Growing Venus Fly Traps from Seeds

15 years ago

I bought some Venus Fly Trap seeds off of eBay and I'm now wondering what to do with them. I have read that the grown plants need a mixture of peat moss and perlite as the growing medium. Is this true for seeds as well? Is there a different between Sphagnum peat moss and the cheap peat moss I bought from Lowe's?

I grow almost all of my plants indoors under growlights and have had much success with a wide variety of plants. Any tips for growing these indoors?

I have a fruit fly problem due to all of the miniature fruit trees and plants so it should have plenty to eat for a while and at some point in the year, can't remember when exactly, we have a ladybug problem so that should keep it fed as well.

That's all for now. Thank you for any help!

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Comments (7)

petiolaris
15 years ago
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These are from seeds. I generally mix sand and peat and have LFS on top.
mcantrell
15 years ago
Have you grown Carnivorous Plants before? Are you aware of the Water requirements (Distilled, no plant food) for them? :)

There's a really great FAQ here, it has a lot of answers to questions most people don't even realize they had:
http://www.sarracenia.com/faq.html

I haven't tried growing VFTs from seed yet, I hear they grow very slowly the first year then take off running. They're awful cute as seedlings, though. :)
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hunterkiller03
15 years ago
Surprised you find ladybugs are pasts since ladybugs are carnivorous & eat aphids & gnats.

AnywaysÂ VFT grown from seedlings will only eat gnat or bug size gnats for a couple of years. On the third year they will be big enough to catch fruit flies but not ladybugs or houseflies.

It will take up to 4 years for your plant to develop a decent size (1/2 an inch) trap able to capture a small fly.

And one more thing, unless you buy a sundew or butterwort, carnivorous plants don't make good past control. They will capture enough to meet their needs.

Good luck!
mcantrell
15 years ago
I have to wonder how well a Sundew would work as a natural version of flypaper. My Cape Sundews are 2 years old (at least) now, and still would probably choke on a housefly. :D

Maybe a Filiformis? It'd hibernate in winter but, so would the bugs, so that works out...
hunterkiller03
15 years ago
My capse sundews & adeleas can capture houseflies. Its more impressive on the cape sundews when they wrap their leaves all around the fly like a taco.

Wonder if they like hot sauce on them? X^D
tropichris
15 years ago
o.k. those two last sundew topics were random ;)

anyways, you should put the seeds in a plastic bag and put them in the fridge for 3 weeks. After that plant them in Peat and LFS. keep the soil moist, and water ONLY with rainwater/Ro or disstled.
Keep the babies in bright light-full sun.

Hope this covers it!
~tropichris~
taz6122
15 years ago
Seed should be planted and kept moist during stratification. Just putting them in the fridge in a plastic bag won't work.
Sow them on 50/50 sphagnum/perlite or sphagnum/silica sand then spray distilled/RO or rain water, put in a ziplok bag and store in the fridge for 4 weeks. Then keep them in a bright location, full sun or bright grow lights. They will be tiny for the first six months after germination, so small that it will take a magnifying glass to see them.

Good luck.