Expert: Christopher Littrell - 4/12/2009

Question
i have a few "red dragon" venus fly traps growing indoors under 1000 watt light system. i have one that has a flower bud cluster opening up. can i get seeds out of this for a new plant, or do i have to cut and clone it?if i can get seeds out, what is the correct planting depth, etc..if cutting, where and what do i do afterwards to help it take root?first time growing carnivourus plants. thanks mark

Answer
Hello Mark,

Wait for the flowers to die back, then wait for the scape to begin blackening. Once the scapes have begun blackening, about a month after the flowers bloom, you should notice the flower buds beginning to crack open and tiny, shiny, black seeds showing through. Clip off the dead flower scapes at that time and crush them over a white sheet of paper. Remove the bits of flower and you will notice anywhere from one to a couple dozen tiny seeds from each flower. You might need a magnifying glass to actually see them. Collect all you can and sow them immediately in a pot of sphagnum peat and perlite with a fine layer of granuated sphagnum peat on top. Just drop the seeds on top of the peat and sprinkle a little moss over them, just barely covering the seeds (never bury the seeds to any depth as they are tiny and will not survive growing to the surface if they are buried). Mist the seeds every morning well to keep them hydrated and keep a watch for mold. If you notice mold growing you can use neem oil or sulfur based fungicides as directen by the bottle. Keep the temperatures between 75 and 85 degrees and if needed, use a humidity dome to ensure the seeds maintain hydration. If your ambient humidity is over 30% you probably will not need a humidity dome at all. I have never used one and my seeds sprout just fine as long as I mist them once or twice a day. If you use a humidity dome, make sure you slowly adapt the plants to lower humidity prior to removing the dome. Slow adaptation to low humidity entails either opening the dome or punching holes in the dome a little every 3 days until it no longer holds in humidity and can be removed after about two weeks.

Within a couple weeks to several months you will notice tiny Venus Flytraps sprouting. Most should sprout within 2 weeks if conditions are right. The resulting seedlings will be very tiny and will remain that way for up to two years. They can reach maturity between the ages of 3 to 5 years, growing a little each year in size.

Another easy way to reproduce Venus Flytraps is to simply wait for the adult plants to produce rhizome divisions. The adult plants will produce these divisions after each successful flowering and the resulting tiny plants will grow quickly to adult size in a couple years. You can remove those new plants when you repot the adult if the rhizome shows signs of looseness along the division areas where the young plants can be freed from the parents. If the division is not lose, leave it secure and repot the entire plant group until next year and try the division again. Only remove plants that come apart easily from the parents. Forcing divisions that are secure can damage the plants and the result could be weakening or death of your Flytraps. Dividing them too often can weaken the adult plant too. Only divide them once every couple years.

Christopher