Other special setups (Growing flytraps from seed)

[Trigon]

Hi all,

Are there any other special setups that you need to grow VFT from seed, in the past I have planted them in pure peat moss and put the uncovered pots outside is a sunny location all year round.

Is there a better way of germinating VFT seeds?

Should I be using plastic covers/containers?

Should I bring them in over the winter? (winters get to 10 degrees Celsius/ 50 degrees Fahrenheit).

Any other tips would be great.

 

[Not a Number]

http://www.carnivorousplants.org/seedbank/species/Dionaea.htm
http://www.carnivorousplants.org/seedbank/species/DionaeaCheckList.htm

 

[mmlr38]

This year, for the first time, I used pots in ziploc bags and my seed germinated very quickly. Last year, without being the in ziploc bags, it took about 4 to 6 weeks for most of the seed to germinate. This year, within two weeks nearly all of the seed germinated. Once the seed germinated, I removed it from the ziplock bags.

I think keeping them in the bag was definitely worth the 2 to 4 weeks it saved on germination time.

If your coolest temps are around 50°F, I'd just leave them outside for the winter.

 

[Veronis]

I don't know why using ziplocs or saran wrap helps so much, but I can only assume it's the humidity and the fact that such an environment makes a sort of makeshift incubator.

I got very fast germination using a strong fluorescent light, 14 hour cycle - I put the seeds (fairly new, seeds had been "harvested" about two weeks prior) in a pot of moist 1:1 washed sand/peat filled 1" below the top of the pot, and wrapped it in saran wrap with 8 small holes in it. A few times a day I ran a fan on low over the saran wrap/holes to circulate air, but I'm not sure it was necessary. Kept the tray filled with water and used a spray bottle on the top of the soil where the seeds sat, about once every 3 days.

Germination in 9 days.

 

[seedjar]

I believe I've read a method for forcibly starting VFT seeds under lights with a high photoperiod and little time spent in dormancy. A reference escapes me, though. Basically, the idea was to repot the seedlings each time they began to slow down in growth, over the course of a year or two (I think you stop when they get to flowering size, maybe.) It's reminiscent of Bugweed's technique for Sarracenia seedlings - you effectively trick the seedlings into three to five seasons of growth over the course of one or two actual years. This is definitely something to consider an experiment, though, so if you're interested I'd recommend doing research on it first. And don't be surprised if it doesn't work as planned.
~Joe

 

[Veronis]

Oops, I got lost in the germination discussion..

Is there a better way of germinating VFT seeds?

A lot of people say that using the pure water method is best - put the seeds in a cup of distilled or RO water, cover with plastic wrap, and transplant them to soil after they germinate. I've seen reports of one-week germination using this method. Do some research, there's a little more to doing it properly than I've given you here.

Should I be using plastic covers/containers?

I would - everyone I've talked to who's set something up to keep humidity high has had faster germination.

Should I bring them in over the winter? (winters get to 10 degrees Celsius/ 50 degrees Fahrenheit).

No, they don't need to come in over winter. If your winters only drop to 50 degrees Fahrenheit, VFT seedlings will just chill out dormant over your winter and be ready for action in the Spring. In their native environment in North Carolina, seedlings have winters with temps far below 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

 

[Nickrober]

I've had good success in pure water germination with vft seeds. I take a styrofoam cup, cut it so that it is only about 2.5 - 3 inches tall. Put water about halfway, put seeds in and make them sink. Put saran wrap on top with a few holes in it. First seed began germination exactly one week after putting them in the water and the others were close behind. After their leaves started showing I carefully used tweezers to pull them out of the water. I used a toothpick to make a tiny hole in the soil then dropped the rhizome of the baby vfts into the hole. After moving them to soil, I still had saran wrap with holes on that pot, and kept it on for about 2 months, mostly just to protect from fungus gnats, I don't know if it had any effect on the seedling's growth. Worked like a charm.

I don't know if this step is necessary, but once every day I took the saran wrap off for about 5-10 minutes to get some fresh air in the cup.

If you want to just test it out, putting about 5 seeds in the water and the rest in standard soil works well to experiment with.

I grow all my seeds under lights. I put some vft seeds outside once and the germination rate was about half as it was under lights.

I hope that helps.