FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi everyone!

My Red Mix VFT seeds arrived today in South Africa. I ordered the seeds from Steve (www.flytrapranch.com) - it was posted to me on 5 November 2009.
I prepared the soil as follows and will sow them hopefully by tomorrow morning:

I soaked pure sphagnum peat moss with distilled water and microwaved it for about 5 minutes in order to sterilize the medium. At the moment the medium is cooling down in a Tupperware container... I plan to let the medium soak overnight in distilled water before I sow the seeds in the morning. In the meantime I stored the envelope with seeds in a cool dark place.

I will upload a picture of my "germination station" tomorrow .

Greetings

Congrats! Keep us posted with your germination results.

Yeah! They finally arrived, after a month. You know, I'm finding that it takes that long (3-5 weeks) for the seeds to arrive to quite a few countries, including Argentina. (I've received quite a few seed orders from Argentina this year.)

Glad they arrived and good luck. Please post photos and give progress reports Morne, OK?

Steve

YEAH congrats Morne, I'm glad you finally were able to get what you were looking for.

Good luck, and yea please do toss some photos up. What kind of lights are you using for germination?

Steve_D wrote:Yeah! They finally arrived, after a month. You know, I'm finding that it takes that long (3-5 weeks) for the seeds to arrive to quite a few countries, including Argentina. (I've received quite a few seed orders from Argentina this year.)

Glad they arrived and good luck. Please post photos and give progress reports Morne, OK?

Steve

Brazil is the same, egad...4 weeks.

congratz!
you should try to germinate some seeds in distilled water. it is really fast. just get like a bowl and fill it with a cm on distilled water, place a few seeds in and cover it with some plastic wrap. try not to give it direct sunlight

Hi everyone!

I've managed to enroll the germination process today. Here is pictures of my "germination station" - it basically consists of polystyrene beverage cup with two drainage holes, my pure sphagnum peat moss (soaked for 24 hours in distilled water), and a biscuit jar. I also tried the "germination in pure distilled water" with some seeds, as suggested on a previous post.

I've placed my "germination station" on my balcony that receives a lot of bright sunlight, mostly indirect sunlight, but some direct sunlight in the morning. Hope this will be fine. My "water station" is in my window, also receiving a lot of sunlight.

Thank you for all the tips and support, you guys are great!

Greetings

Nice set up. I hope you get some red ones!

Just be very careful that the "germination station" (the styrofoam cup inside the large clear inverted jar) doesn't overheat in direct sunlight and turn into a solar oven.

In direct sunlight such clear, enclosed spaces can become very, very hot very quickly. I imagine that the clear jar, in strong direct sunlight, can become hot enough inside to bake and kill the seeds possibly within an hour. You might want to put a cheap thermometer inside the jar with the medium and seeds, to monitor the temperature while it's in direct sunlight.

Venus Flytrap seeds do germinate better and more rapidly with heat that might seem uncomfortable to most humans, but one really has to be careful not to overheat them too much. If I were using such a "germination station," I would probably try to give it heat from warm ambient air temperature rather than sunlight, or I might make a way to give it some warmth from beneath, using an electric heating pad or placing it on top of a hot box, a wooden frame with metal sheet top, inside of which is an electric light bulb.

Good luck and best wishes,
Steve

I assume this means it's not too late in the season (here in South Africa) to plant VFT seeds? I happen to have some, though i doubt VERY STRONGLY that they will take, but thought I might give it a try.

Elroc wrote:I assume this means it's not too late in the season (here in South Africa) to plant VFT seeds?

It's never too late to plant VFT seeds. You can start them under fluorescent lights any time of year.

Hi Steve

Thank you for your advise, I will try not to cook my seeds . I've moved the jar to the other balcony that only receives indirect sunlight. I also open the lid once a day for ventilation. Hope I'm doing the right thing...

Hi everyone!

Today I noticed some green and red growth! So far, one seed has germinated in my "germination station" and one seed in the "Distilled Water Only station". Hopefully the other seeds will follow soon. I will keep you posted!

awsome! try to take pictures!

Hi everyone!

Here is a picture taken on the 9th of January 2010 of my flytrap neonatal ward! As you can see, only green plants... Where are the red ones? May some turn red later? Are all of them green initially? What can I expect from this Red Mix seedlings?

try to keep the peat not to damp or else you get root rot and the babies are going to die try keeping it to the drier side but not too dry