FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

If you stratify drosera and VFT seeds, will you get a better germination rate?

Drosera: Which species? The temperate ones need stratification, and the tropical ones don't. I wouldn't recommend stratifying tropical seeds since these plants come from an area that doesn't see cold weather.

Venus flytraps: The wild plants bloom in May and June, then drop their seeds in June and July. The seeds start sprouting a couple weeks later, during the height of summer (warm/hot and high humidity). With fresh seed, the germination rate is close to 100%. Stratification is the opposite of what they expect.

^^^ What Mike said.

Basically, determine the native territory of the seeds and consider the natural seed drop and germination that happens there...try replicating it.

I did find that for older flytrap seeds, stratification does seem to help.

Ok. Thanks!

So while on the subject, I am pretty sure the answer is no but do D. filiformis var Floridana "Florida Red, White Flower" and D. Finlaysoniana require cold stratification? One can never be too safe, right?

Short answer, no.
Longer answer, finlaysoniana is tropical, so no. The FR, WF is a subtropical version of a temperate, so also no.
Having said that, stratification won't hurt them, only delay your enjoyment of them. However, some people have reported that they get a better germination rate on the FR, WF with a stratification.
On a side note, treat the finlaysoniana as an annual. Plant it in the spring, give it lots of direct sunlight, and it'll basically bloom itself to death from late summer on (I has ten plants, and I stopped collecting seeds when I reached two grams).