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.

[Richard Hole]

Hello

Since sending my last email regarding putting Sarracenias and Venus Fly Traps in the fridge, I received some feedback on a carnivorous plant forum where a couple of people said
“Once growth resumes, the plant has decided dormancy is over. If you put them in the fridge now, it will not help, but could likely damage both the Sarracenias and VFTs. Missing a full winter's dormancy is not a big deal.”

In my question I said that some of my plants have some young shoots that would develop into pitchers. Some of my Venus Fly Traps have a lot of stunted growth and one produced a flower yesterday.

In reply to their answer above I just asked them the below.

One thing I also meant to mention is that some of my plants have scale insects and others are not looking very well and may be on the verge of dying and they contain no new growth. Perhaps putting these plants in the fridge could help.

On many of my other plants there is no new growth and on others there have not been any more young shoots than during the middle of winter so it would appear that those plants are still in dormancy and are not starting to get out of dormancy.

For these plants do you suggest putting them in the fridge for about a month?

Your help is appreciated
Regards Richard.