Question
I am a novice to carnivorous plant growing.  I purchased venus flytrap seeds online and, at present, 8 of 40 have germinated in the peat and perlite grow cups.  I keep them under a growlight for 13 or so hours per day.  I also have a heating pad (for plants) under the pots.  The eight which have germinated do not seem to be getting much bigger.  Is there something I should be doing to promote more growth, or are they just really slow.  I also use only distilled water to feed them and do not fertilize.  Thank you.

Answer
Hi Barbara,

Consider yourself in a very exclusive club.  You actually got seeds to germinate from one of those total rip-off seed kits!  The problem with those is that Venus flytraps have only a roughly 90 day viability on their seeds.  You never know how old they are when you get one of those kits.

With your seeds that did germinate, they're growing about the speed they normally do.  Venus flytraps take about 3-5 years to reach maturity from seed.  It's very similar to other North American perennial wildflowers such as Lilies or native Orchids.  Here's some information.  Here's a link to a good article on growing them from seed:  http://www.carnivorousplants.org/howto/GrowingGuides/Dionaea.php  and here's our care guide:  http://www.growcarnivorousplants.com/Articles.asp?ID=257

Good Growing!

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