Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
thbjr

dorment season

thbjr
16 years ago

My daughter gave me a Venus Flytrap recently and I decided to build a terrarium for it. As fate would have it, while gathering peat and Sphagnum moss I found a Purple Pitcher plant and a Sundew. My flytrap is in its summer leaf season but I donÂt know about the Pitcher or Sundew. The Sundew appears dry without the stick blobs on the leaves. I put them in their pots into the terrarium, a 10 gal tank with 2 60w compact florescent light on 14 hr timer. My question is, concidering it's mid November, when and how long should I put them in the fridge for dormancy? Should I do it at all? Should I wait or do it now? I feel they need a few weeks to recoup from being Âcaged in those little, unventilated plastic boxes they were shipped in. Who knows how long since they were shipped, several plants were dead. I live in Phoenix, AZ where it was 87 today and a low tonight of 63. IÂd rather not try outside dormancy because the desert conditions, even in winter, donÂt mimic a bog.

I hosted a picture of my set up linked to below.

Thanks for your advice.

Tom

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:569489}}

Comments (12)

  • agentrdy
    16 years ago

    I would suggest, if you have a garage or other unheated room like that, to put the whole terrarium in there and simply cut back on the light hours. That way, they stay humid, indoors, protected, yet cold enough (along with the light) to go into dormancy. Dormancy is a rest period for the plants, and because your plants just came from the "death-cubes", I would think that a rest would definitely be beneficial to their health.

    Specifically, the purple pitcher is extremely cold hardy (up into Canada for certain varieties) and retains its leaves throughout winter, so a lack of light as found in a fridge might actually be bad for it. Purple pitchers require almost twice the light of other Sarracenia, too, in order to be healthy, and the fact it's already light starved (almost always a symptom of death cube plants--they turn very green like yours, while healthy ones have reddish/purple veins or are entirely purplish. VFT's become green and spindly/flimsy/narrow in low light, reddish on the trap insides in adequate light, and sundews lose red pigment on the mucus glands in low light.) would lead me to want to give it light rather than dormancy in the fridge. I would recommend rather than bothering with dormancy immediately, to give all the plants a week or two though of good strong artificial light (and possibly even sunlight if you've got a suitable place to put the terrarium), just like you were thinking. That should build up their health and acclimate them to your light and humidity conditions, etc. I'm not specifically sure about the VFT or sundew, though, so hopefully more knowledgeable people will weigh in.

  • mutant_hybrid
    16 years ago

    Agentrdy is absolutely on the nose here. After such light deprivation a dormancy period might well kill them. The Purple Pitcher plant and Venus Flytrap in particular need that light to gather energy for dormancy, but you might even want to forego dormancy altogether this year and concentrate on strengthening them with as much light as you can give them until next winter. They might not survive dormancy this year if they do go dormant, but they might not survive beyond a year without dormancy, so it really is a tough choice.

    The sundew might be tropical or temperate. What type is it? Can you take a picture and post it or find the species online and provide the name for it? If it is tropical, you can grow it all year with no dormancy. It might be Drosera adelae as that is a common tropical plant that stores often mix in with temperate carnivores, causing much consternation when it does not survive dormancy like the Flytrap.

    If your region has less than 15-30 percent humidity, then you might have to grow them with additional humidity provisions like that terrarium (you might just want to leave the terrarium top on half way and pour an inch of water in the bottom, letting the pot drain holes soak up water for the plants that way), but remember, the Purple Pitcher will need some way to get extremely bright light (about 25000 lumens) if it is to grow normally at all. The Flytrap can go with about half that intensity, but more is better for the Flytrap too. If your sundew is D. adelae, it will not like direct sun, but will like bright florescent light or indirect, but bright, sunlight (about half what the Venus Flytrap would like). I have no idea why such plants are placed together by those stores since they require such different conditions.

    In any event, indoors in a terrarium will be much more difficult to pull off than outdoors in open pots for most carnivorous plants. It can be done, but you need to be able to provide very intense light, air circulation, and dormancy cycles for temperates while watching out for mold and bacterial infection. Since you live in a desert, you might want to try primarily tropical sundews and Nepenthes that you can grow indoors all year round in controlled conditions.

    In any case, most carnivorous plants can adapt to low humidity in open pots fine, so long as they have plenty of water in a tray under their pots and constantly moist medium. Many people grow Venus Flytraps and Sarracenias in 15 percent humidity just fine.

  • thbjr
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Thank you for your input. It seems from your responces I'm doing about as well as I can for starting a CP garden this time of year in a desert...LOL!
    As for the question as to what type of Sundew, I'm at work now and the container is at home. I'll post the species as soon as I get home, but in the mean time, the picture linked to below looks just like mine,... only healthier.
    Again, thanks for the input.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Sundew plant like mine.

