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Carnivorous Creations kit by dunecraft

disco

aqua teen hunger force assemble!!
ok so i bought this kit by dunecraft called carnivorous creations and it comes with sarracenia, dionaea, darlingtonia, and drosera. it also provides the soil and terrarium with lid i mixed the soil with some distilled water and sprinkled the seeds on top as it said in the instructions. and the last step was to place it in the fridge for 8 weeks.....i have never grown any CPs by seed this is my first attempt does this sound correct to yall input would be appreciated!!!!!!
 
All I have to say is good luck! I would not waste my money on one of those kits.The germination rate will be low depending on how old the seed is.Anyway,good luck!



Jerry
 
I got one of those for my birthday a couple years ago (Sept). I didn't start stratifying until about this time last year and I only left it in for 5 weeks. I had done a little reading most of which said to stratify for 4-5 weeks.

I also sprinkled a cup of boiling water as suggested by the instructions after taking them out of the fridge.

Only one Sarracenia seed germinated. Since the seeds were mixed I have no idea what species it is.

What I would do differently if I did it all over:

1) Put the seeds in cold storage until I was ready to stratify them. VFT and sundew seeds decline in viability rapidly unless stored cold.
2) Partially covered the container in the fridge (instructions say leave uncovered). It dries out too much.
3) Skip the hot water treatment - top watering will bury the seeds - not good as too much moisture will kill the seeds
4) Use a spray bottle sparingly - and carefully top water on the sides of container only (see above)
5) Give more light - let the seeds know winter is over!

Since then, I've joined the ICPS and obtained seeds for all the species in the kit except Sarracenia minor. These are all in germination or stratification even as I type, just so I can have the pleasure of germinating the species in the kit.

The $25 might have been better spent joining the ICPS for a year, but time will tell. You could always use the container and CP mix (which is of decent quality) to make a mini-bog for other plants you acquire if nothing grows from the kit.

Good luck and happy growing!
 
I bought one of those earlier this year (its originally what sucked me in to CPs). After a bit of research, I realized this was a mistake and tried to cancel the order, but it had already shipped. Instead of losing ten bucks to ship it back, I decided to give it a shot.
I can't say how succesful my attempt will be at this point, but I stared off by ignoring the terrarium and placing all of my seeds into a distilled-water-moistened paper towel and placing that in a small plastic bag, which I then placed in the refrigerator(saves space and from what I hear is just about as affective). If you choose to do this, leave a bit of air in the bag and check it every week or two for mold.
The problem with this kit is, as stated above, the seeds are probably old and not terribly viable. Another problem is that all the plants included are "outside" plants(they can be grown successfully inside in some cases, but best results for a beginner are oustide) and many of them grow to be quite large(much too large for the tiny terrarium). A third problem is that, after the seeds have germinated and the seedlings have begun to grow, you do not need the terrarium lid...that much humidity is simply not necessary; at least not in Alabama.
Anyways, I'm still a beginner my own self, so please don't think I'm talking down at you. Best of Luck and welcome to the forums!
 
nah i know you are just trying to help i already have them in the fridge i am gonna take them out probably next week and place the terrarium in a windowsill and hope that they grow and if i do have luck and they start getting bigger i am gonna make an attempt to either seperate them or plant them in a mini bog outside i have a creek in my backyard so insects are no problem in my area and your right humidty is very high i got a ping and a darlingtonia and a nepethes today at lowes and i am not sure about what kind they are the nepenthes i think might be too small at this point to tell but imma try to take some decent pictures and see if anybody can identify them for me thank you for the input :D it is much appreciated
 
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Keeping the dome on will probably be fine germinating. You might want to tape some white paper on the window so the dome doesn't get direct sunlight. Otherwise you could end up with steamed CP seeds.
 
cool i know which window to place it in then lol there is a paper quilt pattern in one of the windows that my mother is tracing or something i dunno shes the quilter not me but i'm sure it will work fine. can anybody tell me how to post pics so i can get my pics up and get some tips on what to do???
 
Just create an account on a free image hosting site. Andrew runs one for this forum. Other members use photobucket, flickr and a few others.

Upload your pictures to the host, copy to your clipboard the url to the image you want to show in a message, click on the image button in the message editor (the yellow box with the mountains/pyramids), paste the url into there and save your message.
 
ya, i spent $25 bucks on one of those things, followed the instructions to the t and not a single seed germinated, just some moss, i got hosed.
 
  • #10
lol well i am planning to mix things up a little and see if that helps:hail: please grow
 
  • #11
good luck, the one i got was a complete rip-off , i thought of writeing an angry letter but then i renembered im lazy, lol.
 
  • #12
lol well hopefully i will be the one with the magic thumbs and i will be able to come back and say good things about ti but the more i read from the forum i am like ohhh snap
 
  • #13
good luck, the one i got was a complete rip-off , i thought of writeing an angry letter but then i renembered im lazy, lol.

There's an 800 number in the instruction booklet to call. They'll probably tell you to put it back in the fridge for another 8 weeks. I bet they send out a lot of replacement seed packets. You might get lucky and get one with fresh seeds in it.
 
  • #14
See this thread on the very same subject (dunecraft kit).

I just dug up the instructions for this. It says the seed packet is courtesy of the ICPS! So I would hope the ICPS is getting a little of the money spent on these. That's a good thing :)
 
  • #15
hmmm...well that tidbit makes me a teeny bit less disdainful...but only a bit.

I don't have a good windowsill to grow mine at, so I've got two CF bulbs(25W and 30W) over it with some mylar stretched over cardboard to help a little.
 
  • #16
The kit does sometimes awaken (in my case reawaken) an interest in CPs and the instructions do point you to the ICPS which again are good things.

I wish I had stumbled on the ICPS back in the 70's.
 
  • #17
Kits are nice, but one pays for aesthetic appeal - like the Lowes cube. What I have done is simply used old pipette dispenser containers that I saved from work, and filled with moist media. Then I placed the seeds on top, closed the lid, and placed at a window sill. In about 3 weeks, most sundews germinated. The box also works as an "open tray" and shipping container.

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Drosera_anglica_intermedia.jpg


Yogurt cups also work!

Strausplants0292.jpg
 
  • #18
well if there coutesy of the icps i would of thought they would of been of much better quaility
 
  • #19
Not if they sit in a box at Michaels collecting dust.
 
  • #20
VFT seeds and many Drosera species lose viability within a matter of weeks unless stored cold. I left mine sitting out unrefrigerated for 4-5 months before I started to stratify them. That was on top of who knows how long it was sitting in the store and warehouses etc.
 
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