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Dormancy Question

I've had my plants in a cool place all winter. The plant lost all its traps, but it still had some green stalks and looked alive and well, dormant. We had some warmer weather (60s - 70s) in NY. So I decided to put the outside for some sun for a few days. Since then they have yellowed badly and appear to be dying. I have no idea what happened. They made it through an entire winter and in just a few days of sun they deteriorated badly. Is there a chance they are still alive? ???
 
Sorry, they are VFTs (3 of them). The same exact thing happened to all 3.
 
It might be sun burn, especially if the leaves are turning black from the edges. It's usually best to ease them into full sun over a couple weeks or so. It might put your plants back a few weeks but usually they recover.
 
Whatever kind of plant it is (though that would be helpful to know), if you had it in a dark place all winter and then all of a sudden put it in full sun, the plant is not used to full sun and the leaves can burn or show light stress. It shouldn't be much to worry about though, the plant will put up new leaves that are made for full sun if you keep it there. No plant likes sudden changes though.

---------- Post added at 10:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:03 PM ----------

I'm positive it is still alive below the soil, assuming you are otherwise taking care of it correctly. Like I said, the sudden change just burned it's leaves, but it will produce more. Keep it in the sun and it should come back to full health.
 
Can you post any photos? that would be helpful..

your plants are probably fine..if they came through winter dormancy and the stems were still green, they are probably fine..could be sunburn, but if they were "last years leaves" that were already growing in the full sun last season, then they shouldnt burn...unless they were plants you perhaps just bought last fall?

here is a demo on what sun burn looks like:

http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/scottychaos/CP/page5a.html

(near the bottom of that page)
but those are leaves that grew indoors for a month or so, and so weren't acclimated to full sun..
what is the history of your VFT's? were they outdoors in full sun last summer/autumn?

Scot
 
The stalks/stems were left over from last year, but the traps had fallen off as the plants went into dormancy. They were in a cool hallway during the winter where they didn't get direct sun, but they got a little sun through a window. It got cold again in NY so I brought them back in, but they look pretty bad. Unfortunately, I don't have a camera.

I only have them one year. They did very well outdoors last spring and summer. As it got cold they started to go dormant. They got caught in one surprise overnight frost/freeze. I brought them in right after that and they went totally dormant. They lost all the traps, but retained some stems that remained green through the winter but did not grow at all.
 
One frost won't hurt them. Is the crown of the plant visible? Does it still look green down in the crown if so? That would be a good sign if so.

If it's burn, I'm pretty sure that is happening to my purpurea I just got. If you look closely you can see the areas that are somewhat shaded are still pinkish, the brown spotty areas are where I'm assuming the previous grower had them buried too.
2gxp72e.jpg

I'm not too worried about it though, and you shouldn't be too worried either, it should bounce back.
 
Sounds lie it was too much too fast and they reacted. You'll just have to wait it out to see if it was only shock.
 
  • #10
Thanks. I'll you know as soon as I know.
 
  • #11
It's still very cold in NY so I have them back in a hallway for now. They look terrible and show no signs of recovery, but there is still some green close to the bottom so I am holding out hope.
 
  • #12
It's still kind of cold in NY, but I have them outside.

One of the three VFTs seems to be alive. It has two green stems that are growing in length and they have very tiny traps that haven't opened yet, but they look healthy.

The other two don't look so good.

There are a couple very tiny stems that are still green, but the tiny unopened traps seem to have dried up and died and there is no sign of fresh growth anywhere. As long as there is some green, I am holding out hope because it's still not very warm in NY. but it's not encouraging.

I wish this wasn't my first dormancy and return so I'd have a better idea of what's going on.
 
  • #13
It's still kind of cold in NY, but I have them outside.

I'm not sure what your personal definition of "kind of cold" is..
but whatever it is, ignore it! ;) human perceptions of cold are meaningless when it comes to plants..

For VFT's, if its above 32 degrees F, they should be outside..
its that simple..
35 is warm enough, 40 is warm enough, 45 is warm enough, etc..

and where in NY state are you that it was "kind of cold" today?!
it was almost 80 here in Western NY..

Scot
 
  • #14
I'm in NYC. The weather got really nice for awhile, but in the last few days it got nastier and colder. The temperature dropped back into the low 50s and probably hit 40s at night. I was under the impression that they would remain in dormancy at that temperature. Are your VTFs starting to come out of dormancy now despite the volatile temperatures so far?
 
  • #15
I'm in NYC. The weather got really nice for awhile, but in the last few days it got nastier and colder. The temperature dropped back into the low 50s and probably hit 40s at night. I was under the impression that they would remain in dormancy at that temperature. Are your VTFs starting to come out of dormancy now despite the volatile temperatures so far?

"I was under the impression that they would remain in dormancy at that temperature."
is totally irrelevant..not something you should even worry about..
no, they don't technically remain dormant at those temps..

yes, the plants wont grow *quickly* when the temp is in the 40's or 50's..but that's also irrelevant! ;) What is most important is the plants be outside in those 40 and 50 degree temps so that they *can* come out of dormancy slowly..they might not do much, visually, in March and April, but what you *cant* see happening is still happening, and its very important..what you cant see happening is that the plants are slowly "waking up"..visible, active growth will begin when its ready to begin..meanwhile its still important that the plants be allowed to be outside as temperature and photo period *very gradually* increases throughout the spring..

We, as humans, "wake up" in the span of about a minute or less..
plants "wake up" from dormancy over the span of 2 or 3 months..its those 30, 40 and 50 degree days in the early spring that wake them up, (and gradually increasing photo period) that's why they need to be outside in those temps..

I have a maple tree in the front yard that fully leafed out over the past 4 days..which seems "fast"..but! it was, in reality, working on the "leafing out process" for the past 2 months..there was a lot going on that simply isn't all that visible to us..

Same is true in the fall..people think plants "go dormant" in about the span of one month..October...in reality, plants *begin* the process of going dormant in June! when the photo period begins to decrease..

So..my point is..you are worrying too much! ;)
if its above 32 degrees, leave the plants outside and don't worry about them..

my plants aren't doing much yet..flower stalks on the sarrs are poking up, but no real VFT growth has begun yet..but that's normal for this time of year..
May will be an active growth month! its the first "real" month of spring (weather-wise) for most of NY state..hang in there! :)

Scot
 
  • #16
my plants aren't doing much yet..flower stalks on the sarrs are poking up, but no real VFT growth has begun yet..but that's normal for this time of year..
May will be an active growth month! its the first "real" month of spring (weather-wise) for most of NY state..hang in there!

Scot

Same here. 2 months ago, during that warm spell, I had lots of new growth and flower stalks - only to get killed when reality returned.
 
  • #17
Mine have been outside now for the past 3-4 weeks. If we're getting down to freezing I cover them with old towels. They all are coming along. Quite a few Sarr. flowers growing too. We got to 81 degrees F. here Friday! 65 right now though.
 
  • #18
Two of my plants have clearly survived. I am seeing new growth. :-D

Unfortunately it appears one did not make it. Whatever green was still there has died off and I see no signs of any new stalks etc.. :-(
 
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