What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • #61
November 2, 2008

Putting the plants away for the winter!

Probably the single "busiest" day of the entire "CP year" has arrived again..
the annual "putting the plants to bed day"..

I always leave the plants out as long as possible..late October or early November..
until nights start falling below freezing on a regular basis..

This year the date is November 2.
there have been a few frosts already, I just left the plants out in the first few light frosts,
its fine, they can handle it.
but we did get a few lows during the last few weeks that dipped down to a around 27F (negative 3C),
so I did move the plants into the garage for those nights.

First step..
about a week ago I took the plants out of their water trays, and I tipped the bogs on their side to drain:

CP2008-084.jpg


CP2008-085.jpg


CP2008-086.jpg


I do this so the media isnt soaking wet all winter..I want them to be slightly drier over the winter than during the growing season..
so I give them a week or so to dry out a little bit..

then..the big event..CUTTING away of all the growth! :0o:
I do this because the plants are wrapped tight in plastic all winter, they are in pitch-darkness, 35 degree (+2C) temps,
and they simply do NOT grow all winter..at all.
they dont need their leaves, and all that extra greenery would only encourage fungus to grow,
so I snip everything away, right down to the ground.

the bogs are lined up, ready to go:

CP2008-090.jpg




the scissors come out, and after about 45 minutes of cutting, we have this!

CP2008-091.jpg


CP2008-092.jpg


CP2008-093.jpg



All those lovely pitchers, and all the nutritious bugs they still contain, go into the compost pile, to feed next years flower gardens:

CP2008-094.jpg



Now its time for the wrapping..
I use regular black plastic trash bags, stick the bogs in sideways:

CP2008-095.jpg



Twist up the ends of the bag so its air-tight, and tape it down with regular clear plastic packing tape:

CP2008-096.jpg



In addition to the three mini-bogs (which contain only Sarracenia and VFT's)
I also have four other pots that need to join the bogs in dormancy.
One D. binata clump, a D. filliformis, a S. flava 'veinless' and the big S. minor clump:

CP2008-097.jpg


Open up the stairwell and clean out all the spider webs with a broom:

CP2008-083b.jpg


Put all the plants in place:

CP2008-098.jpg


Close both doors..and the plants are ready to snooze away the next three and a half months..they wont be seen again
until the middle of February. (I sometimes check the temp over the winter, but its always nice and cool..and even when
its 0 degrees F outside (negative 18 C) its still around 35F (+2C) inside their little chamber..its perfect!)

the view from outside the stairwell:

CP2008-099.jpg



Its also the day for putting away the rain water collector, it wont be needed again until spring:

CP2008-087.jpg


CP2008-088.jpg


the "normal" downspout is replaced, and the water bin is cleaned out and stored in the shed for the winter.

CP2008-089.jpg




The "CP corner" on the deck looks barren and lonely:

CP2008-100.jpg


And the trees are ready for winter too:

CP2008-101.jpg


Autumn is a short season around here..it only lasts about 6 weeks,
and by November 1st, its pretty much over, and winter is here.

And thats it for the 2008 growing season!
but its not the end of the "year in the life"! ;)
there are still 3.5 months to go in the year..
They plants have merely started their "fourth quarter"..
only 75% of the year is over..the remaining 25% is very important to the long-term
health of the plants..

now we wait for winter to pass by...

Scot
 
  • #62
Another excellent post in a great series. Thanks for the public service, Soct!

Capslock
 
  • #63
Agreed- very good. Almost time to be doing the chop chop here too (or maybe I'll just leave them a while (seems like I JUST did it to the spring pitchers haha...) don't you just LOVE all the splashing that happens when you cut the pitchers off? :-O haha :censor: I fill a full size (outdoor) garbage can when I do mine
Andrew
 
  • #64
Another excellent post in a great series. Thanks for the public service, Soct!

Capslock

I agree. Scot's "Year in the life" posts are some of the most informative threads. I enjoy them all and am inspired to one day live in an apartment or house where I can follow the pictorials! Thanks, Scot.

xvart.
 
  • #65
Scott, you have a relatively short growing season. I bet you miss the all those pitchers by now!


Great posts, BTW!
 
  • #66
I read your site, and I was waiting for you to updayte it before I found this forum. Thanks for updating it! I was very anxious to see what you would do. :]
 
  • #67
Very informitive thread scottychaos I can't wait till next season to see how they all do again also cute black cat reminds me of a cat I had long time ago.

My minibog and flytraps are still outside I don't water them anymore they get rained on a bit, but I think after next week I'll be putting them in for the winter I'l try your method I have a nice area for them. =)
 
  • #68
Scot and I live about an hour apart, so essentially what he gets, I get. And while his gets a buzz cut and put into dark plastic bags for the winter, mine get the dead foliage removed and exposed to the air and whatever light that shines through a garage window. He's been doing this for several years and me for only four. I can't argue with his experience or success. And yet my minibogs also resulted in flowering Sarracenias and cobra lily. Just goes to show you that are often more than one way to approach the same successful result.

One question, though: Why a buzz cut on green foliage? I've read that the greenery is helpful toward photosynthesis in the spring? Is that true or just a myth?
 
  • #69
Thanks for the comments everyone! :)
glad you are all enjoying all this..
(sorry im behind on updating the webpage..I will get to that soon..)

One question, though: Why a buzz cut on green foliage? I've read that the greenery is helpful toward photosynthesis in the spring? Is that true or just a myth?

Jim,
I cut off all the greenery for two reasons:

1. Im afraid all that foliage will be a feeding ground for fungus..because my plants are wrapped up tight all winter..no light, no circulating air.

