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Sun amount during dormancy

I have several vfts and various pitcher plants. I live in southern ohio so they should be fine slipping into dormancy. This is the first year that I have had the collection, so it is all new to me.

I plan on moving my collection to a garage that gets fairly cold during winter months and restricting watering. The only light would come from a window that faces west, and gets blocked by trees in the afternoon. So all in all, not much light.

How much will they need?  hours worth?
 
It sounds as if they'll still get light (not necessarily sun) throughout the day, which is fine.
 
they can survive dormancy without any light, however, the less light they get, the more they are prone to fungal attacks. Since they will be inside, in stagnant air, with minimal light, I would make sure you give them a good fungicide treatment as soon as they are moved in for good.
 
well not completely stagnant ... the garage is used daily so there will be exchange of some air.

So if they got direct sun for 3 hours and indirect from afternoon till sunset.. they should be fine?
 
The more sun the better, but people too far north or too far south are successful keeping Sarrs in the fridge for the winter. Hey, maybe that light does stay on when the door is closed!
 
This is my first time doing the whole dormancy thing. I live in Boston. Right now, I'm leaving my plants outside until we get a first frost here. Then I plan to move them to a 10-gallon aquarium with a 15-watt light hood and inside the fridge. That way, they'll get to experience a natural drop in temps and length of daylight, and some decent light plus the cool temps in the fridge.
 
If you plan to move the plants into the garage, the amount of window light may not be enough for the plants to photosynthesize. When the plants are thrown in the fridge, they experience a deeper dormancy than what I expect from your garage.
 
Educate me on Southern Ohio's climate. Is it below freezing a lot? Will that be bad if the pots freeze solidwhile in the garage?

Cheers,

Joe
 
I'm in CT and I bury pots and cover plants with leaves and a lean-to. The pots freeze solid and stay that way for a long time. I think repeated freezing and thawing causes much more damage.
 
  • #10
Here is some experience that may help. Two winters ago here in Atlanta(zone 8) we had consecutive weekends that went to 18F then followed by 8F. My bogs are above ground and froze solid as a block of ice; sarracenias, pings, droseras, and VFT, all rock solid for a good two weeks with not one single plant was lost.

One Terra Forum member last winter housed his entire sarr collection sub aquadically all winter with no losses. Fungus cannot grow under water.

These plants have adapted to environmental changes over 1000s of years. They are much hardier than we give them credit for.

Food for thought.
 
  • #11
in southern ohio we get long freezing periods... though we also get swings in temp pretty bad also. One day it will be snowing and the next you don't even need a jacket.

for those who keep yours buried in the ground and mulched... do you trim all your plants down to the ground or does that pop out of the mulch? (sars)
 
  • #12
I try to keep the pitchers and phylodia vertical as I put the leaves on. So the taller ones stick out of the leaves. Not only does that allow them to get more light, it helps keep the oak leaves from packing down.
 
  • #13
what about covering VFTs?
 
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