FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Ok…This is day 1 on my fist try growing VFT´s from seed. I try to inform myself as good as possible before starting any new project, but there’s always doubts on the first times, which I hope you guys can help me with. The best and most reliable sources of seeds I found online where Matt´s and Steve´s. This first batch is from Steve, and I ordered a second batch from Matt (red mix), which I ordered to my courier service in Miami.
For my fist set-up, I got a small shelf, a germination tray, and two fluorescent lights. I bought a T5 yesterday, but it’s a little small and wouldn’t cover all the surface, so I searched a second light today, but I couldn’t find anything but a T12.
I live in a warm and humid tropical country (Costa Rica), right now it’s raining and temperature is 20°C, its dark already, and at daytime is going up around 22°C/28°C. Ambient humidity is 93% right now.
First question is, should I cover the tray even if ambient humidity is that high?
Second question: is my lighting set-up fine?
I have a T5 3 inches above and a T12 which is 1 inch above, but two inches behind the next seeding cells. I’m watering from above also, with a spray bottle (distilled water). Thanks!

Oh...also, I had the tray, which has holes on the bottom, sitting on newspapers just to avoid the mess, but I added plastic wrap so the paper wouldn't absorb to much of the water. Now I'm worried about ventilation being not enough.

How much heat does that T12 light put off? I think at 1 or 2 inches it might give off too much heat, you may end up cooking the seeds. That is kind of the point of having a T5 light is that they tend to give off much less heat than the T8 or T12, thereby allowing you to place the light (T5) closer to the plants, or in this case the seeds. If I am wrong I hope someone will correct me?

I am also attempting my first VFT seed growing effort, I started 2 days ago

Hey Mike_M! Thanks for answering! I thought I responded but I guess I did something wrong because I can’t see the post, haha, so here I go again.
Well, the lights, I think, aren’t heating that much, but I’ve read that for germination purposes heat is important. The T5 is further distanced than the T12, but it’s a lot smaller and heats a lot more. The T12 is 2 inches away from the nearest seed, and 1 above, making it 3 diagonal. Anyway, I don’t want to cook them, and I’m new at this, so I’m open to suggestions. Something I found out just today is that growing VFT´s on germination trays is not such a great idea, since you have to spend a lot of time checking if all cells are equally irrigated. It would be easier to have a single pot equally moist, or a container that can be used to irrigate from below, which I couldn’t find, the same size as the tray. Something else I have not been able to find is a thermometer, I know, amazing…But I hope I can find one soon. A question I have is: Can one cook the seeds even if the soil is not dry? Or is dry soil strictly related to burned out seeds?

How many seeds are you growing? If you're just growing 100 or less seeds, you really don't need nearly that much space, IMO. If you read Matt's "How To" on seedling germination, http://www.flytrapcare.com/growing-venu ... seeds.html I think that you'll see that a small container with a lid, with holes poked in it, works best to keep the seeds moist/humid. You could easily fit 30 or 40 seeds in a small plastic container measuring apprx. 4 in. in diameter and 2 in. deep. If you don't keep them covered through the germination process, it can be very difficult and tedious to keep them properly moist.
Also, I could be wrong, but the newspaper may work as a growing medium for mold and mildew.
And, yes, seeds can cook in a really warm, wet environment. Moreso with a container covered in plastic, but that's where you need to move the light back to at least 5 or 6 inches from your soil surface.

Thanks! I think I have to rethink my set-up. I probably went to ambitious when I could go simple.

Hey guys! I’m writing a little update just to leave some feedback for future growers.
So I decided to leave the T12 out since the weather is pretty warm here. I tried a 24 hour photoperiod with the T5, watering with a spray bottle (distilled water) until the soil was fairly moist, and I had the first sings of green about two weeks later. It’s been 4 weeks and I have several seedlings with their first tiny trap starting to grow. I’m pretty sure the weather helped, as well as the 24 hour photoperiod. In total I have 31 responsive seedlings from a 40 seed batch, which is great for me as a fist time grower. I decided to pull back the light a little today, its 4.5 inches away, and I’m thinking about switching to a 16/8 photoperiod to start giving them some rest as well as avoid them burning out, but I'm not sure if switching the photoperiod yet would be a big change for them and could affect them someway. I also got rid of the paper floor so the air would start flowing. Any recommendations are welcome. Thank you!

Looking good! Thanks for the update

Nice growing, well done

At this stage i suggest to water from the bottom. This method will bring the seedlings lil roots deeper faster in the soil, and with a stronger roots system, your leaves/traps will grow faster.

And can i suggest you to add a reflector to your tube?

You made a great choice, matt have the best seeds.

I speak from my own experience, feel free to disprove

Maiden wrote:You made a great choice, matt have the best seeds.

I speak from my own experience, feel free to disprove

And Maiden has done the most amazing job I've ever seen getting plants to adulthood from seeds in the shortest amount of time possible (not using tissue culture).

Thanks for the advice guys! I was waiting for some of the slowest growing seedlings to get bigger. I plan to repot them tomorrow into a deeper container and start watering from below. I’m kind of unsure though, they’re so tiny I’m afraid to hurt them, but I’ll just follow the advice on the info provided on this site and try the moist toothpick method. I was wondering if it would be better to repot them with some of the soil their growing on. Also, do you think a homemade foil reflector would work? I think I’ll also try that. Wish me luck, hehe.

I wouldn't worry about repotting for at least a year; you have plenty of growing space. But if you do repot now, certainly leaving a clump of soil intact around the roots would be best, causing as little disturbance to the roots as possible. Good luck, Red!

Thanks a lot sbrooks! That's exactly what I did! And now they're responding a lot better! From this experience I learned, that spraying water from above is good until they grow their first traps. Once they turn into a tiny real plant, its better to water them from below, on sitting water. I noticed the spray was kind of hitting them. Its been a couple of days and I can already notice them rising and looking for the light. Bottom line: Wetter soil and spraying from above is better when germinating (remember I used a 24 hour photoperiod on this stage). Once seedlings grow their first tiny traps (cotyledons?), its better to treat them as adult plants, with a gradual exposure to sun light.

Red dragon: if your vfts seedlings are well grown, you will have to repot the lil plants each 2 months.
Jiffy seeds starter are pretty little for the roots.

I got 5months vfts seedlings here and they are already almost adults with 1+ inch traps, i had to repot them many times.
Also, like a said in another post, try to grow your seedling on the dry side, not very wet if you dont have constant air circulation. And add water from bottom, even seedlings with many traps. Your lil plants will grow faster and stronger.

Of course i speak from my own experience, and sorry for my bad english



Here my little 5months old seedlings:-) the seeds are from matt, of course!


vfts seedlings par dals009, sur Flickr



vfts seedlings par dals009, sur Flickr

Amazing, Maiden! Red Dragon, forget whatever I've said, take all of your advice from her!