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New England has had a few hot days recently, but I didn't think much of it until today. I looked at the bog tray and saw a forked leaf sundew unfurling a pair of new leaves. One of my VFTs appears to be doing the same. I cracked open a window and the room rapidly dropped to a reasonable dormancy temperature again, but those two plants at least appear to have already woke up. Will they go back to sleep, or should I just treat them like I would in the summer and let them go through with their sleep next year? The sphagnum moss also started filling in(tiny little sprouts), which it doesn't do in the winter. The sundew at least looks like it's been through a full dormancy cycle in that the new leaves are nearly three times as large as the set it had last year, and the VFT looks like it might be growing again too. Will this have a negative effect on their health, seeing as they normally need to sleep for longer, or does the increase in size mean it counts as full to them? It should be noted that another three forked leaf sundews are still asleep, as are the other three VFTs. D. filliformis looks like it might have just started the wakeup process, then stopped midway through.
 
Are these plants indoors? In a heated room? If so, there's nothing you can do to prompt them back into dormancy once they've resumed growth. Temperate plants should not be overwintered indoors where temps are too warm to keep them in a dormant state.
 
Are these plants indoors? In a heated room? If so, there's nothing you can do to prompt them back into dormancy once they've resumed growth. Temperate plants should not be overwintered indoors where temps are too warm to keep them in a dormant state.

Indoors yes, in a heated room not really. The issue is that the past week or so has been in the upper fifties to low seventies.
 
Temperate species will not remain dormant if overwintered in a room where temps remain above 50F
 
Temperate species will not remain dormant if overwintered in a room where temps remain above 50F
I am very much aware of that. It would have been impossible to provide a lower temperature for them given the weather. I'm wondering if the time they got is enough so that they don't die over the summer.


Also, last year my VFTs were repeatedly in the low 60s during the day, and they stayed blackened and dormant until march.
 
Indoors yes, in a heated room not really. The issue is that the past week or so has been in the upper fifties to low seventies.

You lowered the temperature by opening a window so the problem is the inside temperature. :scratch: D. binata isn't temperate anyway
 
:scratch: D. binata isn't temperate anyway

There are forms of D.binata are indeed temperate. Many of them grow in very temperate areas of South Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand. I grow a small red form of D.binata binata and D.binata dichotoma "Giant' outside year round here in Boston.
 
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Temperate CP's should be kept outdoors, no questions about it. That said, messing up a single dormancy isn't going to kill your plants. If it happens a couple years in a row, the plant has problems. I've always been of the opinion that if you're going to be a bear, be a grizzly. Thankfully I don't, but if I had to give my temperates an indoor dormancy, it would be in a refrigerator.
 
Temperate CP's should be kept outdoors, no questions about it. That said, messing up a single dormancy isn't going to kill your plants. If it happens a couple years in a row, the plant has problems. I've always been of the opinion that if you're going to be a bear, be a grizzly. Thankfully I don't, but if I had to give my temperates an indoor dormancy, it would be in a refrigerator.
If I put them outdoors, they would freeze solid. It happened to someone I know last year, who had his in a heated birdbath in a box outside that kept them at about 40. Power went out for a day, whole bog garden was a brick and nothing grew back the next year.
You lowered the temperature by opening a window so the problem is the inside temperature. :scratch: D. binata isn't temperate anyway
Outdoor temperature was 55-65 the past week, indoor temperature went up to the same amount. Yesterday temperature dropped to 30, so I opened the window to get the indoor one down faster.

And whatever that forked sundew is, it's definitely temperate. Four of them sprouted from the pots of Sarracenia, so either the seeds went somewhere odd or they were grown alongside Sarracenia. I don't think they're a normal binata though.
 
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  • #10
Everyone living in a cold climate should read Carl Mazur's blog about growing temperate CPs in USDA zone 6. He grows all his plants in raised beds outdoors where they live year round. There are ways to accommodate the winter needs of temperate species that do not involve complicated workarounds like electrically heated birdbaths and stuffing the fridge full of bare-root rhizomes. That just ain't necessary!

PS: I cannot overemphasize how important it is to state where you live when soliciting advice for growing specific plants, and addressing specific climate-related issues. If you do not reveal anything about your climate/zone, its difficult to give appropriate advice.
 
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  • #11
I live in Connecticut. That is very irrelevant at the current time, seeing as I was only asking if they would reenter dormancy, which is a no, and if they would do well, which is a maybe.
 
  • #12
If I put them outdoors, they would freeze solid. It happened to someone I know last year, who had his in a heated birdbath in a box outside that kept them at about 40. Power went out for a day, whole bog garden was a brick and nothing grew back the next year.

Outdoor temperature was 55-65 the past week, indoor temperature went up to the same amount. Yesterday temperature dropped to 30, so I opened the window to get the indoor one down faster.

And whatever that forked sundew is, it's definitely temperate. Four of them sprouted from the pots of Sarracenia, so either the seeds went somewhere odd or they were grown alongside Sarracenia. I don't think they're a normal binata though.

If you pamper your temperate plants, you get wimpy plants that require pampering. Last winter was my first with my in ground bog. The previous 2, including the coldest and snowiest winter in recorded history here ( outside Philadelphia, zone 7A) they wintered over in above ground half barrels that got no protection beyond being placed near a south facing brick wall. There were two periods of approximately a week each in which temps dropped into the low single digits F at night and stayed below freezing all day. I assure you those barrels froze solid during those periods. Where are you located?
 
  • #13
Since the plant has broken dormancy, you'd be best to follow its lead and treat it as a growing plant. And to avoid this problem in the future, when the threat of freeze is past put the plants outside and keep them there.
 
  • #14
As John states, the problem already exists so you have little choice now. But it would be a much better option next year to induce a proper dormancy that involves leaving the truly temperate species outside - but making all reasonable provisions for their protection.

Divulging ones climate conditions is never "irrelevant" to any discussion about the proper care of the plants we cultivate.
 
  • #15
There are forms of D.binata are indeed temperate. Many of them grow in very temperate areas of South Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand. I grow a small red form of D.binata binata and D.binata dichotoma "Giant' outside year round here in Boston.

I grew a pot of D binata in an unheated (outside ambient tempterature) greenhouse for almost thirty years too. It finally succumbed when the temperature dropped too low. I suppose it depends on your definition of 'Temperate'.
 
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  • #16
No new growth on anything since this thread was posted, and Drosera binata's leaf stopped unfurling halfway. They appear to have returned to dormancy, but they could just be growing really slowly because it is cold again.
 
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