FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi,

I made a 50/50 mix of peat moss and perlite and was wondering if the mix was good enough to germinate seeds in?

Or should I try to top it off with an additional layer of peat moss only?

I'm planning on growing venus flytraps and sundews in the mix.

Thanks.

Put a layer of peat on top

Or a layer of chopped sphagnum moss on top.

Looks OK or you can add a layer of peat if you want, whichever will work well. Dont cover the seeds.
Cheers
Steve

Quick update, it's been 3 weeks since I sowed the seeds an all of pots have had some seeds germinate.

Top two have VFT seeds, mid-left has filiformis, mid-right has mixed capes, bottom left has D. intermedia and bottom right has mixed rosettes. Seems like the mixed capes have been the ones with the highest germination rate.

I don't know for sure because i have always avoided metal and CP's but that might not be the best water trey.

SephSFX wrote: ↑Sun Jun 05, 2022 5:54 am Quick update, it's been 3 weeks since I sowed the seeds an all of pots have had some seeds germinate.
<snip...>

Those are looking great! You've got a very good stand of seedlings!!! Personally, I'm struggling with trying to get very much germination at all with my drosera seeds. The seeds are good as they came fresh from some good, knowledgeable growers here in the forum...it's my method or something(?) that appears to be bad. Would you share the conditions and method that you've used to get this germination rate, as apparently you've been very successful!!!? I'd appreciate the info!!!

Intheswamp wrote: ↑Sun Jun 05, 2022 1:39 pm

SephSFX wrote: ↑Sun Jun 05, 2022 5:54 am Quick update, it's been 3 weeks since I sowed the seeds an all of pots have had some seeds germinate.
<snip...>

Those are looking great! You've got a very good stand of seedlings!!! Personally, I'm struggling with trying to get very much germination at all with my drosera seeds. The seeds are good as they came fresh from some good, knowledgeable growers here in the forum...it's my method or something(?) that appears to be bad. Would you share the conditions and method that you've used to get this germination rate, as apparently you've been very successful!!!? I'd appreciate the info!!!

Are you giving your seeds high humidity and high light? I believe these are the main factors to getting good germination.

Not very bright light. Ambient light beside a window.

Humidity for the uncovered pots has been averaging 65%…the covered pots naturally have a much higher humidity level. Temperature average of 74F.

Ok, temps and humidity is pretty good. I would try to get higher light if I were you. It doesn't really matter when they are seeds, but once they germinate, they're gonna want more light.

Water germination seems to be the way to go. I put some seeds in water, and some in soil (same batch of seeds, similar amounts), there was a higher germination rate in water, and the seeds germinated faster...

Ideally you want them to be in bright light when they germinate, or the seedlings will be etiolated (stretched).

optique wrote:I don't know for sure because i have always avoided metal and CP's but that might not be the best water trey.

Thanks for the tip, I’m looking into switching these to a larger clear container with my fully grown sundews once I get my grow lights and set them up on my wire shelf. I’m planning too also have some sphagnum moss cover the bottom of the container to see if I can revive some strands.

Intheswamp wrote:

SephSFX wrote: ↑Sun Jun 05, 2022 5:54 am Quick update, it's been 3 weeks since I sowed the seeds an all of pots have had some seeds germinate.
<snip...>

Those are looking great! You've got a very good stand of seedlings!!! Personally, I'm struggling with trying to get very much germination at all with my drosera seeds. The seeds are good as they came fresh from some good, knowledgeable growers here in the forum...it's my method or something(?) that appears to be bad. Would you share the conditions and method that you've used to get this germination rate, as apparently you've been very successful!!!? I'd appreciate the info!!!

Nothing too special. I make sure that the tray always has a decent amount of water on it to keep the peat moss moist although I’ve heard people have problems with that since it starts growing algae for them but so far no issues for me. I have them next to some Aerogarden grow lights but plan to move them soon to a more decent grow light setup. For the first 2 months I has them uncovered and did not notice any growth and then started to loosely cover them with a disposable tray lid to keep the humidity a hit higher since my room humidity is around 40-50%. I also make sure to give them some fresh air for a couple hours and cover them again. That seems to have helped a bit but it could also have been just the extra 1 week. I also mist the top of the pots a couple times a day but I may be overdoing it there.

The drosera seeds are from the seed bank and the VFT are the Brunswick NC seeds from the store.

I initially had thought I had too much perlite in my mix like you posted in your thread so I added a layer with more peat in the mix but I still think it had too much perlite as you can see in the pictures but I guess it was still fine.

Thanks for the info! I'm thinking my biggest obstacle is lighting. I know that starting vegetable seedlings it just doesn't work well without good lighting. With the much smaller CP plants I can see where the surface area of their leaves will be small and need all the light that they can get. Out of six 3" pots, 3 covered and 3 uncovered, I've got two covered pots with an appreciable number of tiny sprouts. Tonight I uncovered the ones I had bagged so they can breath a while. I'll watch the plants and surface moisture in case I need to return them to the bag. Your's are looking good, though!