Question
QUESTION: Hello, Christopher. I have several questions regarding the dormancy of my carnivorous plants.

I have 1 Temperate Sarracenia, 1 normal Venus Flytrap, 2 Drosera Capensis, 1 Drosera Spathulata, 1 Nitidula Ericksonae (Drosera), 1 Drosera Binata, and 1 Pretty Rosette (pinkish-reddish hue on outside edges of leaves). I also have a tropical pitcher plant, but I know do not need dormancy.

My question is when should I put these plants into dormancy? How I would exactly take care of them while they are in dormancy, and how much I should water them per week? I heard you put them into the dark and barely water them during this period, but I wasn't sure that sounded like a good thing. Also, when does each of these plants' dormancy end, if it has one?

Thanks for your time in reading and responding!

ANSWER: Hello Devon,

The only plants you have that require dormancy are the Sarracenia and the Venus Flytrap. The rest are tropical or sub-tropical and do not require dormancy with the exception of the Drosera Nitidula Ericksonae which is a pygmy sundew that has specific dormancy requirements. As my profile indicates, I have no experience with pygmy sundews yet, so when I have time and room for them, I will be obtaining some for my own experience base. You will need to contact Sarracenia Northwest for more information regarding pygmy sundews.

Drosera capensis and Drosera binata can go dormant if the temperature drops below 40 to 50 degrees, but if kept warm and in good lighting, will flourish year round.

You are correct to reject the idea that you should keep your temperate, dormancy requiring Sarracenia and Venus Flytrap in the dark with little water during the winter. These are full sun bog plants that require enough water to keep their soil moist all year round at the least. So far as watering, just keep enough water in the tray to be about at half the level of the growing season. For instance, Venus Flytraps like about 1/4 their pot bottom in water and Sarracenias prefer between 1/4 and 1/2 their pot bottom in water. Just keep their pot bottoms in about half that amount and let the tray level lower to near empty before watering again. This will keep their soil moist at all times but require less frequent waterings.

In dormancy, these plants can go without light, but generally, this is not a good idea (or at least is an idea of last resort). Best bet is to maintain about 6-8 hours of light a day. Even then, that light does not need to be intense. Just some light from a window or from a 40 watt cool white florescent shop light about a foot from the plants would suffice. They may not grow much, if at all, during winter dormancy, but they will slowly use what light they can and store some energy. Keeping them in complete darkness will force the plants to use more of their stored reserves from the growing season and cause more to weaken and die off during dormancy.

To prepare your Venus Flytrap and Sarracia for dormancy you will need to look at how you are growing the plants. If the Venus Flytrap and Sarracenia are outside in full sun, this is optimal and the best conditions for those plants. If you live in a temperate zone, the plants will naturally prepare for dormancy with the shorter, cooler days of Fall. If you are in a tropical zone, or if they are grown indoors under strong florescent light, you will need to fake dormancy. I do grow my North American temperates indoors, but I do so for a couple of reasons. One, my conditions are not optimal for outside growing, and two, I want to experiment with the best indoor growing conditions for these plants. It is always best to grow temperate North American full sun plants outdoors wherever and whenever possible. In any event, the plants will be ready for dormancy by the time Winter hits if they are ouside in a temperate zone in full sun now. Write me a followup for more information if they are not grown outside in full sun.

For outside dormancy, it is according to zone and plant as to what they need. In general, best bet is to ensure that the Sarracenia and Venus Flytrap remain in weather that is between 35-55 degrees. If the temperature rises over 60, they will break dormancy and expend some energy trying to grow. If the temperature drops below 32 degree freezing weather, they could freeze dry in stiff wind or freeze up and take some root damage (they simply are not insulated well in small pots as opposed to being in natural growing conditions in the ground.) If your zone drops regularly below 32 degrees and experiences stiff winter wind chill factors, use a tarp and a large container of mulch to insulate the plants. Just put their pots in the larger container, a big box or large bucket, and fill in under and around the pots with a few inches of mulch, like bark, leaves, dead grass, and the like. Place the plants near the side of your house or even in a cold garage where they can sit in a garage window. Those tactics keep the plants a little warmer without bringing them out of dormancy. When the weather is going to drop below freezing, cover them with the plastic tarp until the temperature is over freezing again. When the temperatures are over frezing, uncover them so they can get natural light or window light. If your region is relatively stable above freezing, but cold all winter, you will not need to worry about it. Just leave the temperates where they are and let them go dormant.

You might want to send specific information about growing conditions, placement of the plants, and the place you live so that we can help you with more specific information about how to set your plants up for dormancy. Hopefully, the information I provided will help you out.



