FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I love sensitive plants! I heard they were easy to grow from seed so I purchased some seeds and planted them. For some reason, only two out of the ten I planted sprouted and only one survived. The other one had weird shaped leaves. I tried getting some seeds from another source and again only got two to germinate but they both had weird shaped leaves and, so far, have not grown any new leaves. The first seedling is doing great! It now has three leaves and is very healthy. Since all of the seeds were grown using the same conditions, I can't figure out why so many of them are failing. Has anyone grown these plants from seed before?

They are awesome! It seems most seeds sold aren't very fresh or something. I dropped many seeds but only a few grew last November. Out of all of them this little guy was the only one that kept on going, growing very slowly. Now that the weather has warmed up it's growing very quick.



I bought more seeds so we'll see how it goes with them. I also dropped the few remaining seeds from the older packet, maybe some will germinate.

Dematerialize wrote:They are awesome! It seems most seeds sold aren't very fresh or something. I dropped many seeds but only a few grew last November. Out of all of them this little guy was the only one that kept on going, growing very slowly. Now that the weather has warmed up it's growing very quick.



I bought more seeds so we'll see how it goes with them. I also dropped the few remaining seeds from the older packet, maybe some will germinate.

OK so I must not be the only one having that issue.

Also, here are some photos of how my plants are doing

Here is the one that germinated and had healthy looking leaves. As you can see it is still growing new leaves.


Then this is how the rest of mine ended up, even the ones that were grown in the exact same conditions and were from the same pack of seeds


The leaves have a weird oval shape and are wider than they are long. The plant is also very leggy. Each of the unhealthy ones are taller than the one that is growing new leaves.

I just started growing this plant from seed about 2 weeks ago. They are currently sowed in the mix that came with the terrarium (which I think is plain peat. I have sensitive leaves on all 5 seedlings. I plan to transplant them in the next month. Just wondering if anyone has (or can direct me) to a good care sheet for this plant. Briefly searching, I can only find very general information about them.

I would assume MiracleGro potting soil is fine since I read that it is okay to fertilize every couple of weeks. Other than that, I plan to care for my Mimosas in a similar style to my VFTs.

Sound okay?

I haven't been able to find any good care sheets for this plant unfortunately. But I did read that this plant does not like to have a ton of water and that its roots can rot if kept too wet. I would not recommend giving it as much water as you would give a VFT.

CometD wrote:I haven't been able to find any good care sheets for this plant unfortunately. But I did read that this plant does not like to have a ton of water and that its roots can rot if kept too wet. I would not recommend giving it as much water as you would give a VFT.

Thanks for the info. Do you know anything about how deep their roots grow and/or if they branch out a lot? I am trying to figure out what kind of pot I should ultimately plant them in, and if it should have a drainage hole (which I assume it should).

I use 50/50 sand and peat, and let the soil dry before watering. The can is in the photo to show the plant size.

Mimosa pudica seeds have low germination rate around 7:1 so you need to start with a lot of seeds.

Those round leaves are normal. They are actually not true leaves. They are like starter leaves to give the seedling a head-start boost before the true leaves grow out. They fall off after the true leaves start growing in.

Keep them above 60 degrees Fahrenheit for best results.

After the true leaves (sensitive leaves) grow out, you can start fertilizing with your favorite fertilizer such as Maxsea 16-16-16.

I have seeds available to trade if anyone is interested.

Thanks!

Alvin 415 wrote:I use 50/50 sand and peat, and let the soil dry before watering. The can is in the photo to show the plant size.

Mimosa pudica seeds have low germination rate around 7:1 so you need to start with a lot of seeds.

Those round leaves are normal. They are actually not true leaves. They are like starter leaves to give the seedling a head-start boost before the true leaves grow out. They fall off after the true leaves start growing in.

Keep them above 60 degrees Fahrenheit for best results.

After the true leaves (sensitive leaves) grow out, you can start fertilizing with your favorite fertilizer such as Maxsea 16-16-16.

I have seeds available to trade if anyone is interested.

Thanks!

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Thanks, yeah I know that the round leaves are normal, it just seems like the two in the second photo with the misshaped starter leaves are not growing well. They germinated about 3 weeks ago and still haven't formed any sensitive leaves. Your plant looks great though! I will have to try more seeds in the future and see if I have better luck.

I started seeds and had 50% germination rate....I had 30 seeds and 15 grew beautifully...I used the boiling water ratio of 5 to 1 and soaked them for an hour...here is a care sheet that I liked http://www.balconycontainergardening.co ... tive-plant

hollyhock wrote:I started seeds and had 50% germination rate....I had 30 seeds and 15 grew beautifully...I used the boiling water ratio of 5 to 1 and soaked them for an hour...here is a care sheet that I liked http://www.balconycontainergardening.co ... tive-plant

Thanks I will have to try that!