First time wintering for beginners...

[Reyn]

Hello all. So I am back again for advice, hints, help on wintering my vft for the first time. I will keep the two youngest/smallest baby clones going but I have three I know I need to let go dormant. I live in a flat with south facing windows, bad sunlight and often below freezing. The fridge is an option, but I question the temp control.
Its a one bedroom flat. I know I need to start this soon. So I am reducing.g the direct lamp light and exposing them to the chill at the balcony door. I do not know what to expect. Or how to go about it. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Lloyd Gordon]

You can keep them in the fridge crisper. Or forget dormancy. Mine have been growing for a couple of years under lights.

 

[Reyn]

You can keep them in the fridge crisper. Or forget dormancy. Mine have been growing for a couple of years under lights.

I am likely to do so. I have them exposed to an open window and significantly less light at the moment. I figure that way is easier on them.. It's a space thing. Keep them in the pots. Seems a lot of stress to pull them up and store in bags.

 

[Lloyd Gordon]

I've found that VFT's don't suffer from repotting. You can always wash the medium away, which is gentle to the roots.

 

[Muckydoo]

I left mine outside until it hit one or two degrees consistently at night. I then brought them in and put them on a cool west facing window. Been doing that for a number of years and it seems to be fine. In the dead of winter, -40c stuff, that windows gets real cold.

 

[plantant]

I put them in my garage or the cold room and it seems to work well enough.

 

[Lloyd Gordon]

I found that a heavy frost especially with frozen hard soil kills VFT's.

 

[Muckydoo]

Yep, any night that went below 0c I put them inside. And then I put them out again once the overnight temps were above zero. Did that for as long as I could until this past week where we had continuous temperatures below zero all day. So now they will stay inside until spring

 

[Stini]

I put mine in the fridge , worked out very well

 

[Reyn]

My 3 are in the fridge. The two baby are still growing. So far so good

 

[Reyn]

Hello. Update on the first winter.
I left my three vft in their pots... Not doing that again. You guessed it. Rhizome rot.
Two had clusters of rhizomes, those I lost. However, I have three that are growing, after three weeks. And maybe a fourth. Along with the baby clones (one has had two feedings, the other is now growing healthy sprouts, have 5 months of struggling out of a half dead rhizome.), and a new rescue, another from Sobeys. I just may have 7 this summer.

 

[Lloyd Gordon]

Did the soil medium freeze?