Frozen pots

[fiziks]

Greetings. I've read some of the posts dealing with the cold and dormancy. I have a question about the pots being frozen. I live in north central Ohio (zone 5a). I had received some vft and purple pitcher plants that I slowly put into dormancy. I placed the CPs in a large container and filled the container with about 3/4" of water. I placed the whole thing near a window in my garage. My garage is attached to the house and lightly insulated. From the recent arctic blast we had (we had some days where the high was -2F and wind chills -20F). The water was frozen and so were the pots. The plants have been protected from wind and some from the huge temperature fluctuations. My question, what should I had done, if anything? Should I bring them in? Will bringing them in and thawing (and possibly refreezing them) cause more damage? Please help. I'm sorry for the newbie questions.

Thanks,
Dwight

 

[Not a Number]

I wouldn't thaw them, maybe move them to a slightly warmer area in the garage but that's it.

About the only thing you could have done given enough forewarning was to move them to a slightly better protected area (warmer) area in the garage or attic if you have one and it is warmer or covered the plants (mulching).

If the Sarracenia purpurea are ssp purpurea they're probably ok because they're adapted for freezing weather. The flytraps you'll probably just have to trust to fate, although one website shows an outdoor pot of VFTs in the Portland, OR area that remained frozen throughout one winter and grew just fine in the spring.

 

[fiziks]

I've seen similar photos of vft frozen and covered in snow. I am hoping that mine fair as well. I was thinking of covering them up with something, but was afraid of fungus/rot occuring. I had read from someone that they just leave their cps in their pots in their garage and uncovered so that they didn't have to worry about using a fungicide or wind burning. When it started getting bitterly cold, I moved them towards the wall that is adjacent to the house, hoping that some of the residual heat from the house will keep them slightly warmer. Now that the temperature is going up (mid 30s F- 40s F), I've moved them closer to the window.

 

[Clint]

Pff mine get frozen annually. It's fine.

The ones at the lake at the soil washed away and the rhizome was completely above ground and frozen. I just pushed it back down and it's fine.

 

[Alexis]

VFTs are fine at well below freezing, but you did well to keep them out of the wind.

Never bring a frozen VFT straight into somewhere warm, like a house. They don't like being defrosted quickly.

 

[JMurphy97]

I did that last year. I had mushy venus flytraps.

 

[Outsiders71]

Like the others said freezing is no big deal. I'm from the Cleveland area and I purposely let my plants experience one good freeze before I bring them inside my garage. What you could have done differently is not give your plants so much water. They only need to be moist in the winter time. I wait for the times where we get rain instead of snow and throw the pots outside to catch some water. I then dump the excess water from the trays and sit them back in the garage.