FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Sundews69 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 06, 2022 9:50 pm LOL how can someone hate plants?!? Yeah, sounds like what you're doing is best so far. I wouldn't risk -15C. But part of the problem is wind chill and dry air. So with that in mind, you could still keep it in the basement by putting it in a bigger pot and/or wrapping the pot in something insulating to prevent it from freezing and then insulate the top of the pot with pine needles and a little snow. That's just a suggestion though and I haven't tried it myself. Another thing you could try is putting some snow in a cooler and put the plant in there if you want to keep it somewhere other than the basement. You'd just need to put a temperature reader in there to make sure it isn't too cold. I'm not trying to discourage you from keeping it on your windowsill, just giving you some suggestions

Yeah, VFTs grow slightly down when new divisions come along but that's just because the division comes from the bottom of the rhizome. They naturally grow to the side.

Phosmin wrote: ↑Tue Dec 06, 2022 9:36 pm *thanks for all this help btw you've given me some amazing information *

Of course! That's what we're here for

Yeah, they believe in something they called Feng Shui, a traditional Chinese belief. Thing is, she doesn't follow any of their actual teachings and just uses it as a tool in fights lol. "Venus flytraps bring bad feng shui" yeah well America wasn't even discovered when this belief was invented so LOL
And honestly, the cooler sounds like an amazing idea actually. I might even put a little temperature reader in there, a mini fan for air flow, some ice packs that I can swap out.. I'm short on money at the moment so I'll probably do this next winter, but its def a plan. For now, I'll keep it on a chilly windowsill during the day and wrap a warm towel or two around the pot and cover the top with other insulators at night while in the basement. As for the division, I didn't *see* another rhizome or set of traps, but when Spring comes along, if the little dude is still kicking I'll keep an eye on it and see if it ends up making another mini flytrap lol. Thanks for the ideas!

That's crazy LOL. Yes, just make sure to keep it above 25F in the cooler when you use it. And I'm sure a fan will help keep the plant happy.

When you put it in the basement at night, just make sure the pot doesn't freeze. In the wild where they're native to, they do experience a light freeze for brief periods of time. If the pot freezes completely solid, the plant is probably going to die. Especially considering it is in a pot, not in the ground where it is much harder to freeze. Another thing you can do to keep the temperature cooler in your windowsill is put a piece of cardboard around the plant to keep the cool air around it. Here's a pic of what I mean: Here's a close up of the plant so you can see what a semi-dormant flytrap looks like: Don't mind that it looks awful, I just got it a week or two ago from Italy

Obviously just pretend that the cardboard and plant is up against a windowsill

Sundews69 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 06, 2022 10:31 pm That's crazy LOL. Yes, just make sure to keep it above 25F in the cooler when you use it. And I'm sure a fan will help keep the plant happy.

When you put it in the basement at night, just make sure the pot doesn't freeze. In the wild where they're native to, they do experience a light freeze for brief periods of time. If the pot freezes completely solid, the plant is probably going to die. Especially considering it is in a pot, not in the ground where it is much harder to freeze. Another thing you can do to keep the temperature cooler in your windowsill is put a piece of cardboard around the plant to keep the cool air around it. Here's a pic of what I mean:
20221206_162533.jpg
Here's a close up of the plant so you can see what a semi-dormant flytrap looks like:
20221206_162519.jpg
Don't mind that it looks awful, I just got it a week or two ago from Italy

Obviously just pretend that the cardboard and plant is up against a windowsill

Ah the cardboard box is actually really clever! I might do that! And whoa, yours looks pretty nice actually considering it's going into dormancy. Mine lost all its colour and the traps just closed out of nowhere and refuse to open LOL

Haha, thanks. The really the color is good because the grower in Italy had them under great lighting. I'll need to see how they do under my care in summer.

Yeah, when they go through dormancy most times the traps become unfunctional and all the color gets much darker, specifically the green. Kind of annoying that the traps stop working but they'll be back in spring. Make sure to update us in spring about how the plant did!