FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I actually watched some YouTube videos (the Chicago is a bust due to the need for a space heater), but after reading comments there and other videos, people seemingly had more luck with the refrigerator method than with overwintering I think is what you’re talking about. I wish they had been more specific about shelf usage or how to turn space into a crisper type area. One person wrapped in LFSM, sprayed with fungicide, and put it in a Tupperware container with holes in the lid and those plants survived while the overwintered one didn’t. I understand that’s anecdotal, but I also read the thread on here about using the fridge and some report using for upwards of ten years with no problems.

I am going to see if I can get a connected root cellar (at my partner’s house) completely Dextered with plastic, try to get a door put on and monitor the temps for next year most likely when I live there, but I think I’d feel better about the fridge than I do overwintering at this point. (I may be using that word wrong, but the thing you’re talking about doing.

I haven’t figured out a schedule for I assume lightly spritzing with fungicide, but if I can I feel like at least I could control the temp?

Out of curiosity can you give some greenhouse links like maybe the greenhouse you got and what all did you get with it? My mom is okay with a greenhouse as long as I basically put it up in the middle of the yard because if it catches fire (which I’m guessing chances are minimal) it would just burn itself down. But I need to figure out if I can buy that and everything I’d need inside including exhaust fans or whatever to see if I can save for all that by October. That’s a definite maybe. I can peruse YouTube videos for how to assemble everything, but even YouTube vids that advertise they’re going to show budget stuff usually end up showing mid to high which I’m guessing I can’t afford.

What about this? It says it has frost protection so would I just stick em all in there and zip it up for 3 months? (Besides making sure they don’t dry out but minimal water). Cuz this or even something more expensive would work but I assumed I’d need like heating pads and lights and stuff or maybe that’s just for summer. I’m so hoping I got the idea for winter right here. If not what else would I need? I can probably buy what I need in time as long as the prices are reasonable.
https://a.co/d/090Kz7x2

You're overthinking it again, getting circular in your process. Breathe, you're just growing plants.
I assume you read the thread about refrigerator dormancy that detailed a very good process, otherwise I don't think you'd have brought it up. If not, refrigerator-dormancy-t36505.html
The title of this thread says you have concerns about it as well, so you've asked about and have been given some very feasible suggestions and examples of methods that will work in your area based on your description of what you have available. But you and your family have real concerns and fears regarding potential issues with those. The likelihood of those issues actually happening are, in reality, very low, but the reasoning behind the thoughts against them are solid.
That greenhouse you linked could work, but it only provides frost protection, not freeze protection. You would still have to find a way to provide heat to prevent freezing, and the easiest way to do that is a space heater. I don't think a heating pad would be sufficient for that volume of space. You could design a complex Goldberg machine that connected the enclosure to house heat, complete with a chain reaction of louvers, fans, lights, bells, whistles, and something to do with a monkey, that would only occur when a certain temperature is reached, supplying just enough heat to it to keep it above freezing. However, other options are much less expensive than Purina Monkey Chow.
Last, and I don't say this lightly, if the basic care of these plants is causing this much anxiety and concern for you, perhaps temperate carnivorous plants aren't the best choice for you at this time. You have some subtropical ones that can stay on a windowsill year round, maybe focus on those until such a time in your life comes around that you have more options as to how to provide conditions conducive to the more needy plants.

I’m always gonna overthink it lol. It’s been my nature for over 40 years.

Yeah I read it, but I had more questions, and I assumed I shouldn’t bump the thread because it was old by posting them there. There’s a lot of people who have used this method successfully for over ten years. But when the topic of how many plants it would be ok to do this with came up it said about ten or less, and I think I may end up with about double that? I have trouble ballparking from photos alone, so I will have a hard number next week. After reading that thread though I figured I could ask the questions I had that were not answered that I saw on that thread and just make sure that most folks concurred it wasn’t a terrible idea here. Then everyone seemed to disagree, and I feel really badly about saying “I can’t” to so many great ideas. Like I’m just trying to get the answer I want or something instead of just saying I was doing that to begin with. Since so many people had vastly different really awesome ideas, I wanted to keep checking to see if I could do them, but I’m more limited here. I got more anxious having to say “actually I can’t do this for x reason because I felt like I was being unreasonable and people would get upset about all the no’s I was giving. Basically all the no’s have been because of my mom having either fire issues or issues with running up bills despite my saying I have no issues paying them.

