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Over-wintering

glider14

Always a newbie
Ok i live in northern Kentucky(zone 6) and we can get some pretty harsh winters. i am hoping to get a large S. Flava soon(late B-day present) and i have virtually no experience with dormancy. i have seen some tactics of other members and i came acroos the process of over wintering. what is it? will it keep my plants alive? how do i do it? and are there any other ways you can think of for dormancy. i tried the fridge technique last year on two VFTs and they both rotted so i dont want to try it again. please help!
alex
 
I keep my VFT's, Sarrs, Cobra Lily, temerate sundews in buckets as minibogs. Then when mid-November comes around I just take them up to the attic, where it is cold but not frigid, and place them by a south facing window sill. The photoperiod continues to decline and then increases, while temps fluctuate. By March, the plants naturally break dormancy. by April, they go outside again.

Or, youcam mulch heavily with peat and pine needles if kept outside. WildBill illustrates his method in a post.
 
Thanks Jim. we are now considering turning my attic(which is used for storage) into a winter grow area for CPs by adding some sky windows. I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS!! it was mentioned at dinner so i basically just found out. I can just imagine the plants i could grow in these conditions!
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thanks Jim for your advice!
alex
 
You're very welcome!
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You have plenty of options.  I sink the pots into the ground and cover the plants with a pile of oak leaves and put a simple lean-to overtop to keep snow from building up on the leaves.  If I didn't know how well it works for him, I would think Jim's attic method is a terrible idea.  Shows how much I don't know.  Wild Bill's winter set-up is impressive, but looks like too much work for me.
 
I do my wintering from thanksgiving to april fools.Just cover them and let them be. You shouldn't have to water at all.
 
Here's an image of the setup.

DormBed.jpg


We moved last year so the new dormancy bed was different - about 18 inches high and thicker boards. Also, one year I lost a bunch of VFTs to varmint voles so I put wire windowscreen mesh underneath the entire floor of the new bed.

This year everything came through OK, when I get a chance I'll post a pic of this year's post-dormancy bed showing the plants after all the layers have been removed.
 
Bill, they're gorgeous! I found your original post, but the pictures were no longer hosted.
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