I have for the last decade or so thought of myself as the queen of growing VFT's outside here in TX. This year was a disaster! I repotted them too late, used old peat moss and went on an extended vacation, twice. I lost all of my large pots. They were nice and bloomed and spread like weeds. Now all I have is memories. I do have a couple small plants that I am hoping will come around. But I also got some seeds for free and am wondering how and when I might atttempt to start some new plants from them? Anyone with good results have suggestions?
C
Help with VFT's from seed
You can plant them now outside in a semi protected(from heavy rain) location and let then naturally germinate at the right time in Spring. Or you can chill them in the fridge for a month and start them under grow lights or a windowsill that gets something other than ambient light.
I had a mix of 30 vft seeds that I germinated the second way and now have them in the sun getting ready to go dormant for this winter.
You can find all sorts of methods online from a few reputable places as well. Hope this helps.
I missed you at the RU by the way but maybe in spring....
I read they don't need cold stratification? As for the RU, I had no plants to give and Burleson is a bit too far for me to drive. I need to do some more research on the VFT seeds, I must have read incorrectly. I thought they needed consistantly warm temps.
C
It is true vft seeds need not be stratified. I simply did it see if I could achieve better germination results than not and I did. I had 100% germination from my vft mix and like 20% germination from another mix pack from the same place. I don't get it cause flytraps bloom in Spring and germinate in the wild in Summer and naturally go through the winter same as big plants do. Anyhow if you plant them outside right now they will get chilled until Spring and indoors can be protected by you until they grow bigger.
This message was edited Oct 16, 2012 3:29 PM
Here be my mix that I did cold strat.
Well I didn't plant the VFT seeds and now I am wondering if they are too old to bother. I am thinking of just putting them in a pot of S. moss and putting them outside with the other plants. I'm not sure if I have anything to cover them from the rain though.
C