So she said no to any type of space heater today ostensibly for that reason, but I think even if it’s well away from any structures she’s still afraid of fire. She’s cool with my using heating pads in a greenhouse, but only heating pads. I only have one outlet to use outside but I could use an extension cord and put a surge protector on the end and daisy chain (if possible heating pads in there if I can figure out how to make that shut off/on for lower temps work then I’d be square. I feel like that’s probably not something you think would work or in the garage on that bench with those heating pads, my mom just tabled that conversation until I can see next week the exact amount of plants I will have.

It seems like she’s starting to lean towards more of a yes on the heating pad/garage bench next to the window deal, but it’s not a certainty.

My question is if I have to have them on that bench that I showed in the picture instead of on the floor is that ok?

If not and if I similarly couldn’t do heating pads in the greenhouse, then I will have to do bare root in the fridge and despite that thread answering a lot of questions, I still had a few and was hoping to get them answered by someone who used the fridge method or had read enough about it to be comfortable answering questions.

When I first made this thread I did the quite silly thing of assuming that since so many people used that for dormancy that it was probably not going to be a lot of people who still thought it was a last resort and more people answering the majority of questions in the OP because I felt like probably half the people here were using that method.

Besides feeling anxious about saying no to so many great ideas and people that should have been easily a yes from me, this is also my first dormancy. I’m less anxious about getting new plants or starting new ventures like growing seeds, but only by a bit lol. Until I successfully do something once I usually get in my head about it. And if I screw up dormancy I basically risk losing 75% of my plants. I know I don’t have nearly as many as most people here, but I get attached to them and I want to do this well.

Also I may not have had the idea to turn the root cellar at my hubbys house into a room for this and seedling starting if not for all the ideas. And I will have over a year to get that accomplished hopefully.

Oh yeah definitely out of my price range. And really not a great idea to put into one that doesn’t have way more than 56mph wind protection. We get torn through sometimes in the winter with crazy winds, but we get crazy weather in the summer too. When I was younger (much younger) we lost like half the town to an F5. Granted that’s not a norm or anything, but the state is getting a lot more tornadoes in general in recent years and we do regularly have tornado warnings off the back of severe thunderstorms. We had a tree taken out (although the house kept it from completely falling lol) by an extremely windy couple days a few years ago, and we had to cut down another one that was next to it because the wind kept pulling that tree which further weakened the soil. Many a chainsaw was heard round here that week after the wind let up.

We’ve been getting less snow a lot more recently too, but we still have some storms or years where a couple feet or more is pretty standard. Actually the milder winters are weird.

The news keeps mentioning tornado ally moving slightly in the yearly trends, and I have to say that’s probably accurate. Super cool place to live lately. Don’t even get me started on the new bugs or having to deal with ticks way outside the boonies because of the milder winters at least. Grr.

I've been doing fridge dormancy for going on 17 years now with no losses. What I do is I drain off excess water from the pots, hit them with a sulfur based fungicide and place in zip lock bags and pop them in the fridge for 3 - 3 1/2 months. I occasionally check them (once a month) for fungus and hit with a SULFUR based fungicide if needed. Late winter around February 1st I take them out hit them with SULFUR based fungicide again, clean them up (removing all the dead traps) re-pot and place under “Daylight” rated florescent or LED lights until mid to late April (Zone 6a) when I slowly acclimate them to full outdoor Sun.

I thought I saw you active recently and saw your name on that thread your name from that thread.

Anyhow welcome welcome fellow 6a-er. Let me pull up a paint bucket and offer you a beer. We only buy the best cheap stuff here.

A few questions -

1. Since you use a refrigerator and have been here many years I presume you have a decent amount of plants so at least a full sized fridge?

I am going to have over 40 plants (not sure the exact amount but that’s ballpark) that need dormancy and a mini fridge. I was considering doing some in the garage with a heating pad and/or cover of some kind after getting the advice on this thread, but I was going to have to be taking them out of the pots and bare root bagging which would likely be a lot worse because they would be stressed. Maybe less so if they were dormant, but I assume by your hardiness zone (although maybe it’s just Ohio) that you’re familiar with the extreme yoyo fluctuations in temperature especially at the beginning or end of a season. Getting them to go dormant by letting them frost once might not even keep them dormant because we could easily have a week or two where it gets really cold only to rebound up to spring type weather. Which was actually another reason I was thinking about the fridge method. I could have put a bit more than a few pots in there and could have bought another for space, but I would still have to take some out of the pots and layer them gently in the crisper drawer to fit everything.

