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Post by absintheRTP on Sept 28, 2009 11:02:44 GMT -5
Hi, I have a mini-bog outside,
it is in a 50cm x 50cm x 50cm square pot, peat to the top
I have in it, couples of VFT, Sarrs Dana's delight, Sarrs Loco, Sarrs Purpurea SSP purpurea, Sarrs Judith Hindle and a Darlingtonia.
I would like to know if I can leave them outside for winter, I don't wanna repot everybody to be abble to put them in my fridge, but I don't want them to died either...
Thanks for answer, I'll put picture during the week
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Post by mabudon on Sept 28, 2009 11:56:51 GMT -5
from what I read there, you have a few options. IF you have a cold-ish room you could keep it in there (5 C or so is fine) You could dig a pit to sink the pot into over winter and cover it with mulch- as long as there's mulch and snowcover the temp will stay around 0 (we did experiments thanks to Brian a few years back and no matter where the bog was located nor how low the air temps got, the "soil temp" in the minibogs tested stayed flat at just a tad below zero- my unmulched bog never got below -4 or so) You could dig them all up and do the fridge thing but as you stated it would be a hassle-and-a-half. Some notes- the Sarrs will be your least worry. VFTs don't like our winter at all (which is why I don't have any haha) and Darlingtonia I am really not sure about- I've only had mine for 9-10 months and it seems happy on the windowsill (they are still quite tiny, only finally made a "snake tongue" in the past week or so which is encouraging) Personally I don't know anyone from outside of BC that has ever tried and succeeded with them outside year-round OH and as for Pet's comment- a metre deep might seem like overkill, BUT it would protect against spikes of high temps in the summer AND hold more water longer- only drawback is that a cubic metre of soaked peat is a tad on the heavy side, but it would help make cultivation a bit easier
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Post by Syble on Sept 28, 2009 12:55:24 GMT -5
it seams to me that the VFT don't like the wet of our winter, mine did fine with the bloody fridgid temps but when they would get cold and soggy they would rot. The trick you need to accomplish is to insulate it like others have said, so burrying it would be best if you can manage it. Darlingtonias out of my relm too, apparently no ones up on those guys haha. i'm still trying to figure out what to do with mine! i must admit i'm leaning heavily towards the fridge for it. I put all my VFT in the fridge once they go dorment naturally. Good luck Sib
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Post by mabudon on Sept 28, 2009 12:57:04 GMT -5
I'll keep some illegible notes on my Darlingtonia, I think the chill of a windowsill with the shorter photoperiod should be enough here- no energy-star windows in this place
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Post by absintheRTP on Sept 28, 2009 13:22:09 GMT -5
OH and as for Pet's comment- a metre deep might seem like overkill, BUT it would protect against spikes of high temps in the summer AND hold more water longer- only drawback is that a cubic metre of soaked peat is a tad on the heavy side, but it would help make cultivation a bit easier exact, I quickly wrote the dimension, it's more 2 feet then 1 meter, but I went this big to avoid overwarming of the soil and keeping moisture in, considering the bog is on my balcony, I will for sure digg up my D. Red Piranah , my Big Mouth, my Darlingtonia and I have so many vft typicals that i'm gonna test them outside this winter
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Post by absintheRTP on Sept 28, 2009 13:23:41 GMT -5
from what I read there, you have a few options. IF you have a cold-ish room you could keep it in there (5 C or so is fine) You could dig a pit to sink the pot into over winter and cover it with mulch- as long as there's mulch and snowcover the temp will stay around 0 (we did experiments thanks to Brian a few years back and no matter where the bog was located nor how low the air temps got, the "soil temp" in the minibogs tested stayed flat at just a tad below zero- my unmulched bog never got below -4 or so) thats what i'm gonna do, I'm gonna remove my tomatoes next week, then I'm gonna digg my bog in the ground, add pin needles on top, .... and bubble wrap-it
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Post by absintheRTP on Sept 28, 2009 13:25:37 GMT -5
I'll keep some illegible notes on my Darlingtonia, I think the chill of a windowsill with the shorter photoperiod should be enough here- no energy-star windows in this place good call, so the Darlingtonia will go near my bedroom window (basement facing north) so it should be great... but the 35-40% humidity might be armfull, no?
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Post by mabudon on Sept 28, 2009 13:49:52 GMT -5
should be fine I would think- mine is in real low humidity overwinter and doesn't hate it TOO much
Bubblewrap might be a bad idea, if the cover isn't porous (like a kind of mesh) it will probably cause problems so proceed with caution- restricting the airflow during dormancy creates a great environment for mold and fungus and anaerobic bacteria, which can end up killing plants before you even know it's happening
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Post by absintheRTP on Sept 28, 2009 13:51:18 GMT -5
so the pine needles + snow should be great
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Post by lloyd on Sept 28, 2009 14:14:11 GMT -5
I had mine aboveground last winter so they froze solid. I think the worst damage was from mildew-they were covered by plastic bins and I waited too late in the spring to uncover them.
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Post by canadaone on Sept 28, 2009 14:37:49 GMT -5
I have seen Lloyds set up, and it is several large pots of carnivorous plants. I was surprised that potted up CPs made it through the winter, as I am sure they would have frozen solid through and through, but there they were, healthy as all get out and growing strong! Amazing! Did you mulch them at all Lloyd? I forget if you told me. If not, all the more amazing. And thanks for the reminder that I need to do something about my "bog" which is a rubbermaid container of CP's on the back porch of the apartment building here.
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Post by mabudon on Sept 28, 2009 14:55:25 GMT -5
absintheRTP- yep, pine needles and snow- if you are paranoid, pile some snow on top when you're shoveling and it'd be perfect (just no salt in the snow haha)
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Post by absintheRTP on Sept 28, 2009 16:57:08 GMT -5
no salt, I would never do something that would "salt" my cp's lol
thx everybody for the advice
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Post by lloyd on Sept 28, 2009 20:28:09 GMT -5
I didn't get a chance to mulch last year, they were at my old house and I had moved. The plastic bins gave some protection and they were shaded and so avoided freeze/thaw cycles but they were frozen solid. I did lose some of my bigger sarrs and most VFT's died. Because I wasn't living there I wasn't able to uncover them until it was fairly warm. The larger sarrs were rotted through the rhizomes. I'm not sure if they rotted because they had frozen. There was tons of mildew but the dews, pings, purps did well. The flavas died back but grew back. The leucs all died. The psittacina died back but survived. This year I plan to use my cold room if it gets below 10C otherwise, I'll put them under the deck covered with burlap but above ground. I don't have anywhere to bury them.
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