Question
Gentlemen,
1. When do I take the seeds from my flytrap? Is it like sundews, when all pods are black?
2. Can you please point me to reliable info on CP tissue culture?
Thanks Ken Jarvis

Answer
Hi Ken,

1. Flytrap seeds are easy to tell when they are ready to harvest.  You will see small shiny spheres where the flowers used to be.  Usually they appear in about 2 months after the bloom.  Take a look at our video, Seasons.  The last photograph in the sequence shows off the flytrap seeds beautifully.  You can watch the video on our homepage:
http://www.cobraplant.com

2.  Unfortunately, there isn't any good information about tissue culture and carnivorous plants.  Carnivorous plants metabolize nutrients and hormones differently than regular plants, so nearly everyone has to go through a series of experimentation to find out what works and what doesn't.  Some plants also tolerate the process better than other plants.  Some plants, such as Nepenthes, can only be done by seed, while other plants, such as Drosera capensis, can be easily cultured from the roots.  

There are only a small handful of labs in the world that have perfected the technique of culturing carnivorous plants.  However, they are very secretive about what they do, so the amount of published information is very small.

You can check with the International Carnivorous Plant Society.  I recall reading an article in one of their journals about tissue culture.  Unfortunately, I don't recall which issue.  If you join the society, you get a CD that contains all of their back issues.

You should also check with http://www.kitchenculturekit.com  That's where I first learned how to do tissue cultures.  There is a module on Drosera capensis.  Tissue culture ended up being too time intensive for us at the nursery, so we decided to outsource it to a local lab.

Good growing!
Jacob Farin