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How much light necessary for overwintering darlingtonia in the cold?


olivier marthaler

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Hi every darlingtonia freak,

I have collected different varieties of darlingtonias (giant fangs, red ones, othello,...) and I have nice and cool conditions to grow them.

BUT:

for fear of cold in the wintertime (living in Swiss mountains!), I brought the plants into an unheated veranda. Unfortunately too small to store them all in a nice sunny place. Temps are 2-5°C at night and up to 8-10°C in the day.

In these conditions, do they need sunshine, or would they stand remaining in a tray with absolutely no direct light? And if so, what about wetness? would a rather dry compost do better?

Thanks for your answers and/or opinions,

OL

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Hi Ol

They grow in zone 8, so periodic temperatures below freezing or even down to minus 12C are not unheard of, so somewhere between 2-10C would seem to be perfect. I would worry a little though if the space is small and not ventilated as that will be ideal for fungus, mildew etc, unless you treat the plants and medium with a non copper fugicide first.

As far as light goes, I have no experience with no light at all during dormancy, but I have heard of people successfuly using the fridge dormancy method in warmer climates, so that would seem to be exactly the same as you are proposing, i.e. cool and no light at all. So if they come through the winter OK I see no reason why yours shouldn't.

Cheers

Steve

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BTW Sorry hen I mentioned "I collected"... actually, I DID PURCHASE and SWAPPED plants and seeds,( I haven't been to CAL or OR for more than 30 years, and was barely aware of the existence of CPs, even less in the USA, back at that time!!!) and I wouldn't dare collect material in nature when there are very friendly people giving advice and offering plants for swap/cash on the web...

Sorry it might have been misleading as to how to behave with wildlife...

Olivier

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