Ridetsu
Gamer
After summer turned to fall back on 07, i began to grow a little anxious about my VFTs. I had grown them outdoors on my lawn-table (that got full sunlight all day during summer), and wasn't able to move them inside do to space restrictions.
Now, i live in Eugene Oregon... a valley in a very cold and rainy state. I know what winters are like here, and i was generally very skeptical about the survival of my VFTs. Around late November / early December it started raining every day, and freezing over every night. There was nothing i could do but sit and wait.
Now its mid February and the sun is finally staying out for more than an hour or two a day. I went out to check my traps after basically leaving them alone for a couple months, and boy was i surprised.
Not only did all of them survive (I'm closely watching a RYU who seems a bit weak), but on all of them another clump seems to have risen out of the ground with smaller traps and leafs.
It made me start thinking about how we treat and perceive these plants. All the advice we read seems to tell us that these things are as fragile as glass, and require highly optimal environmental settings or they die.
Let me explain some of the weather my plants made it through...
Sunlight: generally it is overcast here in the winter. When the sun shines through the grey, its almost cause for a city-wide celebration.
Watering: It rains almost every day.. sometimes for several hours at a time. Heavy rain, light rain, all of it. With only minor care towards putting some sphagnum on the deteriorated top layer once a month, their was little to no damage.
Adverse conditions: This year in Eugene is snowed for about a week straight (which i think weakened my RYU considerably). All of my plants were covered in snow for that week. On top of all that, we had a pretty nasty wind storm that hit in late November with 75 mph winds.
Temperature: Quite literally we consider 55 degrees a heat-wave during the winter here. Every night any standing water was frozen solid. EVERY night. Since it rained every day as well, and water would settle on top the soil (basically over-watering), water would freeze around the roots and leafs of the traps. And when it wasn't ice, it was powerfully strong frost that actually killed patches of grass in my lawn.
Since it never got above 45 or so, the ice would last almost all day long... constantly being bombarded by water from the rain as well.
Overall, i was quite shocked. I never had to water my plants since it rained constantly, and so i pretty much forgot about them for about 3 months. These plants are TOUGH. Seriously, i have never seen a plant withstand that much punishment, and still show signs of reproductive success.
maybe we should start considering these plants being much more durable than we are lead to believe. I might post pictures here if anyone is interested.
Now, i live in Eugene Oregon... a valley in a very cold and rainy state. I know what winters are like here, and i was generally very skeptical about the survival of my VFTs. Around late November / early December it started raining every day, and freezing over every night. There was nothing i could do but sit and wait.
Now its mid February and the sun is finally staying out for more than an hour or two a day. I went out to check my traps after basically leaving them alone for a couple months, and boy was i surprised.
Not only did all of them survive (I'm closely watching a RYU who seems a bit weak), but on all of them another clump seems to have risen out of the ground with smaller traps and leafs.
It made me start thinking about how we treat and perceive these plants. All the advice we read seems to tell us that these things are as fragile as glass, and require highly optimal environmental settings or they die.
Let me explain some of the weather my plants made it through...
Sunlight: generally it is overcast here in the winter. When the sun shines through the grey, its almost cause for a city-wide celebration.
Watering: It rains almost every day.. sometimes for several hours at a time. Heavy rain, light rain, all of it. With only minor care towards putting some sphagnum on the deteriorated top layer once a month, their was little to no damage.
Adverse conditions: This year in Eugene is snowed for about a week straight (which i think weakened my RYU considerably). All of my plants were covered in snow for that week. On top of all that, we had a pretty nasty wind storm that hit in late November with 75 mph winds.
Temperature: Quite literally we consider 55 degrees a heat-wave during the winter here. Every night any standing water was frozen solid. EVERY night. Since it rained every day as well, and water would settle on top the soil (basically over-watering), water would freeze around the roots and leafs of the traps. And when it wasn't ice, it was powerfully strong frost that actually killed patches of grass in my lawn.
Since it never got above 45 or so, the ice would last almost all day long... constantly being bombarded by water from the rain as well.
Overall, i was quite shocked. I never had to water my plants since it rained constantly, and so i pretty much forgot about them for about 3 months. These plants are TOUGH. Seriously, i have never seen a plant withstand that much punishment, and still show signs of reproductive success.
maybe we should start considering these plants being much more durable than we are lead to believe. I might post pictures here if anyone is interested.