Greetings from Minnesota

[Rareraven]

Hello to everyone here!
So I'm from Minnesota and I starting collecting CPs a two years ago, I'm still new to all of this. Just to prove to you how new I am, I'll tell you a story.
A year ago around winter dormancy I thought that Carnivorous plants didn't need water during their winter dormancy, so I put my three plants in my basement near a window. During all of winter I didnt water them, sadly all of the plants died. From this, I looked up more about winter dormancy care. So after my failed first try with winter dormancy I restarted my collection of plants this past summer and now I have about five temperate plants, three young neptenthes plants, one tropical sundew. I even was brave enought to try my hands at a tuberous sundew.

I would like it some people from the mid west were to communicate with me so that I know what to do for those freezing below zero days we have. None of my temperate plants are outside, since they are not old enough for that sort of cold. Also I don't want to kill my plants. I've been using my basement sine its around 55 which is the temp for dormancy or so I have read online. My venus flytraps seem to still be active when ever I test the plant to see if its dormant or not. I read somewhere online that if the plant closes super slow then its in dormancy. However mine seem to close rather fast. I'm not sure what to do!

Thanks for welcoming me to the site.

 

[Cthulhu138]

Welcome aboard.

 

[Axelrod12]

Welcome to TF. You'll want to look into the care for each type of plant you are growing. There is lots to be learned and many experienced growers here willing to help.

From my experience, in dormancy flytraps tend to put out traps that hug the ground more and have shorter petioles.

If you want to keep your temperate plants like Sarracenia, flytraps, or even temperate Drosera outside year round they will need protection in your area. I live in CT, right on the edge of zone 7a and 6b. I put a rather thick layer of mulch over my in ground bog to protect the plants for the winter. Anything potted either goes in the garage or basement to protect it from the wind and cold. Dormancy is not just triggered by temperature. Plants also respond to the decreased sunlight and shorter photoperiods.

 

[xvart]

Welcome to Terraforums! Here is a thread with some good information about cold weather growing (sadly the pictures are broken). Not sure if you have an interest in bog gardens, but you can probably glean some information from there. Also, ScottyChaos has a couple threads about his fridge method of providing dormancy (some pictures are dead): Link, and Link.

Based on your description, I don't know if any of those are necessary. It sounds like your basement would be fine, as long as you provide some water now and then. Dormancy is actually triggered by the waning photoperiod, not the cold. I wouldn't necessarily rely on the speed of Dionaea muscipula traps closing as a good indicator of dormancy or not.

Again, welcome! I'm originally from the Midwest (Kansas).

xvart.

 

[jimscott]

Welcome to TF! Good advice above!

 

[Rareraven]

So its not the cold but the lighting? Is that what I'm hearing?

 

[dozer1028]

Welcome. .. I'm frozen in zone 6b ohio

 

[xvart]

So its not the cold but the lighting? Is that what I'm hearing?

It is the photoperiod that triggers dormancy, although typically a shorter photoperiod coincides with lower temperatures in nature. With less sunlight there is less photosynthesis occurring; therefore slower growth to conserve energy. Basements (or garages) are decent places to overwinter plants because they generally emulate the conditions of natural weather: less light (and lower temperature). Unless of course you have the lights on in your basement all the time!

Even tropical plants (such as Nepenthes) have a "dormancy" (I used quotations as it is far less significant or even noticeable in some cases) and will slow down growth in the winter because of the lower photoperiod. Some indoor growers will even adjust their indoor lighting setups to slowly decrease the amount of time the lights are one to emulate this, then slowly increase the photoperiod in the spring. Dormancy provides a rest period for plants.

All that said, it's always best to emulate natural conditions as closely as possible, so going with lower light levels and cooler temperatures is ideal. Plants in situ still get water during the winter, so you definitely will not want to cease all watering. Just think, though: if plants are converting energy at a lower rate during the winter, they will also need less water as a part of the photosynthesis process; but, they will still need some water as some energy is still being converted.

xvart.

 

[Rareraven]

I water my dormant plants every two or three weeks.