First dormancy approaches...help!

19 years ago

So, although I stay very well read on all my plants, I'd still like some personalzed advice from you guys. I have :

5 sarracenia

many dionea

a cape sundew growing with the flytraps

3 d. Binata

1 d. filiformis tracyi

1 d. adelae; which i'm growing outside :O

a highland N. Ephippiata

I live in LA, California where we get a mediterranean like climate. Lows in the 40s during winter.

My sarracenia are all pretty young, but doing well. I've heard they require dormancy.

My dionaea are somewhat odd. When i got them in August, they were rosetted. I didn't think much of it, but they've never unrosetted. D'Amato lists the "Clumping Cultivar" in his book, as rosetted plants that produce a lot of new plants around. And when I got them, the containers were packed with rosetted plants. Not sure if i'd definitely place them in that category. Some are large plants that look to be near maturity, others are tiny plants near the span of a penny. Anywho, they're rosetted, whether by weather, or by nature. I know they need dormancy.

My cape sundew grows right in the center of all my flytraps and is growing vigorously. It puts out a new leaf every 5 days or so, and the older leaves have amazing longevity compared to flytraps. Not really too worried about it, as I've read it's essentially a weed.

Now, the D. Binata were shipped by Cook's, apparently already dormant (i emailed them). They looked dead to me, but okay, dormant... I was told that if i leave them in warmer weather, they'd come out of it. Well, I guess i'll see what happens there. They were only about 3 dollars anywho....

The D. Filiformis also was on its way to being dormant, but I could tell it was still alive. It looks like it's starting to send out new leaves from the green bulb at its base.

I know I'm a rebel, but I'm growing the adelae outside in "full" sun. Although, it's beginning to be a lot more cloudy, and the plant is new. There are 2 runner plants coming out from its roots.

I'm also growing my Nep outside, and know it doesn't need dormancy. According to the guy at nepenthesaroundthehouse.com, who also grows his highlanders outside in southern california, it'll be fine through winter.

I grow almost all of these in the tray system except for the nepenthes and the adelae. The adelae grows in an undrained ceramic pot.

So I'd like to know if these conditions sound okay in general. One thing I'm not sure about is how i should treat them water-wise. I also want to know if the temperatures are going to be cool enough to make them go dormant, or if i'll have to take drastic measures. Although I read in another topic that photoperiod is more important.

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Comments (4)

ilbasso_74
19 years ago
D adelae does not take temp drops well. Don't leave it out.

Similar with the neps...not sure about down to the 40s. I have no experience with that species.

Cobraplant.com says that the binatas will go dormant if given a chance, but don't need to. I just brought mine in and decided to let them grow.

VFTs love to die over the winter, in my experience. I actually had a couple survive this year only to be dug up by squirrels in the spring. I think that water is certainly the key. I've heard that people water them once and don't touch it again for months, but pics at nurseries have them in chunks of ice that would suggest that they're sitting in a bit of water. I can't help you on that one.

If you just got some plants recently, do you know the conditions that they'd been grown in prior? If you picked up a VFT at walmart, it isn't strong enough to survive winter and needs to be kept awake.

Capensis should come in and enjoy a nice windowsill. There is no need for dormancy.

If you are consistantly in the 40s, it may be ok. I'm not a good source of info on that since it isn't an issue in an area where the garage with the plants would get to a balmy 10 degrees for a week. I'm thinking of trying the refrigerator for some of them this year.
mutant_hybrid
19 years ago
I agree with Ilbasso, bring the D. binatas, adelaes, and capensis indoors. I would bring the Nepenthes in too, but they do not mind cool weather for the most part. The Cape sundew and Fork leaf sundews are able to survive light frosts and will die back in cold weather, but are sub-tropicals that can grow year round if weather permits.

The Flytraps and Sarracenias will go dormant in your conditions as the photoperiod shortens and colder weather comes in. Once they are dormant, water them sparingly, but enough to keep them barely moist. Too much water standing in a tray can promote root rot and fungus in dormant plants but too little water in the soil will dry them out and also kill them. Best bet is to water them about half as much as you would in the growing season and keep an eye on their potting mix to ensure it feels a little moist... if it is a light tan, it is too dry, if it is chocolate brown, it is moist. Just do not let it get too moist.
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petiolaris
19 years ago
The Sarracenias and VFT's are a definite outdoors. The filiformis and binata are borderline (and as Mutant Hybrid says). Capensis is more along the line of a cintinuum toward warmer conditions. The adelae and Neps should be kept inside.

If it were me, I would have the binatas and filiformis is an attic, by a window. I would have the capensis and adelae at a room temp window. The Sarrs and VFT I would leave outside. And I would have an artificial light over Neps, with a 12 hour photoperiod.
drwurm
Original Author
19 years ago
My flytraps were picked up from one of the bad places. When I figured this out, I repotted them into some nice soil and spread them out a bit. They seem to be doing great now, red coloring on the outsides and insides of some, and new leaves emerging quite readily to replace old ones. But like I said, they've remained prostrate ever since i got them.

As for frosts, they are out of the question. Especially since I live close enough to the water where I get a sort of balancing effect. When i said 40s, i meant upper 40s. Our average temperature is 48 degrees through winter, and just below 70 in the day. I actually just checked weather.com, and we've never had a record low of 32 degrees.

I'll go ahead and bring in the binata and adelae. But I'd actually rather not bring in the capensis. It's doing extremely well in the same soil and conditions as my flytraps. I wouldn't mind if it went dormant.