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Carnivorous Plants/dionaea muscipula

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Expert: - 3/3/2009


Question
Hello. I wanna ask something about venus flytrap...how long do I have to wait to grow venus flytrap from seeds and which conditions are good for do it ?
Fran (Croatia)


Answer
Hello Fran,

Growing Venus Flytraps from seeds takes a long time. It might be a couple years before you actually see a good growth spurt from the seedlings after they sprout. They typically take 3-5 years to reach maturity.

When you obtain seeds, you can just sprinkle them on the surface of 50/50 sphagnum moss perlite mix and place them in a warm sunny spot and keep them well watered.

A pot with a water depth of up to 1/4 the pot is preferable with mineral free distilled, reverse osmosis, or rain water.

Full sun is best for Venus Flytraps, however; you can grow them indoors to protect them from seed eating birds and insects for the first year or two under 12000 lumens of florescent light 4-5 inches from the seedlings, or in a very sunny south facing window.

Keep them around 80 degrees in the growing season.

Venus Flytraps require dormancy in winter when the conditions are cold and the day length short. In the first year you can grow seelings year round with no dormancy so long as you ensure a good dormancy period of 3-4 months next winter.

Keep the seeds hydrated with misting at least once or twice a day and make sure fungus does not grow on the seeds. You can use Neem oil or sulfur based fungicides to kill off fungus if you see any.

Christopher

Carnivorous Plants

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Christopher Littrell

Expertise

I am capable of answering questions about the most common carnivorous plants found in cultivation. I have no personal experience with Byblis, Drosophyllum, Aldrovanda, and Heliamphora. I have not cultivated gemmae forming pygmy sundews nor tuberous sundews. For information regarding those aforementioned species, I would suggest contacting other experts. I can answer questions regarding most species of Nepenthes, tropical and temperate Drosera, Mexican Pinguicula, Sarracenias, and Dionaea. I have some limited experience with growing Utricularia, Cephalotus, and Darlingtonia.

Experience

I have grown carnivorous plants off and on for about 27 years. I have made the same mistakes and suffered the same mishaps that many growers make as they attempt to separate the myths from the realities of growing these plants. Currently, I am successfully growing a variety of tropical sundews, a Nepenthes, several Venus Flytraps of varying ages, and Sarracenias. I have been successful in stratifying Sarracenia seeds and providing artificial dormancy requirements for my temperate plants when needed.

Education/Credentials
I hold a Master's degree in Educational Psychology. Over my lifetime, I have constantly read books involving the growing conditions of carnivorous plants. I hope to incorporate the educational aspects involved in psychology with teaching other people how to cultivate carnivorous plants.

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