2. space! which used to be at a premium when I actually used the fridge!
now that im using the basement stairwell rather than the fridge, I suppose technically I could now bag up the bogs without cutting off everything, because space is no longer an issue..

honestly, ive never tried it! leaving all the greenery on while bagging them up..
logically I think it would be a bad idea..but I dont know for sure.

If I left them out in the "open air" somewhere, like a garage, where they could be protected from outdoor temps but still get some light, then leaving all the greenery would make a lot more sense..but I dont have that option..

and yes, I agree leaving all the greenery on would definately give the plants a "head start" in the spring..so there are benefits to leaving the greenery intact..

but I have never felt my plants "suffer" at all from having the greenery cut off..
yes, perhaps they would do better in the spring if I didnt cut it all off..
but I dont feel that they do badly in the spring! ;)

So I simply cut away all the greenery because thats what works best for me..
mainly because of the way I bag my plants up..no light, no air circulation.
no greenery is a bonus for that kind of setup..
yes it might "slow" the plants in the spring compared to leaving the greenery on..
but for me thats a non-issue, because im perfectly happy with my "slow" plants in the spring! :) I think they do just fine...


Scot
 
  • #72
icon-woo.gif

its SPRING again!
The "year in the life" has come full circle!
icon_smile_big.gif


(well..as I said a year ago..its Spring for my plants, but definately not Spring for me!
it is 8 degrees F (negative 13 C) outside as I type this on March 3rd..there is still a good month of winter yet to go)

But the plants are ready to come out!
I took them out on February 22 this year..a week later than usual, but only because I was too busy the weekend before..actually, I have been considering just keeping them in the stairwell until April! but im still not sure how that would work..and since the plants have had plently long enough dormancy already (3.5 to 4 months by late February) its fine them for them to come out now..

Another sucessful winter's sleep!
everything appears alive!
they sit in front of the sliding glass doors until they go back outside for the season (usually mid-April)

CP2008-102.jpg


CP2008-103.jpg


CP2008-104.jpg


CP2008-105.jpg


CP2008-106.jpg


In the fall, as I was cutting off all the pitchers, I marked a few Sarracenia for re-planting in the spring..I had several smaller plants that were crowded in among much larger plants, and the larger plants were shading them too much, so im going to dig them out and plant the smaller plants into their own container, creating a 4th large mini-bog. They are all smallish "mixed hybrids"..As soon as we get a warm enough day, I will drag the bogs out onto the deck and do the repotting. I want at least a 40 degree day (+4C) to do that! there are no 40 degree days coming anytime soon.

CP2008-107.jpg



These 4 smaller pots are the S. minor clump, a pot of D. filliformis, the D. binata clump (which STILL needs repotting! I didnt do it last year!) :-(
but this spring Im going to cut it in half and create two D. binata pots.
and the 4th small pot is a S. flava 'veinless' that is going to get repotted into to the new sarracenia bog.

So thats all for now!
I will update the re-planting whenever I get to it..hopefully in a week or two..I would like to do it before all the plants start serious new growth.

then that will probably be the end of "year in the life 2008"!
a full year documented.

thanks,
Scot
 
  • #73
Yet ANOTHER great update! Thanks for sharing. :D
 
  • #74
Thanks! :)

Here is a new page I just added..a look at the yearly temps:



(click on the chart)

thanks,
Scot
 
  • #75
fantastic Scott. I always love your year in a life updates. Can u tell me how u recorded and monitored those temperatures? I want to do something like that too....basically a comprehensive journal of my nepenthes growing.
 
  • #76
fantastic Scott. I always love your year in a life updates. Can u tell me how u recorded and monitored those temperatures? I want to do something like that too....basically a comprehensive journal of my nepenthes growing.

thanks vraev..

making the chart was somewhat complicated, but not too bad once you get into it..

1. goto: http://www.wunderground.com/

2. enter your city/state in the search field at the very top. - click "go".

3. down at the bottom, there might be more specific local "weather stations"..if so, click on one.

4. you will see "Daily Summary for March 5, 2009" click on the "yearly" tab.

5. that opens up a massive chart of data for the whole year!

6. I then copied the entire mass of data and pasted it into excel..
then deleted everything except for three columns: date, high temp, low temp.

7. then graphed the data in excel.

8. did a screen capture to make the final .gif in photoshop.
then added in text, colors, various lines, etc..

9. save it as a big .gif
done! :)

I actually made it in bits and pieces..adding new data in every few months until the whole chart was done..
I worked on it in several 15 minute spans over the past year..
all told, I probably spent an hour total making the chart...maybe 2 hours..but I never kept track.

Scot
 
  • #77
Fantastic, Scot! Always look forward to your updates. And hey, the plants look great - you're going to have a banner spring!

Max
 
  • #78
i love these updates
 
  • #79
You've got a nice webpage.
 
  • #80
Update!
March 14, 2009
Time for a repotting..its overdue.

Got some new peat moss:

CP2008-108-1.jpg


Im going to take some sarrs out of the three large minibogs and make a 4th, smaller minibog,
which will contain the "misfits"! ;)
then the three big bogs will be mostly all one variety of Sarr..plus VFTs..

One bog will be Leah wilkerson and three S. 'excellens'
One bog will be all Judith Hindle.
One bog will be all Leucophylla.
and the forth, new bog will be a mix of sarrs..
and oh yeah, im also separating out the Sarracenia rubra ssp. alabamensis AL-02 and giving it its own pot.

The D. binata pot REALLY needs to be repotted! :(

CP2008-109-1.jpg


im going to cut the mass in half, seperate the two halves, and re-plant both in a larger pot,
to make more room to grow.

the binata pot after repotting:

CP2008-110-1.jpg


And the new minibog:

CP2008-111-1.jpg


containing random sarrs taken out of the larger bogs.
 
Back
Top