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Lighting arrangement   QUESTION: I try to grow all my Sundews, Pitcher Plant, and Venus Flytrap outside. However the weather lately for the past few weeks has been very cloudy with no sun and there has been a deluge of rainfall these past few days. (I live in Pennsylvania.) As such, I have been putting them under my grow light which has 2000 initial lumens. Their growth has continued well and although having been outside very few days this month, my Venus flytraps are reddish in their traps and my pitchers are getting bright red veins.

I also have two normal butterworts pings. What are their dormancy requirements? I grow these on a southeastern windowsill.

For the entirety of the winter all my plants will be inside under my lights. Or in the case of my Nepenthes and Butterworts, on my windowsill. Thanks so much for your advice and further help!

ANSWER: Hello Devon,

Most of your plants will need much higher lumen levels than 2000 (I have 36000 lumens over my North American carnivores). Natural sunlight provides between 25000-50000 lumens, so somewhere between that range is a good amount of lumens to ensure that indoor growing of full sun plants, like Venus Flytraps and Sarracenias, is successful (you can get by on more like 12000 lumens a few inches from the tops of the leaves of those plants for a few months at most before they weaken). The good thing is that what natural light you could provide has occurred. I can see that your Venus Flytrap is already getting ready for dormancy as its leaves are lying prostrate. Mine are standing up with narrow petioles (the section that holds the trap leaf up). When those petioles grow broader and lay down, the plant is receiving less light than it prefers and it gets ready for Winter. I see that you also have A Sarracenia purpurea or hybrid of such. Sarracenia purpurea need even more light than a Venus Flytrap. Sarracenia purpurea leaves will develop full purple coloration from the base up in good light (mine has so many pitchers I can't count them and all of the pitchers are deep purple all over). In low light, they will grow fewer leaves and those leaves will be longer and narrower, with very small openings at the top and even deformed pitchers. Lumens are best received from cool white florescent lights of the 40 watt shop light varieties, the four foot long T-12 tubes.

I have some Mexican Pinguiculas, of which some do not really have dormancy requirements so long as they are watered regularly (some do go dormant on their own and need less water and cautious monitoring). I have not had the opportunity to grow many of the "European" Pinguiculas, which do have dormancy requirements similar to some other carnivorous plants like Venus Flytraps. You will need to determine what species of Pinguiculas you have so that you can determine what dormancy requirements they have.

In any event, for indoors dormancy, which I have to do every year, consists of lessening the hours of light the temperate carnivorous plants get by one per week until they receive 8 or less hours a day (from 12- 16 hours of light a day it would take about one to two months of preperation time lessening light day lengths). By that time, they will slow in growth and begin to produce hormones that will protect their cells from shattering in cold weather. At that point, they are ready for cold weather and can be gradually placed in colder conditions to enter dormancy. I place mine in an ice chest with frozen water bottles around the pots. I monitor them with a temperature guage and try to keep them between 40-50 degrees consistently for three or four months. By day, I open the ice chest and place it in a sunny window or under florescent lights. By night, I close the ice chest and let it chill down to 40 degrees. Every 12 hours, the ice bottles need to be replaced. This is a very work intensive detail to keep the plants dormant, but I find it works very well at keeping my indoors temperates, like Venus Flytraps and Sarracenias, alive and healthy for the last five years. If you have a cold window in the house that you constantly battle cold drafts in winter, that would be a great place (easier on yourself too) to keep these plants all winter. The reason I go to these lengths at keeping my plants dormant is that the so called "refrigerator method" induces weakness and mold since they can't get light and fresh air and that my area is notoriously warm in "Winter". In Spring, you can simply warm the plants up and increase the amount of light they receive by about an hour a week until they receive 12-16 hours a day again. You can still use the cold garage method and any other avenue so long as the plants receive some light, fresh air, enough water to remain moist, and cold temperatures all winter long.

Christopher

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QUESTION: I don't have the ability to have that many lumens, as it requires a big space for the lights required that give off that many. My father won't let me get them either, so the best I can do is sunlight or my grow light. It says it can grow tomatoes.

Thanks!

Answer
Hello Devon,

I understand. It does take a large area to provide that many lights indoors. I was only indicating that if indoor growing was going to become common, you would need a large number of lights for the survival of your plants. I think the combination of sunlight and occasional window/grow light might work.

As a side note, the grow light may state that it can grow tomatoes, but in reality, it only provides enough lumens for the survival of the Butterworts unfortunately. In large numbers, grow lights would be fine, but even regular florescent lights provide more lumens and of the proper spectrum for good plant growth if in proper numbers. Grow lights are just overpriced and do about the same thing as cool white florescent lights of the same intensity.

Christopher