Time & temperature for fridge dormancy.

[Richard Hole]

Hello

I am on the Atherton Tableland near Cairns in Australia. We have had above average temperatures this winter and have not had the usual cold snap. As a result, I heard it could be an idea to put Sarracenia and Venus Fly Trap bulbs in the fridge. My Sarracenias have mostly dead growth. However, some of them have some young shoots that would develop into pitches. Some of my Venus Fly Traps have a lot of stunted growth and one produced a flower yesterday.

Do you suggest I put them in the bottom of our fridge for the last month of winter bearing in mind my below temperatures? It would probably be better if I had put them in the fridge a month or two back. However, I thought we would have a cold snap.

The temperature of our fridge reaches a minimum of about 2.5 degrees Celsius. However, the temperature is often a couple of degrees higher than that. Should that be a good temperature? I assume that it would probably be best to leave a couple of the younger pitches or fly trap shoots on the plants. Is that a good idea? I plan to wrap the bulbs in damp paper towel in a plastic bag after removing the dead growth. However, I may put the whole pots of a few of them in a bag in the fridge where the soil is moist but not too wet. If I put them in the fridge in the next couple of days, how long would I leave them in there for considering it is now late winter?

Records from my home weather station in a standard Stevenson Screen indicate that the mean minimum for July was 15.8 degrees Celsius. The minimum was 12.6. The mean maximum was 22.3. For June the mean minimum was 14.6 degrees. The minimum was 11.9. The mean maximum was 22.9. More information is at http://weather.org.au/tolga

Your help is appreciated
Regards Richard.