Expert: Christopher Littrell - 9/5/2011

Question
Greetings and thanks for taking the time to answer my question,

I live in Zone 4 (Nebraska), and am looking for advice on how to properly winterize my Sarracenia Flava. This is the first year I've tried my hand at raising anything other than Nepenthes (which haven't required a dormancy period, just taking them indoors).

I'm afraid to leave them outside in any capacity due to the massive, deep freezes we get around here which last - sometimes - weeks at a time. What would you recommend is the best way to go about dealing with hiberation?

Thanks!

Answer
Hello Ben,

Sarracenia flava typically live in USDA zone 7 weather, so zone 4 would be a bit cold for them to survive without some protection. The main considerations to remember about winterizing plants is that the best solution is to keep them just above freezing and keep them out of drying winds. So long as they do not dry out, they will be fine, and so long as they do not totally freeze dry, they will be fine. You can use mulching and tarps if they are in permanant, outside spots. Place their pots in larger containers of bark or moss or just cut dead grass and then place a plastic tarp over them on the days that they would be in below freezing weather or stiff, cold winds. You can also take them indoors and place them in a south or east facing window where they can still get a few hours of light, but where they will feel cold drafts from a window. Place them in a cold garage, basement, screened patio, or right against a cold window and they will feel the effects of winter without being totally frozen. The days in winter will need to remain short in duration, less than 8 hours light a day, and they will need to feel cold temperatures consistently below 60 degrees to remain dormant.

Make sure to clip all of the leaves back to within 4 inches of the soil line so there will be less material to attract mold growth. Also, make sure to water the plants about half as much as you do in the growing season. Just leaving a wet paper towl under the pots and monitoring them, adding some water every few days as needed to the pots, is usually sufficient to keep their moss moist in winter. Never let them dry out.

I live in a very warm climate and grow mine indoors all year long. (You need very high intensity light indoors to do this.) My way of dealing with dormancy is to place them in a large ice chest with bottles of frozen water around their pots and simply replace the bottles every 12 hours. I keep the ice chest closed at night and open in the day so the plants can receive some light,  temperature variations, and air. That tactic is work intensive as you need to remember to replace those frozen bottles and monitor the temperature to ensure that the plants are cold enough to maintain dormancy, but not frozen.

Christopher