Venus Flytrap Winter Dormancy

Hi my name is Wes on behalf of Expert Village.com, and in this video segment I am going to show you how to grow the Venus fly trap. If you want to know more about carnivorous plants and Venus Fly Traps, you can visit us at equilibriocarnivorousplants.com. In this video segment, I am going to talk to you about dormancy. Dormancy is extremely an important part of the natural life cycle of the Venus Fly Trap. In nature and its habitat in the Carolina’s, it goes through a period of cold temperature where most of the plant dies back. In the spring, it will grow again and you will have a nice healthy plant, but it is important to replicate this natural life cycle if you don’t live in an area like the Carolina’s. If you do live in a similar climate that is going to be humid and relatively warm throughout the winter, you can keep this plant growing outside, as long as the temperature does not go much below the 30’s or 40’s. This plant here has started to go into dormancy. What we want to do is trim back the dead leaves and get ready to put it into the winter dormancy. If you live in a very hot climate, you can place this plant in your refrigerator, and if you have a lot of plants, what you can do is take it out of the pot first. We can see that there is still a good amount of soil around the base of this plant. You want to put some soil in a plastic bag first; just a little bit of soil. Place the plant inside the soil inside the bag, and this is to lock in humidity and moisture for the plant. You want to place a rubber band or something else to secure the bag. You can place this inside the vegetable drawer of your refrigerator. Other places that you can put this plant is inside your basement, maybe on a window sill where it is going to be nice and cool over the summer, but still receive a bit of direct sunlight. Again the most important thing here is to make sure that it gets plenty of humidity and moisture throughout the winter. It needs a period of dormancy of about 3 or 4 months usually from about December to late February or March.