FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

ok so as title says i am very confused on this. my question is how long does it take to actually start to see my plant to start growing. should i leave the seeds in water until the plant starts to grow? i see pictures of little tiny plants and it says been growing for 2 YEARS. thats a VERY long time for such a small plant so is this what i saw true? sorry but this topic is really bugging me.

-Nick

Hi nicktrap, yes it takes a very long time for seedlings to grow to a flowering size any where from 3-5 years. The first 2 years are the slowest. Unless you work with TC then the can get flowering size plants in a year. If your as good as matt 3 months. LOL thants crazy

1) When you are talking growth from seed, You should start seeing growth in as little as a week and then later from there. When you see the root penetration, you should place the seed in the soil you would like your seedlings to grow.

2) For a VFT to grow enough to get a flower stalk growing, that takes as little as 3 years to go (enter into their adulthood) and from then on.

3) Yes, tiny plantlets look smallish, even after 2 years.

4) As tejan mentioned, Tissue Culture is the best way of successfully growing VFTs fast. Instead of a minimum of 3 years to reach adulthood, it takes around 1-2 years, meaning the plant would grow much much faster. The difference is that seeds are not clones, the tissue culture plants have the same traits as the other plant.

^_^ -Jut

aww man as this beeing my first time growing venus flytraps i was hoping to get a big plant in a decent amount of time.
now that being said, how do i start with tissue culture. what do i have to do to grow them? and what is TC? just a part of a plant or something?

See here:
http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/viewt ... =28&t=1426
and on wikipedia for tissue culture specific to plants, see this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_tissue_culture

ohh i see. but were can i get the starters? like do i start it with seeds or parts of a plant.

It depends on what your goal is. If you want to clone a plant, you start with tissue from that plant. If want the chance of growing seeds quickly and possibly getting a new cultivar, you start with seeds.

Or, if you're doing TC for the first time, it's easier to start with seeds.

Unless you are dead set on growing from seed, I would recommend buying a mature plant online.

You can find large, vigirous plants at Steve's website www.flytrapranch.com. This way you will have an adult plant to enjoy while your seedlings grow. He doesn't have a whole lot in stock right now, but he does have a Big Vigirous that would be perfect for your needs. Or else you could try sending him an email to see if he has anything else.

how would u do TC with seeds? i will most likely do this. would it just be adding the seeds in the chemicals that u make?

Nick, quick question. What kind of time and money are you planning on putting into this project?

nesler wrote:Nick, quick question. What kind of time and money are you planning on putting into this project?

You have to sterilize the seed and then add it to media. I can give you details if you'd like, but it will be a lengthy post. For starters, I think I cover sterilizing the seed in the sticky in the TC forum:
http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/viewt ... 26&start=0

Look for the question "How do I sterilize seed?"
And to find out how to make media, look for "How do I prepare media?". I haven't added how to sterilize it yet, but basically you have to put it in a pressure cooker or microwave for a while to kill any bacteria or spores.

There goes the 'sticky' again! Sorry Matt. I like talking about the sticky thing.

well time in not an issue, i got a lot of time on my hands right now as it is summer for me. and money, well thats not really an issue unless its a pricey process, i mean im just trying to grow a plant right??

thanks matt for the responses i will read up on those "stickeys" and other links and will ask more if still needed but i am starting to get the jift of it.

-Nick

Good luck with TC. I've done some interesting sterilization of medium and then sealing in the plants with some success. They won't grow as fast as in TC, but they will be shielded from other seedling enemies like fungus, algae, mildew, etc.