....came home with this. I haven't tried it with ham yet.
Went to buy cheese....
same plant
Nice, skip the ham!
Tommyr2006,
Thanks for the great advice you've given me in the last year....when I do what you say the VFT's have done well. I can't imagine why the directions on the little containers could be so far from right.
Those directions are to insure you'll buy more later cause if you follow them it'll die.
I was admiring my newest VFT today and it has a stalk that looks like it will flower! I'm so excited. I hope it doesn't take me many winters to learn to provide proper dormancy.
Where you are you could leave them out all year I'm pretty sure. Mine live in the fridge from fall to mid February.....
I agree with Tommy. Leave them out all year. I do. I am a little warmer than you are, but NC is probably about the same zone, and they are native there. If you want a little protection, mulch a bit and remove the mulch in spring. My biggest problem is keeping them cool enough in winter so they can go dormant.
Sunshines, that is a beautiful plant. :)
leave them out? outside?
So Pretty Sunshines! Great pictures. I wish my grocery sold VFT's. LOL
If you buy a plant from the 'grocery' would it be prudent to leave it out now? Can they adjust to the cooler weather or should they ride on the window sill until spring? I thought the photoperiod made them go dormant. Sorry for all the questions. Newbie here.
Me, too! I'd never get groceries. I'd be right in front of that display.
Beautiful. Better than any ham I've seen.
RRM
Seray,
You could put it in a zip lock bag and put it in the fridge until the end of February. Then take it out, place in a water tray and put it in a sunny window.
Do you put the soil that it is in with it too?
The thought of doing that makes my blood run cold Tommy. LOL I think of them as pets already. Although they are for a goth garden and that plastic bag thing does suit the mood. :) just kidding
Maybe if I plant them in their nice little mini bog home, leave them out in the sun and when it's going to freeze haul them in the GH for the night. We don't freeze here very often. Would that work? Or is it the freeze that's needed?
Appreciate your time and expertise.
Aren't they native to zone 7B? I would think that would be fine for leaving them outside year round. I am in zone 8(or there about) and this will be the first year I leave some out to test things. It hasn't been cold enough here for any real frost so they are still green.
C
So, I can put my new baby's outside with no harm??
We have not had any real frost her either. It has gotten cool, but not freezing.
my little ones came from Lowe's, you think I can put them OUT????
Charleen
I think they should be protected some the first year until they are better adapted but yes I think they can stay out in a sheltered place for their dormant period.
C
Guess I'll wait and put them out there next year.
Sure don't want to risk losing them.
Thanks for the help.
Charleen
The biggest problem if you live too far south like I do is that they do not get cold enough to go properly dormant and therefore have a hard time resting for the next year. Tanja
What about day length. Is your day length shorter now like it is further north? I think that contributes, too.
I put them ouside and went to check on them after all this rain. Have pinestraw over them and they look good, so far.
I think they will make it, we did have a freeze here awhile back. The VFT looks good, but the Sundew was so tiny, don't know about it.
The sundew I would put in the house. Many sundews are temperate and go down to a hybernaculum (sp?) for the winter. Some sub tropicals will die down to roots, and some sundews do not deal well with cold weather. WHatever you do, if it looks like the plant dies, do not throw it out. I have had plants come back 6 months later. And the VFT will look super rough. Don't let the plants dry out during the winter. Dehydration kills them faster than cold weather.
In Florida we are dark 5:30-6 PM to 6-7 AM in winter. In summer we are light 6 AM to 9 PM. Not a big change like up north. When I lived in Berlin it was light in summer from 2 AM to 10 PM. I loved it. :)
Well.....I think I've killed 2 more. I'm determined to over winter at least one.....will try again this season.
Maybe I need to purchase a healthy mature plant grown outdoors in my zone from a hobbyist or maybe I should support our local folks trying to provide variety. Maybe I should try to do both and watch longer.
All of the sickly ones I bought at the stores survived the winter here. I did move the pots into the garage3 times when I feared the really cold weather, but otherwise they did just fine.
C
That is really good to hear. :)
Mine made it through the winter outside just fine. In fact this is the coldest winter we have had in decades (record breaking) with many days below freezing, and my Flytraps and Sarracenia look better than they have in years. The cold made them stronger.
I even had 6 month old seedling Sarracenia and VFTs outside in the freezing temps all winter, and they are growing with vigor. The Sarrcenia were about 1/2 inch tall and the VFT smaller than a dime, and they are growing like crazy now.
If anyone wants to see pictures, let me know, and I will post the pictures.
I still havent gotten around to putting them all together into a large bog pot but maybe next weekend. The VFT's look really nice, in a couple weeks they started producing a lot of nice sized pitchers. We had a killer winter here too. Lost a few things but the CP's didn't seem to mind, even when I found them covered in snow and looking completely frozen.
C
Did you take picture sof them in snow? In their habitat they get snow, but people still think they can't handle it. And they can. :) We even had snow one county over, and fountains and birdbaths froze all over lforida, something I have never seen. Wow! But my plants are thrilled.
No pics but the pots felt completely frozen and none of the VFT's or the pitcher plants seemed to suffer for it. They are tough. Now if only my sundews did better. ):
C
I keep my tropical sundews in for the winter. My temperate sundews were fine. Went done to their buds and came back like crazy when the weather improved.
I have mine under lights in the classroom and they are not at all happy. 2 pygmys look nearly dead and an Adelae(sp?) dried up after flowering but I do see a new baby or two there. I love sundews but seem to be bad at keeping them alive.
C
I can't keep the lance leafs alive and pygmies are tricky. For your classroom grow D. capensis. They are so easy and pretty, and curl around the insect, so they move. Kids like that. They flower and reseed like crazy. D. binata would work and D. spatulata.
So you think the carpensis is the easiest to grow? Does it need full sun or partial? I like them all but need ones that are less fussy.
C
In my opinion D. capensis is the least fussy of any drosera. I have them growing all over. I had some at my house and at the Botanical Gardens out in the freezes, and it didn't slow them down. And thew 95 degree weather doesn't bother them either. Don't waste the money on athe all red, because you won't be able to keep it red. Get the normal or the broadleaf.
...just can't stay away little VFT's are at local places and I MUST have one winter over. I'm gonna try again differently. Surely I am learning something.
My VFT's from last season over wintered beautifully, even with the cold temps. I kept them out all but about 4 nights and they are really looking good this spring.
C
Our cold winter did great things for my VFT and Sarracenia. We had record breaking freezing temps and the plants are growing with incredible vigor.
My pot of VFT's froze one time and it didn't hurt them a bit. The only plants that don't look really good are my 2 purpurea, not sure what variety they are. They are growing but with less vigor than the fly traps and the 2 unknown sarracenias I left outside. My point was I am in nearly the same zone as sunshines today so his( or her) plants should do fine outside also.
C
I'm glad to know you folks can keep yours from freezing to death. It gives me hope that someday mine, too will survive.
They should survive a zone 7 winter?