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Dormancy

I'm trying to figure out how to do dormancy for my Typical VFT (and my Sarracenia flava "Rugelli"). I'd prefer not to do the fridge method for a variety of reasons, but temperatures go freezing for long periods here and sometimes hit as low as zero, so outside would be a bad idea too.

I'm currently thinking of placing them on a Southern facing windowsill in our spare bedroom upstairs. We keep the door to the bedroom closed and the heat vent turned off in there, so it will likely get down to around 60 degrees (or possibly a bit colder) in there during the coldest part of the winter. I'm guessing that being by a window will cause a drop of a few degrees beyond that at least.

So will this be enough? Any thoughts? I've looked around the forum yet but haven't seen much mention of actual temperatures; just references to "cold". Thanks...
 
Won't it actually heat up from the sun coming through the glass. What is it greenhouse effect?
 
A temperature of around 45 - 60F for the three months, coupled with short daylight should be enough for dormancy.
 
The thermal transfer from sunlight will be minimal in the winter and I doubt it will give it more than another degree or two. The sun's pretty weak around here that time of year, and blotted out by snowstorms more often than not. In any case, when the outside temperature is well below freezing anything within a few feet of a window will experience a good five degree drop in temperature. I can guarantee that the plants will experience temperatures into the 50s, even if it's just at night.
 
Thanks Alexis; that's what I was looking for.
smile.gif
 
Do you have a garage? Why can't you use the fridge?

If you have a bog, you can mulch it heavily.
 
What I like to do is if the pot is small enough, dig a hole, and stick the pot in so the plant is sticking out at ground level. Then put some leaves on top of the area where I dug the hole, or even cover the plant.

-Ben
 
VFT's and Sarracenias can take freezing temps. It happens in nature. You CAN keep the plants outside as long as they aren;t experiencing deep freezes, uninsulated. On the other hand, you can do like I have been doing - toting my buckets of minibogs to the cold attic, with temps from just above freezing to the 50's. I had them all at a SW window sill, from December through March. In due time, starting in February, they woke up.
 
Ahh, people give us crap about being southern, but atleast we have fabulous weather
cool.gif
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  • #10
Yeah,you can't beat the south for growing those wonderfull cps outside!


Jerry
 
  • #11
[b said:
Quote[/b] (JustLikeAPill @ Sep. 13 2006,9:16)]Ahh, people give us crap about being southern, but atleast we have fabulous weather
cool.gif
 .
LOL! Maybe from Decmber through February, but outside of that, it's too hot and humid. Gimme snow and an extra flannel shirt any day to heat & humidity!
 
  • #12
[b said:
Quote[/b] (JustLikeAPill @ Sep. 13 2006,7:25)]Do you have a garage?
I do have a rather large unfinished garage and basement.  However, lighting conditions would be nearly nonexistant and I'm not sure the temperature would stay cold enough for the plants to enter a real deep dormancy like in a fridge.



[b said:
Quote[/b] (JustLikeAPill @ Sep. 13 2006,7:25)]If you have a bog, you can mulch it heavily.
That would be nice, but no.



Thanks everyone else for your suggestions. I'll go ahead and give this a try. If it doesn't look like it's getting cold enough I can always crack the window a bit...
 
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