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By Panman
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Posts:  6322
Joined:  Wed Mar 04, 2020 8:41 pm
#420947
I'm putting together some instructions on how to germinate flytrap seeds with seeds that I mail out. I'd appreciate your critique. Let me know if I missed anything.
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Venus flytrap seeds are not hard to germinate, but they do require some very specific things.
1. Water - the water needs to be very soft. Distilled, reverse osmosis, or rain water is best. If you have your tap water tested and it is less than 50 ppm total dissolved solids, that will work.
2. Soil - It is important not to use potting soil or anything with fertilizer. A 50/50 blend of peat moss and perlite (or silica sand) is perfect. I like to add a layer of chopped sphagnum over the soil to help prevent the perlite from floating around.
3. Light - I find that very bright light, but not direct sunlight, works well for germination. Once you are growing the plants, they will need more light.
4. Humidity - The seeds germinate best in high humidity so you will want to put the container in a clear plastic bag. Open the bag every couple of days to be sure the soil is still most and to exchange the air. Watch for mold and eliminate it as soon as it starts.

Here are some sowing instructions. This process works for me.
1. Premoisten the soil. You will need to mix or knead the soil to make sure that the water gets absorbed. Just adding water to dry peat or sphagnum won’t work. The mix should be very wet. If you squeeze a handful of it, you should get a few drops of water out.
2. Add the media you just prepared to a pot. Anything from 2 to 4 inches across would be fine. Anything bigger will be hard to manage. I recommend adding a layer of finely chopped or milled sphagnum to the top of the soil. Only about ¼ of an inch. That helps the soil and seeds to stay in place when watering.
3. Scatter the seeds across the surface of the pot. I will generally put 15 seeds into a 2 inch pot and then transplant them once they are bigger. Dividing your seeds over multiple pots will help if you end up losing a pot due to mold.
4. Mist the seeds and soil with water. This will help the seeds to adhere to the moss and make better contact.
5. Put the pot in a clear bag, or somehow seal it to increase the humidity. As stated above, open the bag every day or two to exchange the air.
6. Put the bagged pot in bright light. Artificial lights are fine. If it is sunlight, do not put the pot in direct sunlight. The bag will act as an oven and roast the seeds.
7. Monitor the soil and keep it wet.
8. You should see germination in 2 to 4 weeks, sometimes even longer. Once the seeds sprout, slightly reduce the water so that the soil stays damp. Continue to keep it in the bag until the plants have formed their first true leaves. Then you can transplant the seedlings or start to harden them off by leaving the bag open a bit more every couple of days.

That’s it. You now have Venus Flytraps that you have grown from seed!
Camden, Sundews69, Dan V and 4 others liked this
By schmeg
Location: 
Posts:  302
Joined:  Tue Jun 05, 2018 8:07 pm
#420963
Excellent information. Matt's page on VFT germination is another good source: https://www.flytrapcare.com/growing-ven ... from-seed/

Consider adding more information about *containers* (not clay pots, etc.).

Some growers may want to have a set-up that doesn't require transplanting tiny finicky seedlings. I made a rookie mistake a few years back of using small divided seed trays. I thought the individual plug-per-seed made sense, but that scant amount of medium dried out the plugs pretty quickly. It took a lot of tending to keep moist.

This week I sowed VFT seeds (Thanks, WONE!) in a 12 x 5 x 5 plastic planter box covered with plastic wrap. This volume of potting medium holds a lot of water, so the pot won't dry out so quickly. And with luck, I won't need to repot them for a long time, until they've grown a real rhizome bulb and aren't so delicate.

I don't know if VFTs NEED much/any light for the first 10-20 days, until they germinate. I'm gently light-proofing mine during that time to cut down the algae/mold risk.

Moderate warmth helps the seeds germinate more quickly.
Sundews69 liked this
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