Hello Lilcoldinak,

Right now the Venus Flytrap should have gone dormant. The pitcher plant, if it is a Sarracenia, a bunch of tube shaped or horn shaped leaves growing out of the ground, it should also go dormant in winter. During winter, such plants slow down in growth and basically go to sleep, needing little light. Without such dormant periods, they tend to die back in a year. They would actually like the high levels of light there in summer, but need very little in winter.

The sundew is another problem as it might be Drosera adelae, a tropical, or Drosera rotundifolia, another temperate like the Venus Flytrap and Sarracenia.

Best bet is to look at some pictures of plants on cobraplant.com or californiacarnivores.com to find out what species you have of sundew and pitcher plant so you can give them proper care in winter. Tropicals can be left under the grow light and kept warm. Temperates will need that winter dormancy for about 3-4 months. In spring they will resume growth with the lengthening of days and warming of temperatures.

Once you find out what kinds of plants you specifically have we can help you with more specific information about their needs.

The Flytrap is just that, no need to get more specific. Lots of light in the growing season, 1/4 pot depth of mineral free water (no salt softening either) in a tray under its pot, warm temperatures of around 70-90 degrees in the growing season, and winter drops to about 40-50 degrees and less light in day length in winter for 3 months. Step down artificial light length by 1 hour a day per week in November until it is at or less than 8 hours a day or just place the plant in a window to time its dormancy. In February-March, begin stepping the light back up by 1 hour per day each week until it is over 12 hours a day or simply keep it in the window to wake up with longer day lengths.

No need to fertilize any of them as too much can kill them deader than a doorknob.

Repotting them should no be a problem. Press in slightly on the sides of the pot with your hands and then turn it upside down with one hand over the plants. They should fall out in your hand after a bit of loosening. Gently tease away old moss until the roots are exposed. Work the roots apart with your fingers until you get the plants apart... some roots might snap even if you are gentle, particularly on the sundew, no worries, if it is Drosera adelae it will make more plants from broken roots. I would suggest placing them in seperate pots with large water trays... about 4-6 inch pots would be good. Use only sphagnum peat moss that come unfertilized in bales in nurseries and unfertilized perlite. Mix them 1:1 and pot the plants in that after moistening the mix first. Leave the mix spongy in consistency, do not press it down too tightly, carnivorous plants like a lot of drainage and air holes in their soil. Never add regular potting soil as it always has fertilizer and is not the right Ph in acidity.

Carnivorous plants most often live in bogs or fens, so they do like high humidity, but can often adapt to low humidity without difficulty. When opening a dome or terrarium cover for plants it is a good idea to open it a little every three days until it is completely open after two weeks, then you can remove the plants and they will be adapted to your home humidity. Most carnivorous plants, like Sarracenias and Venus Flytraps, can adapt to humidity as low as 15-30 percent and are often grown open pot... I grow all mine open pot, but I have 50 percent humidity here.

Anyways, look for what kind of plants you have and get back with us...

Hey Mutant, Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. I was hoping to hear from you since you seem to know so much. I looked at several websites to figure out which sundew I have but the plants were red and colorful and mine is green. In fact it looks alot like the picture you posted of your Drosera adelae (in response to dsmdan95 on May 12, 2007) except it's green with no real color. Kind of like the little plant in the top right corner of the pot in your picture. Is it supposed to be all green? or should there be some other color?
If my VFT is supposed to be dormant, should we stop feeding it? How do you know when it's going dormant? Does it put out a "do not disturb" sign? haha
I did some research before buying the plants but clearly experience is the best teacher.
Thanks for your help!

My Adelaes are all green I have a number of them. VERY easy to care for plants.

My VFTs are in the fridge for dormancy and will come out on or about February 14th. VFTs grow soil hugging traps when dormant. They lay somewhat flat on the soil surface. As opposed to the hugh reaching traps in summer.

There is no need to feed carnivorous plants by the way. Bugs are like desert for them. They get most of their food from light.

Tom

what part of alaska are you in lilcoldinak?

Hello Lilcoldinak,

Yeah, Drosera adelae will develop red tentacles in good light and will even develop purplish red coloration on their leaves when in intense light, but never give them full sun as it can damage them... they cannot develop much UV resistance. Its a tropical.

Venus Flytraps and Sarracenias are full sun plants that can take hot, high UV light.

When you drop the daylength on your light the Flytrap and Sarracenia will slow in growth and the flytrap will develop those short, wide, low lying leaves that Tommyr described. When that happens, it is ready for dormancy. Some Sarracenias develop flat winter leaves called phyllodia, but not all do, so just give them less light for a month till they are down to 8 hours a day and they will be ready to resist cold weather near a chilly window over the next couple months. Just don't let them completely freeze solid and keep the soil barely moist.

In any event, thanks for the compliment, but typing a lot does not mean I know more... there are a lot of other very skilled growers on this forum. I am still about intermediate level in skill I would say.

Do NOT feed your CPs mealworms! they are too high in calcium and can even damage your traps. Fruit flies and crickets are better options.

... and whale blubber... don't forget the whale blubber!