LIthopsman,
This is an article I wrote last winter for dormancy, it's rolled off the boards by now, but I'll paste it from my copy at home.
it should answer most of your questions, if not all.
OK... If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, I.E. you are experiencing WINTER right now, then it's time to put your plants to sleep for the winter. How Long? At least THREE (3) Months if you put them down now, you can take them out around Valentines Day, or perhaps a little sooner if it warms up where you are.
There are exceptions of course:
EXCEPTIONS
Nepenthes and other Tropicals don't need dormancy.
Seedlings - Plants that are less than 2 years old generally do not need dormancy, I.E. grown from Seed or Tissue Culture
Plants you JUST PURCHASED are probably fresh out of tissue culture, and
MAY not need dormancy, check with the store or person you received it from to see.
Key Concepts
A rapid change in climate is probably not appreciated by your plants at any time of the year, the more gradual the shift into dormancy, probably the better. Forcing a Plant into Dormancy CAN CAUSE IT's LOSS, But just because it CAN, doesn't mean it WILL. If you have no other choice but to throw all your flytraps in the fridge at once, then you have no other choice, they will probably come out OK next spring.
Fungicide is a Must, whether your have your plants outside under mulch, in their pots in the fridge, or bare root in the fridge, your exposing them to damp, cold, and STAGNANT conditions, and those are prime conditions to make your little treasure rot away this winter. This web site sells Banrot, and Cleary's fungicide, professional grade! at a very affordable price, there is no excuse not to use it!
Dormancy make your plants grow more vigorously next spring, skipping it can cause deformed leaves, slow and weak growth, and eventually death. Your plant works hard to be pretty all year long for you, all it asks for in return is a nap!
Methods
The Refrigerator
The refrigerator is for those of us that live in hot, semi-tropical to tropical environments, where winters are not cold enough, and the days are not short enough to cause dormancy.
If you can start acclimating the plants towards dormancy by giving them less light, and possibly cooler temps, that is a real plus!
You have two options:
Put them in the fridge bare root. To do this gently remove the plant from its container, with soil around the root ball. Then dip the plant in distilled water and swish it around gently to remove the soil from it's roots, when done, you should have a nice white crispy rhizome and roots (in most cases, some plants may have green and red rhizomes and what not depending on their type. All should be firm to the touch, squishy material is obviously dead.) Now, dip the entirety of the plant in another bowl of fungicide, the powder should have been mixed with distilled water, you may also spritz here, but dunking probably gets more of the plant. You may have to clip some leaves here, larger plants like sars are probably too big, and have to much insect material in their gullets, and clipping those pitchers is probably a must. I have heard of people clipping, and not clipping flytraps, it's really your choice... sundews, just dunk and wrap. When all is said and done, wrap the plant up in a damp (NOT SOPPING WET!
paper towel (make sure there are no patterns on it, or you might end up with that pattern transferring to your plant like a tattoo) once wrapped up, put it in a zip lock baggie, and toss it in the fridge. Check every once in a while to make sure it is still damp. I personally believe this to be the BEST method of using a refrigerator for Dormancy.
· In the pot... This is pretty much the same, you will need to clip some leaves probably, and you'll definitely, more than ever, need the fungicide. Dunk the entire pot, including plant in the fungicide solution. Your going to eat up more fungicide per plant this way, but if your really scared to de-pot them, then I guess it's your only option.
OK,
Other Methods:
Letting nature handle it
If your lucky enough to live in the Carolinas, Oregon, or any of the other regions where these magnificent plants live naturally, then you don’t have much to worry about, especially if you let the grow outside already, chances are they are already snoozing for the winter. Be careful though, being planted in a pot is lot different than being planted in a ground, and if you get frosts, or hard freezes, you’ll need to take other precautions to insulate your pots, such as burying them, mulching around them, covering with a sheet.
There are those that have a huge outdoor collection, and live in somewhat colder environments, where putting them in the refrigerator is not an option. You might be able to move a few plants to a cool window that gets little sun, such as northern windows, or a basement window that gets a little light. It is important to remember that when putting a plant in the refrigerator it goes into a VERY deep dormancy, and does not require light. If you are not putting the plant in the refrigerator, you MUST provide at least a weak light source for the plants.
You have multiple options outdoors if you have harsher conditions outdoors, you can use the methods described two paragraphs up, and more. I personally haven’t seen snow in about 15 years, so I am not the guy to ask… Perhaps some Northerners will be kind enough to post in more detail what methods they might take to protect their plants outdoors this winter!
