Mmm, yeah, if a plant has a dormancy period, you need to respect it. They "sleep" during that time, and just how we cant go too many days without sleep, they cant go too many years without dormancy. Unfortunately, it kinda needs to be brought into and out of gradually, which can be tricky to replicate (i failed miserably last spring, killing the three i had in my collection). I hope you have better luck, and that i have better luck this spring.

Venus Flytraps should be about 1/3 to 1/2 through dormancy by now, mine have been in dormancy for over a month now after a month of manual photoperiod reduction. If the plant had been in a window during fall it should be ready for dormancy if the florescent light you have it under is giving it about 8-9 hours of light a day. A temperature drop down to about 45 degrees will place it in deep dormancy. Warmer temps will just give it light dormancy but the risk of fungal infection is higher in warmer temperatures.

A couple of questions.

Are the plants producing any low lying leaves with short wide petioles (stalks holding up the traps)?

Have the plants slowed down in growth appreciably?

If yes to both questions, they are probably in light dormancy now. Keep the florescent light on them for 8 hours a day and keep them cool. Give them only enough water to keep the soil barely moist until spring.

If the plants have not been in a window during fall and have not been given less light each week until they are at 8 hours of photoperiod, they are not likely to be dormant and might be reacting to humidity changes.

Venus Flytraps that go dormant do react by letting old leaves die back rather quickly, yet keep new leaves, allowing those new leaves to grow at a snails pace if at all. If the new leaves show no signs of deterioration, the plants are also likely dormant or ready for dormancy.

Venus Flytraps that do not go dormant tend to die off within a year as they use up their rhizome reserves of starch that they built up over the growing season. Winter light levels and florescent light (unless you have at least 10000 or more lumens total an inch from the plant, and even then it is not likely to survive with no dormancy) are generally not enough to keep a Flytrap alive for very long after they use up those starch reserves.

Maybe my pics of my dormant VFT will put you at ease.
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This is what mutant_hybrid meant if your plant has sprouted low-lying leaves with short petioles and have slow down htere growth . As you can see, most of the summer leaves are dead and they withered quite quickly and the new traps are smaller then the summer leaves. Hope this gives you an idea if they are indeed going dormants or it is something else

I also have a VFT dormancy question. The new flytraps that I rescued from the "Dollar Store" the beginning of December are now acclimated, but acclimated to indoors with about 12 hrs of light. They do not and did not look ready for dormancy in any way. Our temps are around 50 - 60 during the day here and start to warm quickly sometimes as early as Febuary. Should I push these new plants into a fast, quick, short dormancy outside with my other VFTs or do they have a chance to survive until next winter? Is it possible the grower let them go dormant last year? I really don't want to lose them after all the work to rescue them.

Thanks for your help,
Nycti

I would leave them be. The new growing season actually begins now, even though people don't notice anything happening until February or March.

Thank you very much Petiolaris for your response. I value your opinion and feel a lot better.

Not going to worry,
Nycti

I posted a reply to this the day the upgraded the forums, and it got lost apparently during the upgrade, so here it goes again:

Thanks for your help on this - those pictures were very helpful! That appears to be what mine is doing, although, there is a larger sprout growing in the middle.

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This is interesting, as it has been growing these short traps for a while - I thought they were just smaller because, coming after all the large traps that were already there, they were just competing for resources, since they're in a small pot.

Also, I did not know that the plants stayed green while in dormancy - I assumed that all the traps turned black and died, and then sprouted again in the spring. This is one of the reasons why I didn't want my plant to go dormant, because it was growing so well!

To answer your questions, mutant_hybrid, they are growing short and growth has slowed down a lot. The plant has been next to a window, but the blinds are always shut, so it gets only the light that filters in through the blinds from outside. I keep a light on it for about 12-16 hours a day (although I have started decreasing that). The new leaves seem to be doing fine, and except for the couple that died over vacation, the current ones (small or large) are not deteriorating.

My original plan was to acclimate my plant to low light and cooler temperatures over the 3 weeks I was home for Christmas, and leaving them in the garage until I came home for spring break. That didn't happen, though, obviously.

So my question now is, how quickly can I get it into dormancy? I was told that putting it in the refrigerator would work - would decreasing its light by an hour a day be too drastic of a reduction? How about acclimating it to the refrigerator, and will it work to just set the plant- pot and all - in there, or will I need to wrap it in paper towel (or whatever it was that I read about)?

It stays about 70 in my room.

If the new growing season begins now, will putting my plant into dormancy until April harm it, or just reduce its growing season?

Thanks again for your help - hopefully this post won't get erased!

You can give the Venus Flytrap a couple months dormancy and it will do just fine (if you place it in soon you could take it out in mid March or early April). It will simply have a slightly longer growing season with a shorter dormancy, just as long as it gets a dormancy. Since it has been in the window and is putting down short slow growing leaves, it is about ready for dormancy now. You could place the plant in the fridge after another week or so of decreased light. Even though the plant is in warmer weather, the slowed growth is indicative of dormancy and the plant will be technically near light dormancy. If you reduce the temperature by about 10-20 degrees it will go into light dormancy... reduce it to about 40-45 degrees (like in the fridge) and it will go into deep dormancy. If you place it in the fridge, remember to keep a ziplock bag or plastic wrap around it with slight openings for air circulation. That will keep some water in while reducing mold potential. Keep the plant slightly moist all winter in their.

So I do not need to acclimate it to the colder temperature, just the reduced light? And is it alright to put the whole pot in the bag, or do I need to take the plant out of the pot first?

Suppose the plant turns brown while in the fridge (I'm not sure how easy it is to kill them during dormancy) - would there be a chance of it coming back in the spring, or is it one of those things where once it's gone, it's gone?

Thanks!

Jmach,

It would be advisable to slowly acclimate the plant to colder temperatures in a cool window or with some ice around the pot for a couple days to drop the temp and tell the plant to produce winter hormones to protect its cells. I generally use an ice chest and just place a couple bottles of frozen water around the pots and add a couple each day until the temp is as cold as I want it. Some fluctuations are not a problem, they happen outdoors all the time anyways. If you can get the plants to about 50 degrees with no fridge, just leave it there in the window, if not, you can place it in the fridge after giving the plant a bit of cold acclimation.

You can place the entire pot in a big ziplock bacg with the top open slightly and that would work. Air it out every few days and provide a little water to moisten the soil just barely and it should be fine. As always, be careful of mold and use fungicides as needed (I have not yet seen any on my dormant Flytrap and S. rubra yet and they are in an ice chest that I open by day and keep about 4-8 bottles of ice water in with their pots).

Dormant plants are a bit weak against infection and mold as they are just not used to dealing with stagnant conditions in a moldy house... all houses have some mold as the spores are just floating around everywhere. In open pots they do better and optimally do best outside in full sun with open air blowing spores off them. Knowing that, trying to simulate open conditions and give them some sun by day, even in winter, will help you avoid infections.