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Method for providing VFT Dormancy

I thought it would be interesting to learn what people living in very cold climates do to provide winter dormancy for VFTs. Where I live it gets a little too cold in the winter to leave them outside without protection, and I don't have a greenhouse. (Actually, it gets a lot cold.) I had to get creative, and a few years ago I came up with the idea of using a picnic cooler, which has worked out just fine. I have a piece of rigid clear plastic that I place over the top when I open the cooler on sunny days, which is adjusted through the use of some very high-tech sticks, like a cold frame. I put large square plastic containers in the bottom that are filled with several gallons of water to moderate the temperature at night when the cooler is closed, and the plants sit on top of those in their water trays. My VFTs have never frozen and have come through each winter just fine using this method.
 
cool idea!
your winters are probably just warm enough where that could work..
up here I think everything would freeze solid if left outdoors, even with a cold-frame over the top..

so basically you have erected a cold frame to gather heat during the day, the water holds on to some of that warmth, radiates it out into the cavity at night, and keeps things just above freezing?
nice! thats a very cool system..

I prefer to just pack my plants away for 4 months..
been using this method for 17 years now:

http://gold.mylargescale.com/scottychaos/CP/page2.html

http://gold.mylargescale.com/scottychaos/CP/page5c.html


Scot
 
I'm seriously considering buying a sulfur-based fungicide and doing a bare root dormancy this year, so that next year I can have plants in individual pots, with fresh media. Those buckets are getting cumbersome!
 
It gets pretty cold here, too. Last winter it was brutal, but the plants did fine. They never froze, even when I couldn't get to them for a couple of days. If I had an attached unheated garage I would just put them in there. A friend of mine nearby does that with his.
 
Thats not a bad idea. Last winter it got pretty cold, so I just threw my plants into my unheated garage. They did quite fine and I didn't really see any negative effects. Previous to January and its snow storms, I just left them outsidec sheltered from the worst of the wind.
 
We have horrible winters here that stay below freezing for months. Sometimes it's even below 0 for over a week at a time. My first winter I didn't have many plants and I left them in a west facing basement window. The basement stays around 60, and next to the window is much cooler. That dormancy ended up being much too short for my liking however.

Now everything gets put in either a garbage bag or rubermaid container and put in the heated garage once temps start staying below freezing, or get under 20 at night. I'll usually check for water maybe once all winter and they can be ignored the rest of the season. Old traps normally get a little bit of mold growing, but I just trim those ones off once everything starts waking up.
 
I'm seriously considering the bare-root, sulfur fungicide approach this winter. This is mainly because I want to reorganize the temperates to a 1 pot - 1 plant setup, instead of the buckets and planters. The only exception are the rubras and Dana's Delight, because there are multiple plants.
 
cool idea!
your winters are probably just warm enough where that could work..
up here I think everything would freeze solid if left outdoors, even with a cold-frame over the top..

so basically you have erected a cold frame to gather heat during the day, the water holds on to some of that warmth, radiates it out into the cavity at night, and keeps things just above freezing?
nice! thats a very cool system..

I prefer to just pack my plants away for 4 months..
been using this method for 17 years now:

http://gold.mylargescale.com/scottychaos/CP/page2.html

http://gold.mylargescale.com/scottychaos/CP/page5c.html

Scot

What he said.
 
I live in an area where it is too cold to stick them outside. So, I place them in a windowsill and watch them carefully, making sure they don't freeze solid. I found the windowsill to work very well for dormancy because I can control the temperature better than if I keep them out doors. Also, the plants get some light and are less likely to rot than if they were in a fridge. Plus, it is very easy to check in on them.

-Hermes.
 
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