Question
once i asked you a question about my "dunecraft carnivorous plant green house" you said that i should keep it in the fridge after i put the seed in the soil for 8 weeks, and this is exactly what the instructions said, and now i open the fridge and when i look at them i see mold growing in the place of every seed and filled the soil with white mold. did they die? can i do anything for them :'( ?

and another question, i got a green fertilizer that i want to use it on my mimosa pudica, the mimosa is now growing two more stems, so now its still small with 3 stems and few leaves on each, should i use fertilizer if it can make it grow faster or that will kill it?

Answer
Hi Yousef,

Unfortunately, no.  This is part of the difficulty in growing temperate plants from seed.  To provide the stratification, they need a cold, wet period.  Normally this would be outside in the elements such as sun, rain, snow, and UV light.  All that keeps mold at bay.  Your only option in a warmer climate is the refrigerator, which is cold, dark and damp; perfect conditions for mold.  We talk about this on our volume #1 DVD, and I say that you must use a fungicide when stratifying seeds in the refrigerator.

All of this is why I don't recommend people new to growing carnivorous plants start with seeds.  This is a lot of information to know, and it requires you to do odd stuff, or buy chemicals to be successful.  This is why I think those seed kits are such a scam.  It's better if you can start off with a couple inexpensive plants, learn from those, then move into more challenging territory like seed growing or difficult species.  It's also why I think that anyone wanting to grow carnivorous plants should spend their first dinar or dollars on education such as books or even our videos. :)  It will save you lots of money in dead plants.

With your Mimosa, you can fertilize it, but for a young plant, use the fertilizer at 1/4 strength, once a week, until the plant is older.  It also helps with this kind of plant if you can find a low nitrogen fertilizer.  This will be the first number of the N-P-K number if fertilizers are marked that way in Jordan.  Mimosa are legumes which fix their own nitrogen, so too much can slow them down.

Good Growing!

Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.growcarnivorousplants.com

Follow-up to the above answer:

Hi Yousef,

I must have been a bit unclear.  By "unfortunately no" I did mean that the mold has most likely killed your seeds.  There's not much you can do about that at this point except start over.

Jeff