Question
I've had a sarracenia for 2 years now. I live in Yucatan so have to put her in the fridge in winter.  My new fridge is smaller so I'd have to cut the stems to make it fit in it.  Can I do that without any problem? What about photosynthesis? I use to cut stems till March when I took it out of the fridge. Our winters are in the 60s or higher so the fridge is necessary.

Answer
Hi Elizabeth,

You can go ahead and cut the stems.  They will respond just fine.  Here when they have a normal dormancy, we normally cut leaves back to the ground in January.  The only ones you shouldn't do that with is Sarracenia purpurea, Sarracenia psittacina, or simple hybrids of those two.  Just cut off any leaves starting to turn brown.

On a side note, you might just try leaving a couple plants out to see how they do.  We know a couple growers in Hawaii who have Sarracenia and have said they still experience a short dormancy, and do just fine.  One of these people used to live here in Oregon, and he said it was a big surprise to him that they did just fine.  He did say, however, flytraps don't live long-term without the dormancy.


Good Growing!

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