What Do I Do Now?

I started two seeds for Stapelia grandiflora (Carrion Plant) in the same pot using potting soil. I have such a hard time with house plants, that I honestly didn't think they would do anything. I had no clue how deep to put the seeds, so I just followed the directions on the soil which said to put soil in pot, then seeds, cover with a thin layer of soil, spray with water until moistened, then cover with plastic wrap, put in a sunny location. Within a week, they germinated! They are now a little under an inch.

I feel nearly helpless when it comes to house plants, so I am wondering what I should do from here. I likely will pull out the smaller of the two plants after some period. Can this be left alone for a time before repotting? This is in a plastic pot with drain holes at the bottom. The diameter across the top is 3 1/2 inches.

I read the info on this page about sun and water needs:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/59151/
Are there any other tips that would help me with this? I like interesting plants and have been wanting to "play" with those I can keep in the house. I have kept a Prayer Plant alive for about five months now, so there's hope. :)

Here are the little babies. They have not gotten much taller, but the tops are changing. They're not dead yet. I have no idea how much to water, but yesterday I felt them. They were soft like my Christmas cactus feels when thirsty, so I watered.

Does anyone still participate in this forum? I was surprised to not receive any replies.

Well Chilly I am still here, just have not grown Stapelia so I can't offer much help. If my house smells like a dead animal, I go looking under furniture for a "gift" from the cats ;-)
But I do have houseplants, so general advice I do have.
For now, the pot is just fine, and you can even leave both in there. They look perfect, and have room to grow. Often, when it comes time to get rid of an extra I will cut it off at the soil line rather than pull it out, so as not to disturb the roots.
It also may be time for a bit of fertilizer, now that it is spring and they are growing nicely.

Thank you so much for the suggestions. I would have never thought to cut off the extra instead of pulling. I like using natural/homemade fertilizers. I will do some research to find something suitable I can make for this plant.

I had planned to just keep them inside for the summer, but read that they will more likely bloom when outside in the heat. I do not plan on doing any digging/repotting as some do, but find a nice place to just set the pot outside and bring in before it cools down.

Sounds like a good idea. I don't know where you live (I have a vague idea you are in the American Midwest?), but if it gets hot there in summer, I find tiny plants in little black plastic pots can overheat and dry out in the sun-the black plastic absorbs the heat and the plants are so small they have no leaves to shade the plastic- so they do better when a bunch of pots are all together, or sometimes I will put cardboard or lean something up on the sunny side of the pots.
Maybe you could trade away the extra plant.

Thank you for reminding me. Someone sent me a start for another variety of Carrion Plant and they mentioned it had not been outside yet, so put it in shade first. I need all the reminders I can get until I do something for myself.

Yes, I am in Iowa, sorry about that.

Now I wonder about those black pots. I put some seeds in black pots in the fall a year ago for cold stratification in the winter. I set them on the south side of the house to protect them from the strong northerly winds. Nothing ever came up. Maybe the soil got to hot in the spring? Last fall, I tried another variety of seeds in black pots. I don't expect anything to be up already, but maybe I should move them to a partly shaded area. The plants themselves are full sun to part shade.

Well what I do is just put an empty pot, or a piece of wood or even cardboard on the sunny side of the pots, so the sun will hit that instead of the black plastic. If you have a whole collection, the only ones that would need protection are the ones on that side. With my wintersowing (white milk jugs, I also worried about it once the seedlings were sprouting and sun getting more intense, at that point I let the grass grow up there for shade, as well as taking the lids off.

The little babies are growing. They're under a grow light right now since I have one on for starting seeds.

Someone gave me starts of another variety of Carrion Flower and today I noticed little shoots coming off those.

I wonder how long they take from seed to flower?

Oh, I have one of those. When it blooms it even gets maggots in the flower. Cool, eh?!

Now that is interesting, I wonder if the plant feeds them so they can survive and fly away. I never heard of a plant doing that before.

Well, the flies are attracted to it because of the stench. I'm assuming that it's the flies that pollinate it. And we all know that wherever flies light in something that is "carrion-esque", they will deposit their icky eggs.