Expert: Christopher Littrell - 4/17/2009

Question
I purchased a packet of sundews, venus fly traps, and
pitcher plants online. I have heard most seed providers of
carnivorous plants keep the seeds in refrigerators, and ive
been reading that before you germinate your seeds on 2 of
the 3 plants you are supposed to put the seeds in the soil
in a baggy for a month in the fridge. SOO if the seeds are
in the fridge at the dealer, is that the same as putting
them in a bagy at home..or is it not because they dont keep
them in dirt and stuff

Answer
Hello Matt,

When seeds are commercially refrigerated they are kept dry. What stratification entails for the Sarracenias and Sundews in your collection would be not only cold, but damp conditions. The cold weather and moist environment breaks down the seed coat and helps the seeds to sprout. I typically do this by placing them in a pot of sphagnum peat moss and perlite in a 50/50 mix and moistening the entire pot of soil well, then simply sprinkling the seeds on the surface and pressing them onto the surface lightly with a finger. Never bury the seeds as they cannot grow quickly enough to make it to the sruface before dying if they are buried under more than a minute sprinkling of moss (basically less than 1/16 inch). I would just let them lay on the surface and mist them daily once or twice. I also placed them in an ice chest and kept them open pot. I placed several frozen water bottles in the ice chest around the pots and closed the ice chest at night to reduce the temperature, opening it by day to slightly increase the temperature and allow sunlight in to kill mold. Refrigerators increase the risk of mold as no light can get in and there is no air flow. The ice chest takes more effort as you will needed to replace frozen water bottles every 12 hours for a couple months, but reduces the incidence of mold to almost none if done properly. The actual time these seeds will need to be stratified should be closer to 8 weeks at least. Anything less could mean a reduction in seed germination. Once the 8 weeks is over, place the seeds in a bright window or under 12000 lumens of florescent light in  75 -85 degree temperatures and wait for them to germinate in about 10 days to 2 weeks at the minimum. They can take several months to germinate, but some should start within 2 weeks with late bloomers continuously popping up every day or so for about 6 months.

I have several 2 year old Sarracenias that I used this method with and they are doing very well. One is already 6 inches across.

The Venus Flytrap seeds will not require stratification and can simply be sprinkled on the soil surface as stated before and kept in a warm sunny spot until they sprout.

Remember, these plants will remain tiny for over a year or two and will take patience to grow to adult plants.

Christopher