You are here:

Carnivorous Plants/Wintering on the "flotilla"

Advertisement

Expert: - 1/5/2012


Question
Hello! Last summer when we were away for several weeks I made a "flotilla" of sheet styrofoam to hold my plants afloat in our 1.5 acre pond. They grew like crazy. I just saw in your newsletter that zone 7 or colder should be covered in mulch by now. Should I leave the plants on the flotilla, or move to dry land & cover. I usually do not cover them at all. The pond does have ice some, but does not last long. I am in zone 7, just beyond foothills area of NC, but we have just last week gotten some cold (high 34) days, which is unuaual for here(today it's 60). We do get sustained 20 degree weeks sometimes, but not the norm. The plants are Tarnok, Flava, J.Hindle, Scar. Belle. Thanks for your consideration!

Answer
Hi Holly,

Winter across the country has been unusually warm.  If your freezes have been short and intermittent, you don't need to do anything.  The pond does give extra warmth anyway.  If this month you do end up with what looks to be a week or so of extended freezing weather, just throw a tarp over your flotilla and weight it down with rocks or bricks.  That should be all the protection you need for a short time.  Those Sarracenia varieties are quite tough anyway.  We have a couple floating gardens and we remove them and put them in cold frames if we have temperatures in the teens, but just 20's are of little concern.

Good Growing!

Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.cobraplant.com

Carnivorous Plants

All Answers

Answers by Expert:

Ask Experts

Volunteer

Sarracenia Northwest

Expertise

If your plant is showing poor growth, discoloration, abnormal leaves or possible infestation, the growers at Sarracenia Northwest can help! Carnivorous plant experts Jeff Dallas and Jacob Farin will help you diagnose the problem and get your plants on the right track. Their no nonsense approach has helped thousands of growers all over the world. They can help you too!

Experience

With over 40 years of combined experience, Jeff and Jacob has definitely taken a straight forward approach to growing carnivorous plants. They have encountered many types of diseases, abnormal growth and infestations related to carnivorous plants, and they know what it takes to get plants looking beautiful and healthy again.

Education/Credentials
Authors of Secrets to Growing Beautiful Carnivorous Plants for Your Home and Garden and producers of the Grow Carnivorous Plants! DVD Series. They also produce a monthly video podcast to illustrate how plants cycle through the seasons.

No terrariums. No myths. No nonsense.
Just the straight facts from guys who grow and propagate
thousands of carnivorous plants each year.

PLEASE READ BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR QUESTION:
We no longer answer how-to questions (i.e. How do I propagate...?; How do I grow...?).

Instead, we help growers by diagnosing a specific plant problem and offering solutions (i.e. Why is my sundew not producing dew?; Is now a good time to divide my Sarracenia?; Why are the traps turning black?; What's a good substitute for perlite?; Why didn't my seeds germinate?; Can you identify this carnivorous plant for me?)

For general plant care, please read our care sheets on our main website:
http://www.cobraplant.com/caresheets

For business questions:
http://www.cobraplant.com/contact


Carnivorous Plant Videos Facebook
Follow us on Youtube and Facebook!


©2012 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.