Seed preparation
Seeds are only about 1.5 mm long. Sow them soon after you receive them; until then keep them dry and cool in a sealed container.
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Carnivorous plant growing guide
Venus flytrap seed is tiny and slow: sow it on the surface of wet, nutrient-free peat and sand, keep it bright and humid, and water only with pure water. Expect two to five years before a seedling becomes a full-size plant.
Seeds are only about 1.5 mm long. Sow them soon after you receive them; until then keep them dry and cool in a sealed container.
Not needed. The seed coat is thin.
Recommended: sow onto wet substrate, seal the pot in a plastic bag and keep it in the fridge (not the freezer) for four weeks, then move it to warmth and light. Seed sown straight into warmth may still germinate, but more unevenly.
Not needed. The substrate is kept saturated, which hydrates the seed.
Keep pots at 20-25 °C (70-80 °F). In hot Indian summers, germinate indoors in a cool, bright room rather than on a hot balcony.
Scatter seed thinly on the surface. Cover with no more than 1-3 mm (1/16-1/8 in) of washed quartz sand, or leave uncovered.
A 1:1 mix of sphagnum peat and washed quartz sand, pure sphagnum peat, or finely chopped long-fibred sphagnum over the mix. Washing the peat reduces algae and moss. Never use compost, fertiliser, perlite or garden soil.
Saturate the substrate with pure water (rain, distilled or reverse-osmosis) and stand the pot in a tray of the same water. Keep the pot inside a clear bag or propagator for humidity.
Give bright light about 14 hours a day; under LED plant lights, about 15 W per 30 cm (12 in) square is enough for seedlings. Avoid direct hot sun on a closed bag.
Slow and uneven. Keep pots wet, bright and covered for several months before giving up on them.
When seedlings have a few true leaves with tiny traps, open the bag gradually over a week or two and move them to brighter light: a sunny window, terrarium or greenhouse.
Move clumps into their own pots of the same mix once they crowd each other. Tall pots suit wet peat; short pots need a sandier mix. Keep the water level in the tray more than 5 cm (2 in) below the soil surface.
Unfed seedlings take up to about five years to mature; well-fed greenhouse seedlings can do it in two to three. Seedlings often pause after about four months as if expecting winter; warmth, strong light and feeding keep them growing.
Ordinary filtering does not remove dissolved salts. If tap water reads above about 90 ppm on a TDS meter, use rainwater, distilled or reverse-osmosis water.
Once a seedling trap is open, feed a tiny piece of rehydrated bloodworm, remove the remains when it reopens and feed again. Never add fertiliser to the pot.
Full sun is best in humid or mild summers. In hot, dry places, give full morning sun and afternoon shade, for example under 10-20% shade cloth.
Outdoor plants go dormant in winter and survive light freezes only when fully dormant and protected from drying out. Plants kept indoors under lights can grow on without a cold rest.
Venus flytrap is native only to a small area of the Carolinas and cannot be legally collected from the wild; poaching became a felony in North Carolina in 2014.
Sow Venus flytrap seed on wet peat and sand under bright light, and water only with pure water.
Up to about five years if seedlings are not fed; about two to three years for well-fed seedlings in strong light.
Only if your tap water has less than about 90 ppm dissolved solids. Otherwise use rainwater, distilled or reverse-osmosis water; salts from tap water build up and kill the plants.
Outdoor plants in cold climates go dormant and need protection from hard freezes. Plants grown indoors under lights can keep growing without a cold rest.