FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hello everyone. Ive been meaning to do this for a while now. I see a lot of people asking how to grow sarrs from seed so thought id share my process. I'll compile some pics and write up something a lil later tonight. Stay tuned.

And that means I'm subscribing lol, thanks for the post!

This good the more info the better I'm going to sprout as many as I can get this some so if u have any tips for out doors I would appreciate it thanks

First, i'm going to run thru plants from beginning to 2 years to see what you can get cheating like I do .

Germinating the seeds

I'm not going to make this long and technical but short and to the point. I usually stratify my seeds anywhere from one month to 2 months. I usually try to aim for 6 weeks on everything but if I happen to check and see some leucos or leuco hybrids at 4 weeks in i'll take those out of strat. My process is simple...folded paper towel, really moist but not wet, inside of a zip lock baggie.

After I take them out of strat I plant them on 50/50 peat/perlite and place the pot with media and seeds back into a baggie(or under a humidity dome if I use a tray) and put them under strong light. I mean as strong as you can get them. If youre using T8s...get them within inches from the top of the pots, T5...have them 5 or 6 inches from the top ofn the pots, HIDs...12-18 inches from the top of the pot(depending on wattage...I can get my 200w MH 6 inches above my plants).

to be continued in the next post...

At around a week you should start seeing sprouts...leave them in the baggie. A week later you should be seeing the sarrs cotyledons...leave them in the baggie. At 2 weeks you should see your first pitcher. Thats when I take them out of the baggie and place them in a tray with deep, pH balanced(5-5.5), RO water. Now, I know a lot of people dont worry about pH and you dont have to...im just telling you what I do .

Caring for the seedlings

Basically you're going to be doing nothing for the next 5 or 6 months but keeping the water full in your tray. The baby seedlings like it wet. If the media dries it can quickly kill or set your seedlings back by months. At one month old you should have 2 pitchers, 3 months old you should have 3 lil pitchers and your cotyledons will begin to shrivel at the end, 5 months you should have 5 or 6 lil pitchers that are starting to get venation, color and their lil mouths start to look like theyre begging for a meal, cotyledons are now completely brown. Its at this point that you can fertilize your seedlings.

Now, I say you can but ive just about completely gotten rid of ferts for my seedlings. Now I just make guano teas and feed the sarrs with a big enough pitcher opening with a dropper. It gives me something to do besides staring at the plants and I dont get salt build up anymore and my plants seem to grow just as fast without them so I dont really fert my seedlings but poo tea them religously. Imo balancing your pH, keeping your seedlings on 24 hour lighting, using HID and, during the summer months, taking plants outside in full sun all day then back in the house and under lights at night is more important than ferts. Even if you can just afford a lil 175w grow light...try it. The growth I get from my 250W full spectrum bulb is just unbelievable and I attribute my colorful, robust plants to my HIDs.

If you must fert id recommend a ridiculously low dose like 1/8 strength with chem ferts and 1/4 with organics.

Now, its in the next few months that feeding and light penetration becomes crucial. As the plants get taller theyll need more light and lots of food! Pitchers should start getting big enough to easily dropper in some guano tea, meal worms, crickets or fish pellets and the seedlings really react to it. I have hundreds of seedlings and it only takes me around 30 minutes to dropper feed everything thats big enough. Your plants will really pick up in the growth dept after 6 months and thats when you should start replanting and giving the seedlings lots of root room. Try to keep your plants from getting crammed together so light can saturate the plant. Crowded plants grow slower because theyre competing for light and root space. Youll start recognizing mature features and colors around 8 months and by a year they look like lil mini adults .

Over the next year it just drown them in as much light as you can and feed them heavily and regularly. Just imagine how much they eat outside...its a lot.

Thats it! Thats all I do. Nothing scientific or special...just lots and lots of light . What do I think helps my plants get big the most...lots and lots of light. Especially during the summer when they can get full sun all day then HID at night. Hope this helps someone!

MUST RESIST FROM NEW PROJECT!!

ps3isawesome wrote:MUST RESIST FROM NEW PROJECT!!

why?

Do it, you know you wanna (peer pressure at it's finest)

But thanks for the guide! Really clarifies the process a lot!

just because my own sarras are taking a long time to germ, how long do you think it should take? im not too worried at this point, still been less than a month, but the VFTs have progressed alot faster

Very nice guide eric

Mufasa can you raise the temps on your seedlings? Sometimes a temp spike can wake up the difficult seeds.