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Refrigerator Dormancy

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Hello, I must be going...
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Thanks to Bob Ziemer for pointing out this How-to video.

Winters too cold or warm for Sarracenia dormancy? There's the old refrigerator method. If you need to take notes maybe you should stick to collecting POGs. Note the use of gloves.

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Awesome! Thanks for sharing.
 
he seemed really rough with the root system. but awsome tutorial.
 
I saw this video last year while Googling the topic. I was a bit shocked to see that he closed off the bag without any media in it or applying anti fungal powder to the rhizome. My guess is that if left unchecked, 2 months down the road those bags would look to be filled with cotton balls and not rhizomes due to mold and without leaving any phyllodia those rhizomes would have a rough wake up. I would have liked to know as well what time of year this was done at as photoperiod plays a role in dormancy. Seems like the procedure was a bit brute but glad to see that even other growers in tropical zones are able to grow these plants. Would be nice to see his nepenthes collection : -D
 
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How violent! Of course, the gloves are necessary. :awesome:
 
He did, briefly, mention fungicide. What I like about this approach is that it saves space and when you go to take them out for next year, it will be easy to divide and organize.
 
He might have a fungicide in his wash. He never said that it was just water.
 
Sounds easy enough...
The thing is, the plant was entering dormancy?
Or did he just cut the leaves of a "normal" growing period?
 
Cairns, Queensland Australia is even closer to the equator than Veracruz, Mexico. In the vdieo Trevor Hannam says he takes the plants out in September after 3 month in the refrigerator. So this would mean he puts them in May/June. Since Cairns is in the summer hemisphere this would be equivalent to Nov thru Feb/March in the Northern Hemisphere.

If Hannam gets enough photoperiod cues at 16°55′32″S you should get enough at 19°11′25″N. People grow Sarracenia in the Hawaiian Islands - Maui is at 20°48′N, Island of Hawaii 19°34′N
 
  • #10
Indeed...
Well, I guess I'll do without Sarracenias or Dioneas in my collection...
 
  • #11
Indeed...
Well, I guess I'll do without Sarracenias or Dioneas in my collection...

You can most definately grow dionaea without a problem.. Do you grow indoors or out? If you grow outdoors in pots, bring them in for a couple hours every day for a couple weeks when you want to start dormancy. Then keep them inside with much less light all the time for a couple weeks and then pop them in the fridge at a low temp above freezing to prevent ice crystals. They should lose all of their leaves and need minimal water maybe once or twcie a month. I wouldn't bag them..(That is my method but I am just handling dormancy for the first time this year. They lost all their leaves as planned and I saw a couple healthy rhyzomes when i last checked a couple weeks ago. Ill check again but I think they should all make it. I dont see why not since they arent frozen even though they are supposed to be able to handle frost pretty well if its not too long.)

You can also uproot the plants, use some fungicide, and bag them with something to keep them from drying out like moss or a wet paper towel. Then refrigerate those. However I am not a fan of uprooting all my fly traps and then chilling them. Seems pretty stressfull to me.
 
  • #12
I though the same about uprooting when I saw the video... I grow all my plants indoors with about 7 hour od sun... Have no place outside that doesn't put them in danger of geting dry, turned ove by cats or stolen... I guess I'll try Dioneas in spring to grow them yaerlong and then try dormancy on them...
 
  • #13
Cairns, Queensland Australia is even closer to the equator than Veracruz, Mexico. In the vdieo Trevor Hannam says he takes the plants out in September after 3 month in the refrigerator. So this would mean he puts them in May/June. Since Cairns is in the summer hemisphere this would be equivalent to Nov thru Feb/March in the Northern Hemisphere.

If Hannam gets enough photoperiod cues at 16°55′32″S you should get enough at 19°11′25″N. People grow Sarracenia in the Hawaiian Islands - Maui is at 20°48′N, Island of Hawaii 19°34′N

I have additional mitigation factors in my location on Maui. High elevation (3500 feet) and hill shade effects (well mountains) that effectively reduce the length of day more than what would be expected for my southern location.

I rarely see sarracenia in deep dormancy as the days are in the 60-70 F range in the winter. With over night lows down the the mid 30-low 40 F range. Suspect that a deep dormancy requires more chilling hours than I can provide without refrigeration. However so far it has only been an issues with S. purpurea purpurea. The southern forms/subspecies of purpurea or rosea as well as species from the deeper south (leucophylla) seem to be doing well. Just I suspect that my summer are actually too cold for most of them to do really well...
 
  • #14
You can most definately grow dionaea without a problem.. .

SEELE1,
just keep in mind that is an opinion, not a fact..
personally I believe your climate is WAY too warm, and not enough photoperiod change, for a successful dormancy..
and the plants wont be dormant before they go into the fridge..which is bad..
but all you can do is try it!

please post back in 5 years and let us know if your plants are still alive or not!
(and that isn't sarcasm..it will take 3 to 5 years to be sure if your system is working or not)

Scot
 
  • #15
LOL
I'll stay with the droseras anyhow...
 
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