FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi all,

Last year, Steve was kind enough to send out seeds. I did a number of different conditions for growing VFTs from seed. While I did not do in vitro stuff, I found that a sealed sterile environment under a grow light was the best result. You can leave it unattended for half a year until you get up to 20 leaves per plant, then take it out of the container and continue growing them like regular VFTs. The 6 months of protection from mold, fungus and algae allows them to grow at the fastest rate possible without extra nutrients.

Adam

Thanks adam That's good to know. What kind of sealed sterile environment did you us.

just a small pot at the bottom of a jar with distilled water at the botttom.

Very cool Adam! Thanks for posting the results. I love hearing about people's experiments.

Another thing to note is that while a ziplock bag is ok for the first bit of growing seedlings, it does not form the same conditions that a sealed glass jar does. Most of those seedlings did not survive. The others are thriving.

Thanks Adam for sharing the information about your experiments. By "sterile," do you mean truly sterile, or just measures taken to help ensure minimum access to microbes? Did you for example sterilize both the jar (inside and outside) and the medium (by microwaving it or something)?

Thanks again for doing the experiment and sharing the results--

Yes, I washed the jar with detergent (including the lid) and rinsed with hot water. The soil mix was boiled. The little pot was also washed the same way the jar was.

But, no. No flow hood or alcohol or anything like you would find in TC. Any air born spores that land in the jar either missed the pot of soil or find no nutrients to grow off of. In fact, if they did start to multiply, they would starve sooner than any seed sprouts. That's just theory though.

The best part about it is that I had some seedlings with something insane like 30+ leaves on them!!

I got the same results with leaf pullings treated the same way: An incredible amount of leaves!

Here's after they've been out for 3 weeks or so: Here is a leaf pulling that's been out for the same amount of time: You can see that the older leaves quickly succumb to rot.

The best part of this was the fact that it was virtually maintenance free. Just set it up and let it sit for 6 months. Great to watch during the winter months when the other plants are sleeping

Adam

So cute!

very cool

Very interesting, what were the other conditions?

Thank you so much Adam for sharing this technique. I'm going to try it the next time I germinate seedlings, although I will have them in bright, indirect light instead of under fluorescents because I have no indoor growing setup (it's on my wish list).

Thanks

I'm not sure that you need the strong lights. The "germ free" environment should allow the seeds to sprout and grow at the pace that the amount of light dictates.

Even light starvation does not do damage to them. Here is a pic of the jar where I thought the leaf pulling was a failure and set the jar aside in a regular room away from any windows. I was shocked to see the green in there many days later.

Wow-- Very interesting, Adam. Thanks for posting this--

No problem. I'm quite a fan of the sealed jar method

Bud

Nice seeing you again Adam! Good Experiment, May give something for others to try, if they are not ready to get involved in TC.

Good Luck & good growing

Bud