FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi

I recently bought some venus fly trap seeds and along with the seeds came instructions that
i should wrap the seeds in a moist paper towel and seal it in a plastic bag for 6 weeks in the fridge to
simulate the cold winter. I'm also worried because i used tap water to moisten the paper towel with.

after reading from your site i got concerned that this might not be the case.

my questions are: is this how it is meant to be done? is it ok that i have used the tap water? are my seeds ok?

I'm not sure how much you've read on the forum, but this will give you a great start. I would buy some distilled water or collect some rain water to use. The seeds are probably fine if you remove them and use rain, distilled or RO water.

Good luck

Cold stratification is not necessary. Generally, in nature flytrap seeds hit the ground in Spring/summer and germinate that same year.

You can store seeds in the fridge if not using them right away, but a wet paper towel is not necessary; store them dry.

What you described is how many people stratify Sarracenia seeds.

At any rate, your seeds are most likely fine. As a precaution, I would recommend placing the seeds in a cup of distilled water for a few hours prior to sowing them on your sphagnum/peat based soil. This will help remove mineral build up they may have gotten on them from the tap water, which is probably not much anyway.

Good luck with your seeds, keep us updated.

Thanks guys

sorry if i must of seemed like someone who hoped onto the site and started posting like crazy before reading anything. I did all this before I found this place

No worries. Welcome to the forum and good luck with the seeds