Venus Flytraps are generally considered a challenging plant to keep. My experience is that they are not that difficult as long as someone understands the conditions that they need. Growing flytraps from seed is thought to be considerably more challenging. I suppose that I am going to find out.This is an experiment in progress, so it might still turn out to be a disaster.
Plan:
85 degrees (F) max until germination changing to 80 degrees afterward. Removal of cover after germination. A photo-period of 16 hours per day. One cell of the tray has been left empty so that the standing water level can be monitored. Water should be standing but not above the soil. After a few weeks I should have tiny little traps. After a couple of years I should have traps big enough to transplant into other containers and start a dormancy cycle.
Materials:
- 1 x Standard 11" x 22" Seedling tray with cover
- 3 x T5 (Sun Blaze) Grow Lights (mounted to and hung by two 5" square dowels)
- 1 x Heat mat
- 1 x Thermostat
- 1 x Timer
- Some aluminum foil
- Soil mix of 1 part Sphagnum peat and 1 part sand
- 2 gallons distilled water (to clean sand and start out)
- 375 Venus Flytrap Seeds (Dionaea muscipula)
2 comments:
Sorry for setting high expectations. I did manage to germinate most of the seeds, but fungus got to them eventually :(
Diluted chamomile tea seemed to help, but I didn't use it enough. Also, next time I might just use a chemical fungicide, since I don't particularly mind if my flytraps are not grown organically.
Sometimes I forget that you're into biology too on top of software. It would be really cool to get one of these plants to adult size, I've only seen videos and I think it'd be fascinating to watch one work in real life.
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