Q/A #2 - Should I Refrigerate My Sarracenia in Central Florida?

QUESTION:
Hi I’m a amateur carnivorous plant collector in central Florida, zone 9. I’ve have a variety of plants and the three I have that require dormancy are a Venus flytrap, a Sarracenia purpurea, and an unidentified Sarracenia. I have had them all for about a year now and this is the first winter for them. Being Central Florida it’s chilly at best most days with a few sprinkles of high 70s (22°C) here and there. I’ve been fretting over my plants for a while because I know they need to go dormant to survive into the next year. 

The problem I’m having comes for the Sarracenia. They appear to be producing new leaves like they are still wanting to grow. I’ve read that putting them into the fridge can help but I’m not sure if they are actually dormant and I’m just noticing growth stopped before the winter began here or if putting them into the fridge later into the winter would disrupt there natural cycle and kill them anyways.
(Submitted in December 2018.)

RESPONSE BY JEFF DALLAS:
No, it's not necessary to put them in the refrigerator! Surprisingly, you don't need the type of cold weather that growers in northern regions experience. Since you are in zone 9, you have a longer growing season than other growers. It will get cooler later in the winter if it's not already. The plants will go dormant, not only from temperatures, but the decrease in daylight hours. 

I only recommend refrigerator dormancy for folks in true tropical areas such as Florida Keys, and then only for Venus Flytraps and some hardy sundews. Sarracenia will tolerate warm winters, and will show a short dormancy from the decrease in daylight hours. We have customers in Hawaii with Sarracenia, and they do fine with them just leaving them outside.

By the way, the other plant you have is Sarracenia Scarlet Belle. It loves the weather in Florida.

• Submitted in December 2018. The original question and response have been edited for publication.
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