Sssh... they're sleeping! (Fridge method photos)

[mcantrell]

October 31st


November 12th

So while I was at Lowes a few months back, I noticed some Deathcubes on sale. 50% off. And I'm a sucker for hard luck cases. These were the "have some peat, have some plants in ziplock bags that are 'dormant', good luck" type that starting appearing in stores here a few years back.

So needing some LFS (they sell a good brand there that I've seen on several sites) I picked them up, put them all into a glazed bog pot with nothing but LFS (and a bit of peat from the deathcubes that sunk mostly to the bottom), and plopped them on the porch. I got a rather healthy-ish looking VFT, and 2 of the VFT+Sarracenia Purpurea bundles.

You can see the "Dormant" VFT in the photo -- they're the gnarled, mostly dead bulbs in the upper part of the container. They haven't done squat at all, and I think they won't make it through the winter. The other three are actually the healthy VFT I got - when I was washing the peat off to place these bad boys in the fridge for the winter, I discovered there's 3 -- perhaps 4 or 5, the one on the far right is certainly big -- VFT plants. They naturally separated, I didn't have to do anything other than clip off a bit of black plant matter.

In addition, the S. Purpurpea roots are really healthy looking.

So I have a good feeling. I gave them all a quick spritz of a neem-oil based anti-fungus / pest spray (Garden Safe brand Fungicide 3 in the green spray bottle) and plopped them in a Pyrex container I bought especially for them.

Any obvious problems here? The container gets some condensation on the inner lid when I open it up, to give a hint at the water content. The LFS is damp enough that I can squeeze out a bit of water, but not without a bit of effort. The plants are laying directly on top of it, I am not burying the roots in between photos or anything. Should I be? I was following this guide to the fridge method.

Even with the fungucide, I've had to trim a bit of dead (and fuzzy) matter off the tips of the Sarracenia plants. I suspect I'll have to keep doing that as winter progresses - I plan on putting them back out sometime in early March, when things are above freezing at night again.

Ah, also -- When I check (weekly) I flip the plants over, so the roots aren't constantly "up high" like that. I wish there wasn't so much of a "bulb" of roots / peat under the purps, that would make getting those roots in the LFS a bit easier. At the same time, I was kinda worried about "popping" what appears to be a peat clod?

 

[scottychaos]

looks pretty good!
but yes, you should bury the roots IMO..
they will stay moist better that way..laying on the surface they would be more susceptible to drying out..
and there is no logical reason for having the roots sitting on the surface..

you dont need to "plant" them for dormancy, you can leave them as they are, just make some flat-ish "sheets" of damp LFS, and lay it on top of the roots, like a blanket..
press it down lightly so the new layer of sphagnum makes contact with the bottom layer..that should do it!

If you do that, there is no need for flipping..and IMO the fungicide is completely unnecessary..
just check occasionally for moisture, give them a light spritz if you feel it necessary..otherwise, just leave them alone until spring.

Scot

 

[hcarlton]

If they're kept in the dark, I would watch out for water buildup on the crowns of the plants themselves, but otherwise I would assume they should pull through a dormancy like this. I never unspotted mine when I still did it this way.....
Also, I can almost guarantee the Sarracenia will turn out as S. rubra rubra, as I bought a couple of these kits a while ago, and that's what I got instead, and so have a number of other people.

 

[mcantrell]

S. Rubra Rubra, eh? Interesting, didn't know the deathcubes had spread out, although that explains the shape of those early leaves for those Sarracenias.

I did notice instead of Adelae they were doing... spatulata I think? Maybe Capensis?

I'll try putting a tiny blanket of LFS on top of the roots. Or perhaps some paper towels soaked in pure RO water, instead? My original thought/hope was that the container would keep humid enough that drying out wouldn't be an issue, but my, those roots on those sars are biiiiig.

 

[hcarlton]

And the roots will get bigger too. Yeah, the "death cubes" are found at Lowes everywhere, that's kind of how I got started on CP's. The rubras that often come from this kit seem to be a bit finicky sometimes, so definitely keep an eye on them while they sleep.