Question
Dear Jeff

    Hey I recently posted a question about my Nepenthes and thank you for the info :)  But my biggest question is about dormancy!  I have two Purple Pitchers, Two Venus Fly Traps that have not gone into dormancy!  I live in South Florida (zone 10) so I was wondering how I could put them in dormancy and nice list of instructions would be awesome!  I really hope I can drop down by your store one day!

~~~Justin~~~

Answer
Hi Justin,

There's really no need to do much of anything.  In zone 10 you still get enought of a decrease in daylight hours to induce light dormancy.  You also get periodic cool periods.  This is different than say Key West or Honolulu which are zone 11.  Dormancy is caused by both photoperiod and temperatures.  From direct experience I know that Sarracenia are fine with this, with maybe the exception of S. purpurea ssp. purpurea.  S. purpurea venosa is the far more common plant in cultivation, and is fine with the short dormancy.  Flytraps can be fine also, but it's better to just let them be and observe how they do rather than risk a refrigerator dormancy.  We have much more information on this subject in both our e-book and DVD.  Links to both of those were on the question submission page.

I'm a little jealous of your weather right now.  I just woke up to 9 degrees F.  That is rare for us to be that cold.

Good Growing!

Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.cobraplant.com