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Too cold outside for dormancy

S

Superplant96

Hey, just a week ago i decided to become an owner of a sarracenia purp. var. venosa (i think),but it's a bit too cold outside to prepare it for dormancy. With temps dropping down too -15 degrees C (5 degrees F) at night i'm concerned. I would use the fridge method but i never tried it. Is it a good idea? (obviously there won't be much light in there)
 
Where are you located?
 
From what I hear they don't need light during dormancy. Just as long as they don't freeze solid, they're good. I'm no pro when it comes to sarrs, but it's to my understanding that you just cut off the traps and stick the pot in the fridge until spring.
 
do you have a garage or a 3-season porch or something like that?
 
Also, remember that S. purpurea is very hardy. Mine froze at least once for a day or two last year and grew very well this year. Mass's method works pretty well, just check it about once a week for fungus.
 
Ha ha ha ha Don't freeze solid huh? When i had my original circ bog up with plants all in singel tubs the tubs would freeze over solid. I mean one clump of ice, and I would have icicles hanging off the circ bog. I never lost a plant from it being a popcicle. I lost plants from peat being old and too far decomposed. I lost plants due to lack of light and being over crouded out. Even my VFT when grown right came back after being popcicles. I am in GA/SC so the freeze wasn't 5 degrees coldm, but it was cold enough to have ice. I have been told as long as you do not rapidly defrost the plant it will be fine. If it is allowed to warm up slowly like in nature the plant should be fine. Remember these plants live up in Canada. Atleast the purps do. And you cannot tell me they don't become popcicles in the wild.

---------- Post added at 03:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:36 PM ----------

Now my plants stay outside year round. Maybe it is the slow cool down that also helps. Might be a good idea to protect them this year and then let mother nature do the work the following year. I do know plants are capable of adapting slowly and not so well at doing it rapidly. Since you missed the cool down this year it might be a good idea to shelter it till the following winter. Then let it become a popcicle.
 
Yup purps can definitely be frozen rock solid. Its when they freeze/thaw/freeze/thaw that you run into troubles. Now of course you cant have the plant growing inside with warm temperatures then go straight to frozen.
 
Mine spend the winter in a dark fridge at 32-36 degrees F. In the few years I have done it this way have lost 1 plant. Other methods I have used include the garage. No matter the method I use they do well. Usually the only time I loose a plant is right when they come out of dormancy for some reason. Overall sarracenia are pretty tough plants from my stand point.
 
i lost over half of my outdoor plants a couple years ago because of a cold snap. it stayed about 10 degrees farenheit for over two weeks. ive had my plants freeze before but i think that was just too hardcore for them....
 
  • #10
I live in Poland, in the mountain-ish part, so it's pretty cold here already.I don't have a cold garage, so it's either outside, inside or fridge. I'll go with fridge 'cause during winter temps sometimes get down to -30 at day over here. By spring my sarr might be freeze-dried.
 
  • #12
Then it's the fridge. Oh, and one more thing. As it looks like the pot will explode 'cause of the root system, i'm going to replant it. But i'm running low of peat( I dont have any left :glare:), so i'd like to know if i could use pure live sphagnum moss(I have LOADS of it in my yard) mixed with a little perlite ?
 
  • #13
Live Sphagnum moss works. You might not even need perlite. You'll have to experiment to see what works best depending on your conditions. The drawback I find with using live Sphagnum is it overgrows the crown making it difficult to spot and treat pest infestations such as mealybugs.
 
  • #14
I would strongly suggest replanting it in the spring just before growth starts instead of this fall. While fridge dormancy works, it can make the plants more succeptible to fungus, since they will be in an enclosed space with no air movement. The risk of fungus increases if you divide plants, damage roots, etc while repotting, which stresses the plant and exposes tissue to be attacked by fungus. Just keep that in mind and have a fungicide handy. Monitor the plants frequently for fungus either way while they are in the fridge. Disturb them as little as possible untill spring.
Other people might have different opinions based on their conditions, but this has been my experience.
 
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  • #15
'K, will do... I already prepared a solution of fungicide and watered the plant with it. Now to cut off those pitchers :cry:
Thanks for the help, C' ya.
 
  • #16
In the video linked to above the nursery owner mentions he does not wash the fungicide out before bagging them up. I would guess there is a fungicide in the water he uses to rinse the media out of the roots, hence the gloves.
 
  • #17
I didn't cut off the pitchers, only the bad looking ones. My thought was that it is such a waste of the plant's energy after producing all thiose pitchers. Maybe in spring, those remaining pitchers will continue to grow in size if they're not dead ?? Am I right in thinking that ? This is my first year winterizing Saracenias.
 
  • #18
Once a pitcher is open, it's not gonna do any more growing (I think, it's my first winter too)
 
  • #19
i would think they still contain nutrients the plant hasnt absorbed yet. kinda like the way leaves change color in the fall is because the tree is sucking all the nutrients out to store for spring. that's my thinking anyways...

i trim off any pitchers that are 3/4 dead or more and just trim the dead part off
 
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