So out of curiosity how many plants do you have (are they majority one type like VFT or something?), and how many refrigerators mini or full sized does it take for you to hold all your pots? Have you done or do you ever have to do any bare root? Does that change anything majorly (like how often to spray them?).

I’m gonna try a few in the pots in a refrigerator because I’m curious to see if there’s a major difference.

2. The sulfur based fungicide. What exactly do you buy, and what is the ratio of sulfur to water? Like 1 part sulfur to about how much water? I haven’t used any sprays yet besides trying a peroxide and water mixture to try on a cyclosecta with browning heart disease, but it didn’t have any effect unfortunately.

I may have a few more questions, but I need to go do a few things and check my OP to see if I’m forgetting anything you didn’t answer. Thank you so much for the advice. Super appreciate it.

Jade wrote: ↑Wed Jul 17, 2024 3:16 pm I thought I saw you active recently and saw your name on that thread your name from that thread.

Anyhow welcome welcome fellow 6a-er. Let me pull up a paint bucket and offer you a beer. We only buy the best cheap stuff here.

A few questions -

1. Since you use a refrigerator and have been here many years I presume you have a decent amount of plants so at least a full sized fridge?

I am going to have over 40 plants (not sure the exact amount but that’s ballpark) that need dormancy and a mini fridge. I was considering doing some in the garage with a heating pad and/or cover of some kind after getting the advice on this thread, but I was going to have to be taking them out of the pots and bare root bagging which would likely be a lot worse because they would be stressed. Maybe less so if they were dormant, but I assume by your hardiness zone (although maybe it’s just Ohio) that you’re familiar with the extreme yoyo fluctuations in temperature especially at the beginning or end of a season. Getting them to go dormant by letting them frost once might not even keep them dormant because we could easily have a week or two where it gets really cold only to rebound up to spring type weather. Which was actually another reason I was thinking about the fridge method. I could have put a bit more than a few pots in there and could have bought another for space, but I would still have to take some out of the pots and layer them gently in the crisper drawer to fit everything.

So out of curiosity how many plants do you have (are they majority one type like VFT or something?), and how many refrigerators mini or full sized does it take for you to hold all your pots? Have you done or do you ever have to do any bare root? Does that change anything majorly (like how often to spray them?).

I’m gonna try a few in the pots in a refrigerator because I’m curious to see if there’s a major difference.

2. The sulfur based fungicide. What exactly do you buy, and what is the ratio of sulfur to water? Like 1 part sulfur to about how much water? I haven’t used any sprays yet besides trying a peroxide and water mixture to try on a cyclosecta with browning heart disease, but it didn’t have any effect unfortunately.

I may have a few more questions, but I need to go do a few things and check my OP to see if I’m forgetting anything you didn’t answer. Thank you so much for the advice. Super appreciate it.

On question 1, I had at one time about 35 pots. I have cut it back to about 12 currently. I put them on the bottom shelf. I am single and live along so there's room for the plants.

Question 2, I use Bonide sulfur fungicide, I mix it 1/4 to half strength and spray it IF I see some gray mold. You will probably get a little gray mold over winter but the fungicide knocks it right down and it's no big deal at all.

All you have to do is keep the plants between say 33 and 45 F. We get big temp. swings in winter, lots of freeze/thaws which would surely kill them. As well as temps far below 20 often. I got in an email argument with a CP dealer once about keeping them outside. They said I could where I am and I said no freaking way. Apparently they think they know my weather better than I do. I lost all my sarracenia a few years ago. All but a few flava. And they died the following year.

Wow I’m so sorry, that would be so heartbreaking, and I’m worried about that too. It’s my first dormancy as well. Yeah this hardiness zone is bizarre when I think about it, but I’ve lived here all my life so I didn’t realize until recently how much of an anomaly it was compared to some other places.

