FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I have a patio that gets a many hours of direct sun every day, which is where I grow my VFTs and sarrs. From what I have read, these plants can survive occasional freezing temperatures, but the winters where I live would kill them. I live in hardiness zone 5b. Winters are regularly below 32 F, often single-digits and sometimes below 0 F. Snow, frost, and chilly winds are common. So I need a way to keep them alive during the winters here.

There is not enough space to grow my VFTs and sarrs indoors by a windowsill, nor putting them in the refrigerator. I have a few ideas left:

• Garage: unheated; not connected to the house; no windows.
• Basement window well: close to house to gain warmth; access to light; still somewhat exposed to snow.
• Cold frame: close to house; access to light; protected from elements.

The garage not having any light makes it the worst option IMO, but the main concern I have with either of these strategies is whether it will be warm enough for the plants. Do I need to add insulation?

I'd really appreciate any feedback or advice, especially from people who have been successful with dormancy for their plants in these conditions.

I'd say the coldest you should go is 25. I'm also in 5b and I grow my temperate plants in my basement windowsill which has temps around 45-55 in winter. That really is the warmest you should go with dormancy and anywhere between 30-50 degrees is the sweet spot. Light isn't needed at all during winter so don't worry about that. I tried putting some plants in my garage for winter and it didn't end well. Everything that wasn't native to where I live died. Now I don't know how cold your garage gets but mine was still too cold. Hope this helps!

Welcome, _db!

I can only comment on flytrap dormancy, not other species. I haven't used a cold frame, so I don't really know if it'll be any different than outdoors in January when there's so little sun.

You can try indoors, with grow lights on a timer, if your basement is cool enough in the winter.

You'd want the grow lights to roughly approximate the natural length of day. No need for fancy timer that adjusts to daily sunrise/sunset timings. Just a regular one that gets adjusted every two or three weeks.

It's helpful to stock up now on clean rainwater, if you have a source. Keep the potting medium only slightly moist. A little fan to keep air gently moving will help fight off molds, etc. It's nice to trim off all dead leaves before dormancy: plants look better and there's less surface area for pests/gunk.

An outdoor basement window-well would be too cold, I think, unless it were REALLY sheltered from wind, REALLY sunny on that side, and snow wasn't going to pile up.

And, if your plants are young, for this year you can skip a full cold dormancy and just use a grow light on a timer for short days. It's not foolproof, but it's an option.

I'm in zone 5 and my VFTs go in a basement window well every year without a hitch, but I have a clear plastic cover for the window well that I got at Home Depot. Works great esp. if you pile a few feet of snow on top for extra insulation. I also keep two pots of D. regia in another window well over the winter months but for them, I use two window well covers, one is flat and the other is a half dome, so far there hasn't been any freezing issues and my plants flower every spring. Gotta be careful with the over watering though, airflow is not great.

Sundews69 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 18, 2022 3:09 am I'd say the coldest you should go is 25. I'm also in 5b and I grow my temperate plants in my basement windowsill which has temps around 45-55 in winter.

Thanks for the info, appreciate it. Is your basement heated? Mine is heated and I have no idea how cold it will actually get by the windowsill in the basement.

Huntsmanshorn wrote: ↑Tue Oct 18, 2022 8:54 pm I'm in zone 5 and my VFTs go in a basement window well every year without a hitch, but I have a clear plastic cover for the window well that I got at Home Depot. Works great esp. if you pile a few feet of snow on top for extra insulation. I also keep two pots of D. regia in another window well over the winter months but for them, I use two window well covers, one is flat and the other is a half dome, so far there hasn't been any freezing issues and my plants flower every spring. Gotta be careful with the over watering though, airflow is not great.

Good to know. The window well might be the way I go about it.

_db wrote: ↑Tue Oct 18, 2022 10:01 pm

Sundews69 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 18, 2022 3:09 am I'd say the coldest you should go is 25. I'm also in 5b and I grow my temperate plants in my basement windowsill which has temps around 45-55 in winter.

Thanks for the info, appreciate it. Is your basement heated? Mine is heated and I have no idea how cold it will actually get by the windowsill in the basement.

Mine isn't, but any heat from the stairwell and main floor can get down in there. Any place between 25-50 degrees will be fine. If this spot gets any wind, cover the plants with a tarp to keep the cold, dry air away from the plants.

Sundews69 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 18, 2022 10:07 pm

_db wrote: ↑Tue Oct 18, 2022 10:01 pm

Sundews69 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 18, 2022 3:09 am I'd say the coldest you should go is 25. I'm also in 5b and I grow my temperate plants in my basement windowsill which has temps around 45-55 in winter.

Thanks for the info, appreciate it. Is your basement heated? Mine is heated and I have no idea how cold it will actually get by the windowsill in the basement.

Mine isn't, but any heat from the stairwell and main floor can get down in there. Any place between 25-50 degrees will be fine. If this spot gets any wind, cover the plants with a tarp to keep the cold, dry air away from the plants.

Cool. One more question, when do you put them into dormancy? I was planning on Halloween to Valentine's Day, but the evenings are getting pretty chilly now and I'm sorta doubting Valentine's Day will be warm enough to put them back outside unprotected, so maybe I need to start dormancy earlier (mid-October) and end it later (late March?)

I start dormancy once the nighttime temps start dropping to 25 degrees or lower. I meant to bring them into my basement tonight, but I forgot so they'll come in tomorrow. They can be in those temps for a bit so don't worry if they're in those temps for a while. I would bring them outside again when the temperatures at night are above freezing. How warm will it be where you put them for dormancy? If the daytime temps are about the temperature you had them in during dormancy, that is also a time to bring them out. Really just once it is warmer than the temps at the time they were put them into dormancy.

I am going into my first dormancy of my first flytrap. I live in the northern front range of colorado so have similar temps. I have moved my traps into my garage. I have placed them in a large coleman cooler. I have mounted inside the top of the cooler led grow lights. They are timed either to 9 hours or 4 hours. During warmer temps I intend to leave the cooler open a bit. When cold closing it and at night.

I have a bluetooth thermometer humidistat in the cooler so I can remotely check on conditions. Do not know if this will be successful but hoping.