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Help! Seeds! Ahhh! (never grown from seed before!)

Ridetsu

Gamer
Well, i got in contact with an old buddy of mine, and talked to him about me getting back into the CP thing. He and i go way back and used to grow together before he moved and we lost contact.
Well, i told him i was getting back into it, and he said he would send me a surprise. Well.. now i'm looking at a package of 50 seeds for Dionaea Muscipula (VFT) - and yes.. i counted them... gawd thats annoying. He says its a mix of several big-trap and colorful breeds - his joke being that i wouldn't know which ones are which!
So now i need some help... cuz I've never grown from seed. From what I've gathered, you just... put it on top of some soil, keep the soil wet, and let the seed have full sunlight... is that right?
any help and advice would be great. Here are some pictures of what i have ready thus far...



seeds: these things are small... smaller than i thought they would be - i was really surprised.
seed.JPG



Potting: plastic container - 3 inches tall by three inches wide. I will be letting them grow into these pots, then transplant them later. Note: they are not wet/ready for the seeds to be put on.
cups.JPG



my main worry thus far, is the wind blowing them off the top of the pots and losing them.
 
You don't need ten pots; they'll be small for a couple years. 4 week stratification is optional but a good idea. If you keep the media wet, they won't blow off.

I'd also like to say that, since you mentioned they are from cultivars, you can't label the plants as anything other than Dionaea muscipula since you don't know the parents, and in which case if you did, you'd have to label them according to the cross. For example, a 'B52' x 'B52' does not produce more 'B52'.
 
You don't need ten pots; they'll be small for a couple years. 4 week stratification is optional but a good idea. If you keep the media wet, they won't blow off.


from what i'v read, dionaea don't really need a stratification period, and i should be planting them immediately..
 
Well, some people say it increases germination rate. It's up to you and not necessary.
 
What you've done so far Ridestsu, is fine, but as JLAP said you won't need 10 pots even if you had 100% germination. Maybe three 3" pots at most. They'll be small plants for 2 or three years so it will be a while before you need to seperate them into individual pots.
 
i'm a somewhat 'all natural' sort of guy. i would think that if the seeds fall in the beginning of summer, that they would have their initial germination, then go into dormancy, then come back with a huge growth spurt when their time comes.
if the seeds fell in like, august or september, then i would let them do what they were going to do... i grow outside anyways, so they will be in their somewhat natural environment.
 
I found dionaea fresh seeds are better. I tried 50 stratified and 50 direct...the direct ones had a better succes rate. And yeah lol! I grew all my seeds in a 2inch pot. U do not need that big pots. Keep them for new mature plants. ;p it takes a while for dionaea to become a decent size....atleast a year +

My seedlings are 8 months old and they are still a bit smaller than a quarter.

554577523_1204fd5ba5_o.jpg


they are really small.

BTW...if u think dionaea seed are small...wait till u see drosera seed. lol! that is like dust in comparision to dionaea. :p
 
i ended up using two pots. My farmer background made me evenly space them out and tag their spots, so i could observe a success rate between them.
I'll be taking pictures every day so i can have a scrapbook and sort of make a scientific study of growing from seeds.

I planted them individually by brushing one up with a wet Q-tip and then brushing it on top of the dirt. I then marked their placement with cut up pieces of straw since i couldn't find my accursed toothpicks.
and now the wating game :3 i love husbandry ^.^
 
  • #10
thats pretty good. :D lol! Its soo hard for me now...they are all in a 4 inch tupperware container...and there are like 25 seedlings in there. I don't want to take them out as they are loving it in there. :D However, I will soon have to. Its like a very crowded ecosystem in tehre. :D . But its perfect....the VFT peeking among the moss. Reminds me of a minature carolina. :p
 
  • #11
thats pretty good. :D lol! Its soo hard for me now...they are all in a 4 inch tupperware container...and there are like 25 seedlings in there. I don't want to take them out as they are loving it in there. :D However, I will soon have to. Its like a very crowded ecosystem in tehre. :D . But its perfect....the VFT peeking among the moss. Reminds me of a minature carolina. :p



could you take a picture of it and post it in this thread? i'd really like to see it :3
 
  • #12
well...sure...but,...I got a crappy phone cam right now.



here is a good pic from a sony erricson k790 (my friend's phone)

554290984_88ba00f1f1_o.jpg



basically after this pic I weeded out some of the capensis to give more light to my VFT's and drosera lakebadgerup. I personally like the moss....as I just love MOSS. :D .. However, I would prefer to have maybe potted them a little more carefully. Initially I did sprinkle them evenly...but pouring water and all made them accumulate at one place. :p I picked some and placed them kinda away from one another to give them room. But well....they look good to me now...so I dont care. :p . When I water...I flood the VFT's soo they are actually submurged for a few hours. They don't mind in the least. :D

Its interesting how easy VFT's are compared to nepenthes. ???
 
  • #13
It's interesting that you say that because I think Nepenthes are very easy while I've always had a hard time with Dionaea.
 
  • #14
lol! hey....I guess each of us has their own genus of expertise eh JLAP?? ;)
 
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