Question
hello,
i was wondering, I live in Canada, where the winters get far too cold to put my plants outside. I was wondering, should i put them in hte firdge? and for how long?
i look forward to receiving your response
Bob

Answer
Hi Bob,

Yes, it is possible to over winter your plants in your refrigerator.  To do this, you will need to make sure your plants are indeed dormant.  Provided that your plants are still outdoors, you can safely assume that they are dormant by now.

In this case, you simply unpot your plants, rinse off the soil and spray the plants with a sulfur-based fungicide. Wrap the roots with long-fiber sphagnum moss (or live sphagnum moss if you have it).  Make sure the moss is moist.  Wrap everything up in a plastic bag and place it in your fridge.

Check on your plants periodically for fungal infection.  If you see any signs of it, reapply the fungicide immediately.

You can repot your plants after 3 months.  Although it'll still be too cold to acclimate your plants to outdoor growing in your area in March, you can bring your plants out of dormancy in a sunny south window.

Now if you made the mistake of bringing your plants indoors at the sign of the first frost, you will need to over winter your plants in a sunny south window.  Plants need to experience frost to go dormant.  Without frost, plants will continue to think its summer.  So if you suddenly placed them in a cold dark environment, they will likely go into shock.  

By the way, there are growers in Canada that have successfully overwintered their flytraps and purple pitcher plants outdoors.  The secret is in a thick layer of mulch!  Canada is also home to the northern purple pitcher (Sarracenia purpurea ssp. purpurea).

Good growing!
Jacob Farin