FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

All of my growing is outdoors for now. Kinda tough here in south Alabama so if something's going to grow here it's gotta be kinda tough....no sissy sundews allowed, they gotta be John Wayne tough or...they're Peewee Herman and they're history!

I opted to go with peat moss play sand (yeah, the cursed play sand) in a 50:50 mix. I did put a 1/4" layer of 100% peat moss as a top dressing. The seeds are planted in 2.75" square by 3" deep white pots. I placed the pots in a 12-pot pot-holder that I saved from some annual flowes...miraculously the pots fit perfectly! The pots and pot holder are in a Sterilite container that could hold another 12-pack. I've got the lid on the container at the moment. After planting the seeds I misted the pots well and added water to the Sterilite container.

We're having a short spat of almost mid-90F temperatures right now. Tomorrow is supposed to reach a high of 94F. The seeds were planted late this afternoon when the temperature had eased off a bit.

I have a thermometer/hygrometer combo in the container to monitor the conditions. The humidity level is very high...hitting in the neighborhood of 90% at the moment. It's night so the temperature is in the 80's. My concern is tomorrow when the temperature goes into the 90's. Should I open the lid to let the humidity go down during the heat? I feel sure that it will still me good and moist in the container if I crack it a bit...and it would allow some air circulation during the heat of the day.

I want plants that can survive the heat, humidity, and sometimes drought that occurs down here, but I don't want to steam them to death to start out with. So, I should probably crack the lid. Matter of fact, with as high of humidity as is being measured it probably wouldn't hurt to crack the lid, anyhow, eh?

Planted are:
D. Capensis - typical - FTC seed bank
D. Capensis - mixed capes - FTC seed bank
D. Binata - upright - FTC seed bank
D. Intermedia - Brazail - evenwind
D. Capillaris - Eatonville, FL - evenwind

It's gonna be a little warm for the Capes...we'll wee.

The setup... Graph since late this afternoon of temperature and humidty... What I had for lunch today...

Yeah, you're gonna want to crack or even completely remove (90% humidity is great for seeds) the lid due to the greenhouse effect. Ya don't want to cook your plants!

If you don't want wimpy plants, I wouldn't worry about the lid at all. The seeds are already in very high humidity just during to their environment; sitting on top of wet media.
As they sprout, they'll grow already acclimated to your conditions, with no need for you to ease them into new conditions by removing a lid which, if done too fast can easily fry all the seedlings. If they can't handle the conditions to sprout, let nature weed them out.
The capensis may struggle but I got many to sprout outside in Tennessee with a high in the 90's, up to 100°F a few times. The others shouldn't have too much issue. You won't have as many germinate as you would if you babied them, but you won't have to watch helplessly as seedlings die because they can't adapt. The only concession I'd make is to put the seed pots in a spot that gets direct morning sunlight, and shade for the hottest part of the day.

Thanks for the replies. I failed to mention that the container of pots are situated against the north wall of the house in open shade, so no direct sun on it. I had big reservations about the lid on the container, especially it being outside and wanting the seedlings to be tough and able to deal with the environment here. I will be making accommodations for it to be open air and morning sun. Looks like I need to make another Squirrel-Defender-0005 for the pots. I can throw a couple of layers of weedbarrier fabric over the top and west side for shade.

DANG!!! I was just thinking that I hadn't seen a squirrel in a few days. I had let the bird feeder stay empty for a few days and I figured the tree rats might have headed back to the forest. When suddenly, what should walk by on the window ledge beside my computer chair?... I guess I need to check and see what carnage they wreaked on my wife's plants on the front porch.

Intheswamp wrote: ↑Fri Jul 08, 2022 11:53 am Thanks for the replies. I failed to mention that the container of pots are situated against the north wall of the house in open shade, so no direct sun on it.

Then you definitely don't need to worry about the greenhouse effect. I guess I just assumed it was getting full blazing sun (I always incorporate very hot places with lots of sun).

I need to figure out a better container for them...a shallow container so that when I take the cover off and it comes a good rain it won't flood them. I could drill holes in the sides of this one, but I'd rather not. I think I can find something that will work, though. If nothing else, I can lay some 2x4's in a rectangular perimeter and lay some plastic sheeting in it to make a trough for the pots to sit in. Definitely will need to rig some mid-day/afternoon shade up for them!

Naturally, after-the-fact, I'm second guessing myself on my planting mix...peat and sand in a 50:50 mix with a thin top dressing of peat. I've got to reading and it seems now I'm finding that people have better results from using LFSM. Oh well, I ain't gonna be vacuuming the seeds back up and redoing it! What will be....will be.

Intheswamp wrote: ↑Fri Jul 08, 2022 4:15 pm I need to figure out a better container for them...a shallow container so that when I take the cover off and it comes a good rain it won't flood them. I could drill holes in the sides of this one, but I'd rather not. I think I can find something that will work, though. If nothing else, I can lay some 2x4's in a rectangular perimeter and lay some plastic sheeting in it to make a trough for the pots to sit in. Definitely will need to rig some mid-day/afternoon shade up for them!

Naturally, after-the-fact, I'm second guessing myself on my planting mix...peat and sand in a 50:50 mix with a thin top dressing of peat. I've got to reading and it seems now I'm finding that people have better results from using LFSM. Oh well, I ain't gonna be vacuuming the seeds back up and redoing it! What will be....will be.

The problem with lfsm is it is very expensive and the roots get very tangled in it.

The root tangling issue I think is what pushed me away from using LFSM. But, I probably would have used some Better-Gro regular sphagnum moss had I went the sphagnum route...I'm not sure how big a difference there is there though it seems like people say there's a big difference...???