Most carnivores can tolerate down to 20 degrees for breif periods of time.
If there is dry,freezing wind,bring them in.
In winter don't let the soil dry out.Keep it moist and not water logged like it should be normaly.
I've only heard about fertilizing nepenthes but I would'nt fertilize the others.
Adrian

You do NOT need to feed carnivorous plants at all.

Superthrive is not fertilzer and does nothing. It's snake oil.

Keep soil moist in winter just like any other time of year.

The VFT can go in the basement or fridge for dormancy.

Tom

Again, to add to Tom, CP's don't (generally) need or want fertilizer. Some people DO treat Neps like orchids, with asome foliar feeding. But you really wanna stay away from additives.

Neps are equatorial plants and will need supplemental lighting to maintain a 11/13 - 13/11 photoperiod. But they don't need a dormancy.

Depending upon which sundews you have determines whether they need a dormancy or not. Temperates (D. intermedia, binata, rotundifolia, filiformis) are temperate. D. spatulata, capensis, and others are sub-tropical and do not need a dormancy.

Your VFT's will need a dormancy. The easiest way I know of, coming from the Buffalo area, is to tote the temprates to the attic and place them, as is, right at a south window. They get cold and photoperiod cues from there and sleep & wake up accordingly. For dormancy plants they will not need to be fed and should be kept barely watered / moist.

Just to add to the fertilizer discussion, I never fertilize any of my carnivorous plants, not even the Nepenthes. Natures way for carnivores is to do the carnivorous thing. If the Nepenthes looses all of it's pitchers, you can jump start it with a couple months of light foliar feed with blood meal that is water soluble wiped lightly on the leaves in 1/4 or less solution every months or two weeks at the most... less would be better. It is too easy to burn carnivorous plant leaves with fertilizer. Never get any fertilizers in the soil.

In late fall, make sure to shorten the florescent light to match day length for the inside North American plants so they will produce winter hormones and begin living off their reserve starches... then you can place them in sold conditions after the photoperiod drops from 12 hours to 8 hours overwinter. Drop it by 1 hour a week in November basically. In February or March, start warming them up and give them one more hour of light per week until they are back to normal photoperiod.

Thanks for the information! Understood about dormancy. I know only the VFT will go dormant. If I put him to the fridge, what is the best way to store him for winter? The garage gets extremely cold, teens single digits.

If I have Pings and cape sundews outdoors in z-5. When should I bring them in? Same with Neps.(?) We will be having cooler weather this coming week. Could go into the 40's at night

When I bought the neps, they were extremely under-light and are in process of growing new pitchers. They burned in N Light! 1 burned under a 23 w cfl. They were bad off but coming along with lots of new growth. Have some outdoors in morning sun and dappled afternoon shade, some indoors under a combo of 42 & 85 w cfls and a west window. Pitchers bit the dust, foliage is really nice.

I did not want to debate the efficacy of ST. I know everyone has an opinion about it. just wanted to know if it would do harm.(?) I have over 200 orchids and would like to make my life simple at watering time :-). Some pings really have little in the way of roots. Same vendor as the neps. Understood they are not big in the root department but they need a little more than a few "hairs", especially the new "babies". What is a baby ping called?

I do 14/10 runs minimum in winter, usually for 4-6 weeks. I can't set up another place for the "animals" so they will have to deal with longer run times. I can however, put them at the lower light end so it will be a slow light feed. I do a combination of tubes and cfls (42's and 85's mainly with a few 23's at close range) with a W window or an obstructed S. window. I am one who subscribes to the more light, the better theory. So far so good with the carnivours. I posted on another thread, all my carnivours are flowering or have "pinked up". All have new growth, all sticky.

The neps are going through "re-acclimation" as mentioned. They seem to be the biggest challenge so far. Not wondering if they need a little fertiliser? They are unable to catch. I use fert. very weakly.

What about epsom salt treatment? Is that something the Neps could benefit from?

Clara

Never heard of Epsom Salt as a treatment for CP's... only for tropical fish.

There are different ways to do fridge dormancy. You can clean off all the soil and us a fungicide and put in a baggies. You can put it directly in a baggie. You can use fungicide or not. One year I just put the plants, as was, in the butter keeper and just monitored for moisture. That was simple and worked.

Once the forecast lows get into the 40's I would consider bringing them inside and set up at a southish window sill, open tray.... or under artificial lighting.

Baby ping could be called just that or sprout or plantlet.

With Neps a spring spray on the leaves with 1/4 strength miracle grow every 2-3 weeks will help induce pitchers. Other than that I do NOT feed anything to any of my carnivours. They will feed themselves.

Thanks for the info! I brought them in last night. Have them in a west window with the orchids. 85's and 42w cfls. I had a ping under a 23w cfl at very close range and it didn;t seem to be enough. The neps have 4 tubes, no window. I hope that's enough. They are in process of making new pitchers. Would hate to have that stop.

One last question; How can neps feed themselves in the winter? I have bugs for a long time but there are a few months that I am bug free

Clara

Nepenthes, like all other plants, carnivorous or not, "feed" on sunlight. The bugs are fertilizer, like you eating a daily multi-vitamin. I don't fertilize any of my plants in the winter. It's not a big deal.
Bob

Hello claritamaria,

Like bob123how indicated, it is not a really big problem, but you can always use foliar feed in very weak strength, as tommyr stated, for Nepenthes if you just have to. Also, a more natural way to feed them even in winter is to acquire blood worms or crickets from a tropical fish or pet store in winter. You can actually raise your own crickets cheaply by buying a few and placing them in a container with a shallow water dish, a dish of corn meal, and some leaf litter and soil for egg laying. The crickets will breed like roaches in that setup (not surprising since they are related to roaches). Just feed the smaller crickets to the tropical carnivores and keep the adults for breeding. You could do the same with any species of roach, including the small German roaches, which would be perfect fertilizer for a Nepenthes as well.