Its another misconception that dormancy is "more dangerous" than no dormancy..
for a normal plant, dormancy is very healthy, necessary in fact..and no dormancy = death.
but yes, these are not "normal" plants..at least not yet..
they need a full year of normal seasons to get themselves acclimated..
I'm thinking I'm going to let both the VFT and Sarr skip dormancy this year since they're fresh out of tissue culture..
thats the crux of the problem..you dont *know* if they are fresh out of TC..of if they have been in the death cubes languishing for half a year..
If they have actually been in the cubes only a few weeks, I agree generally its probably safer to skip dormancy for this winter...but if they have been in the cubes since spring, and in a *somewhat* decent environment, then they might already be attempting to go dormant right now..and it would be best to continue that..
Probably the best way to tell how the long the plant has been in the cube is the overall condition of the death cube plant when you buy it..
If its all perky and fresh and looks really nice, then yes, its probably quite recently out of TC..its not *ready* for dormancy at all, because it hasnt had months to prepare for it..I think in Daves case, his plant probably falls into that category..it could probably handle either method..dormancy or no...at this point, I have to agree No dormancy is probably the somewhat safer course..only because of the time of year, and because the plant looks so good...
but generally speaking, a lot of people seem to think that ANY death cube plant should *always* skip the first winters dormancy..this is not always true..and sometimes that could be a very bad idea..it depends on the plant, its condition, and when you buy it..
any death cube plant purchased March - August should just go outside with the rest of the collection and be allowed to go dormant that winter...Death cube plants really shouldnt be puchased Oct-Feb at all IMO..but if you do buy one in the winter, then yes, the plant really cant handle dormancy, and its probably best to keep it in a bright windowsill all winter, put it outside in the spring, then let it go dormant the following winter...
Scot