I wonder if I could afford a whole fridge right now? I have a mini to myself and I could get another one, but I kinda doubt I could get a bigger one. Ooh but maybe secondhand! There was a store near here that sold appliances like that.

My hubby and I got a used washer/dryer that was still working when we moved several years ago. So it went for maybe 6 years? Not to say it wouldn’t be different for a fridge, but I could definitely look. I forgot about that store. I think it’s still there. Gotta run to Home Depot Friday so I might check around then.

So it’s every 30 days you check for mold on top of the soil and if you see some spray then, gotcha.

Thanks for the advice on dilution as well as brand.

Did you ever try in a garage with a few heating pads set so it wouldn’t drop below a certain temperature? I was thinking that or something covering the plants or both. I have a plastic table to set them on, and half the garage to play with, but I can’t use any type of space heater or anything like that.

Really I remember growing up here we had some extreme weather every once in awhile. Lots of snow and freezing temps in the winter, a clearly defined spring with temps like high 60-low/mid 70s, and summers that got to some intolerable temps, but usually 80s was the norm and fall was usually a wet miserable mess lol. Now it’s nothing but extremes and you can have polar opposite extremes in the same day.

I feel like a lot of people might struggle with that, but since it’s my first dormancy especially, I’m worried I’ll do something stupid or take advice that sounds good for most people, but won’t work where I’m at, and I’ll lose all my plants.

I have a root cellar I’m going to start setting up for dormancy next year, but it’s full of stuff and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get it all in time this year.

Jade wrote: ↑Thu Jul 18, 2024 1:15 am Wow I’m so sorry, that would be so heartbreaking, and I’m worried about that too. It’s my first dormancy as well. Yeah this hardiness zone is bizarre when I think about it, but I’ve lived here all my life so I didn’t realize until recently how much of an anomaly it was compared to some other places.

I wonder if I could afford a whole fridge right now? I have a mini to myself and I could get another one, but I kinda doubt I could get a bigger one. Ooh but maybe secondhand! There was a store near here that sold appliances like that.

My hubby and I got a used washer/dryer that was still working when we moved several years ago. So it went for maybe 6 years? Not to say it wouldn’t be different for a fridge, but I could definitely look. I forgot about that store. I think it’s still there. Gotta run to Home Depot Friday so I might check around then.

So it’s every 30 days you check for mold on top of the soil and if you see some spray then, gotcha.

Thanks for the advice on dilution as well as brand.

Did you ever try in a garage with a few heating pads set so it wouldn’t drop below a certain temperature? I was thinking that or something covering the plants or both. I have a plastic table to set them on, and half the garage to play with, but I can’t use any type of space heater or anything like that.

Really I remember growing up here we had some extreme weather every once in awhile. Lots of snow and freezing temps in the winter, a clearly defined spring with temps like high 60-low/mid 70s, and summers that got to some intolerable temps, but usually 80s was the norm and fall was usually a wet miserable mess lol. Now it’s nothing but extremes and you can have polar opposite extremes in the same day.

I feel like a lot of people might struggle with that, but since it’s my first dormancy especially, I’m worried I’ll do something stupid or take advice that sounds good for most people, but won’t work where I’m at, and I’ll lose all my plants.

I have a root cellar I’m going to start setting up for dormancy next year, but it’s full of stuff and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get it all in time this year.

I do not have a garage or a basement. I have no where else to store them other than the fridge. And that method has worked perfectly. Check out how this guy in the tropics puts his sarracenia away for dormancy for example. The method is not as drastic for flytraps as there's no need to de-pot them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHoC7YLOqbM

I do not have a garage or a basement. I have no where else to store them other than the fridge. And that method has worked perfectly. Check out how this guy in the tropics puts his sarracenia away for dormancy for example. The method is not as drastic for flytraps as there's no need to de-pot them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHoC7YLOqbM

Wow I guess it must be normal once you have a ton of plants and experience to handle them that way, but it looked so violent lol. Like Jason Voorhees growing CPs But yeah seeing it actually helps a lot. I have looked at some vids that were labeled 6a to try to get an idea what most people in our zone do, but they all had setups I couldn’t match like space heater in a garage. I’ll look up specifically refrigerator dormancy.

Out of curiosity if you had a garage and hadn’t tried the fridge method do you think you might have tried that with heating pads? I believe you said you’ve been doing this for over a decade this way so I get that once it’s so routine it would be hard to think about what you might have done that long ago.

