Growing Venus Flytraps from seeds

Growing a Venus Flytrap from Venus Flytrap seeds is not for the beginner. Although many North American plants can be easily grown and cultivated from seeds, the Venus Flytrap plant is a little more difficult.

The Venus Flytrap produces a small white flower in the spring, typically in April through May. The flower produces small seeds that can be used to grow new Venus Flytrap plants.

So Venus Flytrap seeds are usually available at pretty good prices in June and July.

Remember that the Venus Flytrap is a slow growing plant. If you try to grow the plant from seeds, it will be a few years before you see Venus Flytrap pods with a fairly decent size. The first couple of years you will see really small traps. And I do mean small! But the plant is amazing. Even when very small, just a few weeks from germinating, the plant will grow the most detailed small traps. A housefly would be way too big, but the plants can catch small bugs that are present in soils everywhere.

If you still want to grow your Venus Flytrap from seeds, here is what you need to do.

1. Scatter the seeds on top of the growing soil. Don’t burry the seeds. Instead scatter a little bit of very fine sphagnum peat moss dust over the seeds.

2. Water the seeds only using distilled water or rain water. To water the seeds you want to spray a fine mist. So use a spray bottle and gently wet the soil surface. Keep the soil moist but not wet. This is a fine line, but you want to keep the soil moist, not wet. And keep the soil moist while the seeds are germinating. You will find that as the seeds grow, you can reduce the amount of watering. Remember to keep the seeds and soil in moist not soggy or saturated soils. And do not let the soils dry out.

3. The Venus Flytrap is native to the Southeast United States, and the summers are warm and humid. So when trying to grow seeds, indeed, when trying to grow plants, try to replicate the climate conditions. This means keeping the Venus Flytrap seeds and the germinating container warm, at a temperature between 75 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit.

4. Maintaining a high humidity for your Venus Flytrap plants is really only important for your germinating seeds, and only if you live in a dry climate. If you need to improve the humidity for your germinating Venus Flytrap seeds, then cover the germinating container with a clear plastic bag or plastic food container. Be sure to poke several holes in the bag or plastic food container so air can move back and forth. If you use a clear cover on your germinating container, be sure to only use indirect sunlight. Expose your germinating Venus Flytrap seeds to direct sunlight, and the heat will kill the seeds.

5. Germination of Venus Flytrap seeds typically takes 4 to 6 weeks. Once the seedlings have germinated and you can see tiny traps, remove the cover and place the seedlings in direct sunlight. But keep the new seedlings moist. Do not allow the seedlings or the soil to dry out.

Patience is a virtue when caring for Venus Flytrap plants, and trying to grow plants from seeds.

Some Venus Flytrap seeds will germinate quickly, in as little as two weeks. Other seeds will appear to be lifeless and dead, and nothing seems to happen for weeks.

But be patient.

Keep the soils and seeds moist, be attentive to the light, and your patience will be rewarded by little green plants with little green traps. Growing Venus Flytrap seeds is really not that hard!

To get more information about the proper Venus Flytrap habitat, click on one of the links to the right.