Buy Pitcher Plant, Venus Flytrap and Sundew. Carnivorous Plant Connection nursery » winter care

Winter Care

Josh — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:41:51 +0000

Whether you grow your North American carnivorous plants in pots or in your yard, winter care is easy. When they’re in your bog garden, most North American pitcher plants will survive brief periods near zero degrees Fahrenheit . Venus flytrap and sundew need pine needle mulch to over-winter. If you’re growing them in a dish garden protect them if it gets below 20 degrees Fahrenheit.Winter care for a BOG GARDEN: If the weather forecast is calling for sub zero temperatures (in the negatives), then put six inches of pine needles on your bog garden. A layer of pine needles is a good idea anyway; it holds in the moisture during the summer!

Dish garden winter care is easy too: If the forecast calls for temperatures below 20 degrees then move your pot to a protected location. A sunny spot out of the wind is ideal if you are in zone 7 or warmer. A garage or cool sunny windowsill works too. If you bring it in the house just make sure your pitcher plants aren’t growing leaves in the winter; they need to rest for a few months!

If you have specific questions, check out the MINI-ARTICLES about winter care.

What is a hard winter?

Josh — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:59:43 +0000

A question that often comes up is, “How hard was last winter?” It depends on who’s asking! For us humans a hard winter is measured by the number of days we were stuck at our houses without power. Or how slushy the roads were.

North American carnivorous plants are at or below ground level when they are dormant. The measure of a hard winter for these plants is ground temperature! Ground temperature changes much more slowly than air temperature. Factors like yesterday’s air temperature, cloud cover, and amount of snow on the ground all affect the temperature of your bog garden. Surprisingly, snow on the ground is an insulator!

Here is a forecast for my house 2nd week in February. My plants and I live in the mountains of North Carolina. This winter storm won’t bother the North American pitcher plants in my flower bed:

Check out a COLD-HARDINESS MAP if you’re curious about your house. If you live in zone 6 then it is likely you will need to put 6 inches of pine needles on your bog garden.

If you’re curious about how much warmer your winter has gotten in the last few decades check out this ANIMATED MAP.

Happy gardening! Josh

Time to cut back pitcher plant leaves

Josh — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 04:13:33 +0000

Winter is here! One of the things I like to do in December is clean the plants up a little. Cutting back pitcher plant leaves is optional, but it makes them look better and is a preventative for disease.

When the leaves turn brown its a good time to do a little trimming. Carefully cut where they attach to the rhizome. But be careful, don’t cut the growth point off!

I usually toss the leaves in my garden or compost pile, they still have a bit of natural fertilizer from the summer. And by fertilizer I mean bug gut fertilizer!

Josh