bare root vs. potted fridge dormancy...

[pananep]

Hello,
I have been practicing fridge dormancy with my sarracenia and vfts for about two years now. What I do is I induce dormancy on my plants 2-3 weeks prior to refrigerating them by decreasing light hours and running an a/c unit in the room where the plants grow. Even though not all of my plants give me a clear sign that they are ready to go into the fridge, they all go in at the same time. I do cut off dead and decaying leaves but usually leave the rest on the plants. I have had good results, however I have still suffered some losses due to fungus/mold etc. I always spray the plants and soil with fungicide prior to refrigerating them, and even then fungus/mold still manages to get in there. I believe that this is due to the fact that the plants are attacked underneath the soil, were the fungicide does not reach them well enough.
I have read many articles and heard from many people that when placing the plants into the fridge they should be uprooted, excess dirt cleaned off, and most leaves except those that are smaller or just emerging should be cut off together with the old and decayed ones. Afterward, the plants should then be sprayed with a fungicide, wrapped in damp sphagnum and placed in ziplock baggies to be put in the fridge.
I was wondering if anybody has had some experience with this method or both methods for that matter and wishes to share their results. The whole uproot and baggie method would also save a lot of fridge space and this would be useful due to the fact that my collection is getting bigger.
Thanks a lot then, hope to get some replies soon. Later!

[pinglover]

I ordered Sarracenia from down under that were out of sync with where I grow. I chose to extend their dormancy a few months to get them in sync with our seasons. I used a refrigerator. The plants were already bareroot when I received them. I dusted their roots with powdered sulfur and wrapped them in damp LFS and tossed them in the frig in 1 gallon and 3 gallon zip lock baggies. That was that. Took them out two months later, potted them up, and all was well.

VFTs I routinely bareroot, dust with sulfur, wrap in LFS, and toss in the frig. They're none the worse for the wear.

Sarracenia I do leave out in the greenhouse pots and all with five fans running for circulation and the temps are set to not drop below 38F. Some I leave in my garage pot and all. My garage has supplemental heat. We can set the temps so that they are not allowed to fall below 38F although we do park in the garage over winter and the plants will get some nice big gusts of -15F winds for short periods of time. For the garage Sarracenia, I drench them with a 3% solution of H2O2 before I drag them in and stack them. I've not heard of anyone else doing this other than myself so this may be deemed unorthodox although hydrogen peroxide is a mild bleach. I train one fan over the plants in the garage and place them in front of windows for natural light. Both help keep fungus at bay. I do not dust these with sulfur. Over the course of winter, I keep the medium damp not moist. I have friends who swear by bare rooting their Sarracenia and tossing them in the frig. After all is said and done, my plants look as healthy as theirs and I don't have to go through the time and aggravation of bare rooting them and re-potting them the following spring. If I did not have a greenhouse or a garage with nice big windows, I'd definitely bare root them and stick them in a frig. The frig works perfectly fine.

[tmcelwee8]

wow, your post answered a lot of good questions I had. Since I am receiving a shipment of bare root specimens this week, do you think I should store them until winter? My guess would be yes. If I have a greenhouse, should I wait to plant my seeds? Have you ever tried an aero garden, or heard of anyone using one on cps before? Thanks.

[pinglover]

It's going to be difficult answering your questions because you haven't shared enough information for people to take a shot.

Where are the plants coming from would be the first question.
What kind of plants are being shipped to you bareroot and are they seedlings or mature plants?
Where are you located?
What type of a greenhouse do you have and what kind of temps do you maintain throughout the year?

What exactly is an aero garden? Really sorry but I don't have a clue what an aero garden is. Maybe I'm familiar with the type of garden you are asking about but know it by a different name?

[pananep]

Pinglover,

Thanks for your reply. I have been practicing fridge dormancy for two years in a row now, this would be the third. However, I have always placed them pot and all into the fridge. My collection is a lot bigger now, which means a lot more pots. Bare root dormancy would save a lot of space.
After extensive reading and perhaps over thinking the whole situation, I have already bare-rooted my plants and placed them in the fridge. Sprayed with fungicide, wrapped in moist sphagnum. I only tried a few though, call this the experimental year. We shall see how it goes... Thanks again.

tmcelwee8,

My friend has abaout 5 aero-gardens in his living room. He grows all sorts of herbs and vegetables on them. Dont think it would be suitable to grow cp's that way as far as I know. To me it seems that the only good thing about an aero garden for cp's is the light and automated light settings. But there are other cheaper ways to achieve that. Aero gardens are cool gadgets though, I'll give you that.

Take care, later....