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6b Sarracenia Dormancy - Cold Climate Dormancy Question

  • Thread starter PolishJeff
  • Start date
Hi Everyone,

I've recently moved to a USDA 6b city and I'd love to hear your input on how I plan to protect my plants by Sarracenia and flytraps.

The plan:

I'm thinking that my collection can tolerate the winter conditions outdoors in a small unheated greenhouse - you've seen the ones I'm talking about. The mini-greenhouse (if you can call it that) with 6 trays that stands 4 feet tall with a thin transparent plastic tarp that covers it. I'm hoping I can keep my dormant Sarrs and Dionaea in something like this even if temperatures dip below freezing for a week or two.

My concern:

Pots will completely freeze even with protection from wind/snow and the plants won't be able to absorb water.

What are your thoughts and experience in growing in cold climates? Do you think I need more insulation or protection? Unfortunately I can't get my plants in the ground this year and need to keep them in pots for now, otherwise this would be the game plan.

Coming from a USDA 9a city, this is a change for me :)

Thanks,

Jeff
 
I grow sarrs and VFTs in zone 6b, for dormancy this year, I have a big hole in the ground and right before the first frost I plan to chop them nearly down to the base and put them in the hole. Then, I cover them with pine needles and put a tarp over it all. The ground insulates the sarrs so it doesn't get too cold.
 
I grow sarrs and VFTs in zone 6b, for dormancy this year, I have a big hole in the ground and right before the first frost I plan to chop them nearly down to the base and put them in the hole. Then, I cover them with pine needles and put a tarp over it all. The ground insulates the sarrs so it doesn't get too cold.

Thanks, Nepenthes. That's the plan for winter 2020 :) Any tips for keeping potted sarrs above ground?
 
Thanks, Nepenthes. That's the plan for winter 2020 :) Any tips for keeping potted sarrs above ground?

I would recommend insulating them well with pine needles and maybe put them a little closer to your house. Here's a link to the blog I went off of- https://zone6b.wordpress.com. I'm no expert on this, just trying to get my sarrs to survive the cold winters here:-)).
 
I used to live in Michigan and I would always put my whole collection on racks in my unheated garage. Worked great.
 
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