Also one last thing I forgot to ask, but very important - what’s the watering situation for the fridge? I know they need a lot less in the winter to begin with and the fridge and baggie would hold moisture, but I had been assuming I’d be having to bare root everything, so I figured I’d just be able to make sure the towel around the roots didn’t completely dry out. Now I’m wondering if you just give it a lot of water before or maybe check once a month while doing the fungus check to make sure it doesn’t need a bit of top watering? My sarr will apparently be bare root so easier to keep track of if they dry out.

I was surprised he just wrapped the roots around the rhizome, but that said I have seen roots on healthy sarrs and it’s generally a ton of roots, so I guess it makes sense that way. I did check and a new mini fridge from like Walmart is only $200. So I can definitely get another one if needed.
I may just try some of my less showy typicals out in the garage and if I have any doubles I’ll do one in the garage with the heating pads and one in the fridge to hedge my bets in case I do screw something up with one of those methods.

I also priced plastic sheeting that I was going to use to make the root cellar less prone to all the crazy spider webs, but holy moly that stuff is expensive.

Dexter must have been a secret millionaire lol.

Jade wrote: ↑Thu Jul 18, 2024 2:47 pm

I do not have a garage or a basement. I have no where else to store them other than the fridge. And that method has worked perfectly. Check out how this guy in the tropics puts his sarracenia away for dormancy for example. The method is not as drastic for flytraps as there's no need to de-pot them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHoC7YLOqbM

Wow I guess it must be normal once you have a ton of plants and experience to handle them that way, but it looked so violent lol. Like Jason Voorhees growing CPs But yeah seeing it actually helps a lot. I have looked at some vids that were labeled 6a to try to get an idea what most people in our zone do, but they all had setups I couldn’t match like space heater in a garage. I’ll look up specifically refrigerator dormancy.

Out of curiosity if you had a garage and hadn’t tried the fridge method do you think you might have tried that with heating pads? I believe you said you’ve been doing this for over a decade this way so I get that once it’s so routine it would be hard to think about what you might have done that long ago.

Also one last thing I forgot to ask, but very important - what’s the watering situation for the fridge? I know they need a lot less in the winter to begin with and the fridge and baggie would hold moisture, but I had been assuming I’d be having to bare root everything, so I figured I’d just be able to make sure the towel around the roots didn’t completely dry out. Now I’m wondering if you just give it a lot of water before or maybe check once a month while doing the fungus check to make sure it doesn’t need a bit of top watering? My sarr will apparently be bare root so easier to keep track of if they dry out.

I was surprised he just wrapped the roots around the rhizome, but that said I have seen roots on healthy sarrs and it’s generally a ton of roots, so I guess it makes sense that way. I did check and a new mini fridge from like Walmart is only $200. So I can definitely get another one if needed.
I may just try some of my less showy typicals out in the garage and if I have any doubles I’ll do one in the garage with the heating pads and one in the fridge to hedge my bets in case I do screw something up with one of those methods.

I also priced plastic sheeting that I was going to use to make the root cellar less prone to all the crazy spider webs, but holy moly that stuff is expensive.

Dexter must have been a secret millionaire lol.

IF I had a garage I would have tried a few in one WITHOUT a heat pad. The temp HAS to be around 33 to 45 F., anything higher and they wouldn't be dormant and they would get weakened.
IF you bare root then just make sure the material you wrap with stays MOIST only, not soggy.

tommyr wrote: ↑Thu Jul 18, 2024 3:31 pm IF I had a garage I would have tried a few in one WITHOUT a heat pad. The temp HAS to be around 33 to 45 F., anything higher and they wouldn't be dormant and they would get weakened.

I'm not sure that's necessarily the case, at least for constant temps. I live in Central Texas, where we have at least one commercial carnivorous plant grower (Carnivero) who has plenty of healthy flytraps and sarracenia, and the temperature doesn't reliably stay that low even during the coldest parts of the year. Average temps in January and February tend to be 50s to 70s during the day and 30s to 40s at night. So it certainly dips into 33-45F, but usually won't stay in that range for longer than overnight, and may stay above that range for a solid week at a time. Heck, North Carolina doesn't reliably stay in that range during winter.