Does this sound ok? I don't think that the conservatory will be cold enough for them over the winter because we have lots of other houseplants and my nepenthes in there so it will have to be kept reasonably warm for them over the winter. I am a bit worried about them being outside over the winter though because I had a fly trap and four or five sarracenia plants that never came back after last winter when other ones came back just fine, but then last year was unbelievably cold for so long here and the plants were all frozen solid for weeks and last year was also my first year of keeping carnivorous plants so I don't really know what I'm doing with regards to dormancy. Any adviced would be appreciated, thanks.

Chris.

[jimscott]

I think you should get them outside and heading in the right direction. I don't know how cold your area gets but VFT's & Sarracenias can tolerate temps that are a little below freezing. For those hobbyists that experience winters that consistently go below freezing there are other alternatives like attics, garages, mulching them outside, refrigerator. It depends upin what you have available to you.

[fliffy_stitch]

Hi, thanks for the reply. According to wikipedia we are considered to be in zone 9, last year was exceptionally cold though and I think the lowest temperature we had was around -14 or -15 Celsius. We do have a greenhouse and they were in there last winter but were still frozen solid.

[will9]

I think you should get them outside and heading in the right direction. I don't know how cold your area gets but VFT's & Sarracenias can tolerate temps that are a little below freezing. For those hobbyists that experience winters that consistently go below freezing there are other alternatives like attics, garages, mulching them outside, refrigerator. It depends upin what you have available to you.

A little of freezing?

I hold mine whole year outside like many other growers here in Belgium(also zone 9),last year its frozen day and night between -5° till -15° for months ,not one plant dead after winter!Sarras and VFT are very hardy,some garden plants are frozen to dead but this CP s seems match harder then some other plants i have for many years in my garden,

Cheers Will

PS:not set this outside now,you must do this in spring ,plants must be rooted wel for got trow the winter,meaby you can try to plant this now whit the pot in the ground(in spagnumpeat bog).

Edited October 2, 2011 by will9

[SoLongFairWell]

Hi, thanks for the reply. According to wikipedia we are considered to be in zone 9, last year was exceptionally cold though and I think the lowest temperature we had was around -14 or -15 Celsius. We do have a greenhouse and they were in there last winter but were still frozen solid.

I'm in Cork and due to luck of not having such a bad winter this year I risked leaving them out (along with Sarracenia leucophylla which concerned me). We had a few frosts but they were very average UK type ones. I checked all my plants today and every one survived and the flytraps are even coming into growth.