Question
 My VFT and North American Pitcher plants went into dormancy after a good frost on 11/04/09.  I live in Rhode Island and the plants stayed in the garage until 12/22/09, due to very cold weather I placed them in my dark basement with an average temp of 50.  I noticed that they are coming out of dormancy and are growing new VFTs and new pitchers.  I placed them in a semi sunny room with temps between 68 to 62 degrees.  Is it to early.

Answer
Hello John,

North American carnivorous plants really should remain in dormancy for about 3-4 months a year.  Temperatures often fluctuate in the wild, so a few days of higher temperatures into the 50 or 60s with long periods of 40 degree weather would be fine. Even if the plants form new leaves in low temperatures, they may still be in shallow dormancy. As the temperatures rise over 40 degrees, the plants will begin to respond to warmth and try to grow some. If the temperatures rise to over 60 for over a day or so, the plants will begin to exit dormancy and will need plenty of sunlight to survive. The best bet right now would be to place the plants back into conditions where they can feel temperatures under 50 degrees and just wait for spring to come.

Christopher