  • woodnative
    16 years ago

    Your sundew looks like D. adelae, which is commonly found in these "cubes". It is a nice, larger size sundew. YOur VFT and S purpurea look pretty healthy considering their source. That is the southern form of S. purpurea, S. purpurea venosa. This is more commonly grown by the mass producers. I have had good luck keeping those cube plants warm and actively growing through their first winter. They probably came out of tissue culture recently and do not necessarily need dormancy this year, but definetely give them a dormancy next winter. That particular sundew will not survive a cold dormancy period like the VFT and Sarracenia.

  • petiolaris
    16 years ago

    The D. adelae should be kept separate fom the VFT & Sarracenia. As indicated above, they need a dormanct period that might need to be more of a nursing back to health period for now. The sundew grows very well in its pot, placed in a plastic container with a little distilled water, right at a window sill.

    {{gwi:428435}}

  • tommyr_gw Zone 6
    16 years ago

    Grown in a bright window D. Adelae will spread like wildfire! You'll have TONS of plants in no time! GREAT CPs! No dormancy needed!

  • thbjr
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Ok, I'm convenced my Sundew is a Drosera adelae, the box only says Drosera but the picture's of D. adelae match my plant. I see that it is a tropical Sundew and doesn't go dormant. Just my luck. Two plants I need to keep in the garage in Dec and Jan and one I need to keep 'tropical'.
    So, since I didn't do so well with my first mix of CP's, can I get some advice on which varities will work well together in my terrerium? I'd like some VFT's if they'll do well under the lights I have for them. If not, I may need to stick with the tropical Sundews as they need less light. I don't think I can put anything stronger than the two 60watt compact fluoresents in the light hood. Suggestions...?
    Thanks again!!!!!!!!!

    To mutant hybred,...25000 lumens? That would mean a 250 watt HPS bulb. I'm afraid that would be a bit much for a 10 Gal. terrerium. I'd have temps in the 130-150 range or higher. I sure know how to pick the wrong plants for my enviroment. :~)

  • mutant_hybrid
    16 years ago

    Thbjr,

    Yeah 25000 lumens is a bit much to supply indoors... but the Purple Pitcher Plant is the most light greedy carnivorous plant ever. Without that amount of light the pitchers will start to loose their color, grow in twisted and stunted, and might even grow in flat like phyllodia (winter leaves for Sarracenias of several species). A good strongly lit window and strong supplemental florescent lights will give the Sarracenia and Flytrap at least a fighting chance. If you try your plants outside you will want to keep them out of the hottest summer days as most carnivorous plants do not like heat much over 100 degrees.

    Other nice tropical species would include Drosera capensis and Drosera spatulata, both easy growers that will do well indoors in a well lit window or under florescent lights. In addition, if you are looking for a larger plant, you can try a Nepenthes.. like N. alata, N. sanguinea, N. ventrata, and N. ventricosa... there are several more plants you could grow easily indoors, but those are a good start.

  • ilbasso_74
    16 years ago

    the 2 60 watters are too low. All of the sources I've seen say that compact fl bulbs should be at least 100 w.

  • petiolaris
    16 years ago

    If you want real easy, forgiving, window sill, low-maintenance cp's here are some suggestions:

    D. capensis:

    {{gwi:569490}}

    D. binata:

    {{gwi:430410}}

    Mexican butterwort:

    {{gwi:569491}}

    D. spatulata:

    {{gwi:548173}}

    D. adelae:

    {{gwi:428435}}

    Bladderwort:

    {{gwi:430453}}

  • don555
    16 years ago

    Your D. Adelae should develop nice dew in a couple weeks if the terrarium is giving it high enough humidity. Here's a pic of one growing in a 5 gallon aquarium under grow lights.
    {{gwi:569492}}

  • cmm889
    16 years ago

    in response to the lighting situation I understand that you have the long tubed fl. lights and I considered those for a while for my 10 gallon terrarium but over time and they were working for my vft's at least in growth but they weren't getting any good coloration but were still moderately healthy. I changed out those lamps and bought the twisted compact floursc bulbs and put them in some round reflectors you can get at homedepot or even walmart mine put out 2000 lumens a piece and so when you can get say... 6 of them on top of my terrarium with gaps for air circulation all of my plants have wonderful coloration including my vft's and I have 6 of them all growing strongly upright with maroon traps and all of my drosera are happy as can be as well... so there are definetly ways of going about it without going to something dangerous like halides

0
Sponsored