Flytrapsicle

[moonflower]

i was attempting to put my flytraps into dormancy by leaving them in my common room window, figuring they'd get cooler temps and steadily decreasing light there that would say "ok, naptime." this was going along quite well until one of my suitemates decided to open the window this morning and let the 16-degree F air hit them directly.... and now i have two venus flytrap popsicles.

will these guys live at all or should i just invest in some new traps in the spring? (or skip flytraps entirely and pick up some more neps... tropicals are so much simpler...)

EDIT: forgot to mention, i stuck them on the heater for a few minutes to try and thaw them out a bit... is this OK or am i just putting the nail in the coffin?

 

[Gawd_oOo]

THey should be fine. Mine have a few inches of snow on them right now.. That might be alittle much, but I am holding out hope.

I'd take them off the heater and put them back into the window. Open or closed it shouldn't matter, they can handle brief drops down that low. It is just prolonged deep freezes that can kill them.

I have been thinking of getting as many different clones as possible and see if I can find a clone that can handle wisconsin winters.

 

[scupbucket]

All my plants (except the sundews) are frozen stiff in my garage. They're still holding some good white roots and the centers all still green so I'm not worried... yet. I guess we'll see in the Spring but I'm confident they'll be OK. You should be fine as well. They seem a lot more durable of a little plant than people make them seem to be (I hope).

 

[seedjar]

Humidity is the key. VFTs can survive a freeze, but cold air is very dry, and they won't survive dehydration. Like everybody else said, they'll be fine on your sill. Just don't leave them alone to dry out in a draft. If your roomies tend to open the windows a lot, you could put your plants in an open plastic bag, to give them a little extra shelter from the breeze.
Good luck,
~Joe

 

[jimscott]

Hey there, Heather... As the others have said, they should be fine. Mine did that too, the previous winter. I had them in a screened in porch and a cold snap froze them. I simply moved them, as is, in their little pot, to the butter keeper of our fridge. While my wife wasn't exactly impressed by this maneuver, the plants didn't object. That was in December. In February, I moved them back to the lab fridge, where it was ~40 degrees. After a couple more weeks, I moved them to the coldest window sill, in my work area (~55 degrees). That very day, something triggered a trap and to my total surprise - it shut (somewhat slowly). By Late March I had them outside and in April, I was being rewarded with flowers. Is there a fridge you can put yours in?

 

[moonflower]

i guess i'll just have to wait and see on these guys then... they're looking rather brown and sorry for themselves now though.

i'd put them in my dorm fridge but it's ridiculously temperamental... it freezes things on any given shelf if it gets bored. plus it has to be turned off over winter break. somehow i don;t think my parents would take too kindly to hosting a few flytraps in their fridge until the spring... time will tell if i'm making a Home Depot run in march i guess!

 

[jimscott]

Okay, here's what ya do: You put your VFT in a Chinese take-out container, and hide it in the back of the fridge You label it, "Heather's... do not open until March... under penalty of death (or at least severe retribution)".

Or... you can do the tried and true WildBill thing:  WildBill's most excellent opus for dormancy in the Northeast

I have another idea... it involves a stream.....

 

[Alvin Meister]

Quote[/b] ]EDIT: forgot to mention, i stuck them on the heater for a few minutes to try and thaw them out a bit... is this OK or am i just putting the nail in the coffin?

Oh dear. That's probably the worse thing you could have done! A flytrap will survive fine encased in ice and they need to be thawed very slowly. Put them directly on a heater and you will end up with brown sludge.

New flytraps in the spring for you I think!