[cadalot]

I have always wanted one of these plants since I was a kid. I went to a £1 shop and what have they got?

No real instructions about the moving the plant up to a bigger pot or best time to sow or how to look after it just

Remove top of pot and add seeds
Moisten with water and cover with clear plastic for germination
when shoots appear uncover and water regularly

Anyone grown these and have any recommendations?
 

[Aunt Sally]

I groe them (and a few other insectiverous plants).

Don't do anything to it untill spring. Just make sure it's in a saucer of rain water to keep it boggy.

[Aunt Sally]

Oh...  I 've just looked at your picture and it's seeds rather than a plant.

I'll look it up in my book and get back to you.

[Aunt Sally]

The book I use for insectivorous plants is:

Insect-Eating Plants and How to Grow them by Adrian Slack.  It's a very good book!

I've extracted this for you:

Growing from seed
Best sown in spring using standard Dionaea compost (see below) in seed boxes or shallow dwarf pots.
Firm the surface with a flat object. 
Sow the seeds sparsely, do not bury or cover, and stand in a rain water tray in a sunny position.
Germination takes 6-8 weeks.

When large enough to handle dig up carefully and pot on into half pots (not as deep as standard pots), making sure the roots run downwards and slightly out and with the crown of the plant a little below the soil surface (1/4 inch  for a mature plant, all creamy white bits must be below the soil). Crocks are not required but something to stop the soil washing out is a good idea (bit of moss, layer of fleece, I've even used old tea bags with the tea emptied out). Firm in very gently as you add the compost.

Put pots into a rain water tray with 1/2 - 1 inch of water in all the time.  They like a sunny warm position in summer and a cool position in winter.

Never use fertiliser! It will catch its own food.

Compost

The compost you have with the seeds is probably the wrong kind.  They are ofted sold with moss which is not suitable for fly traps and is one reason why they die.  This is what the book suggests and what I use:

2 parts - Moss Peat (e.g. 'Shamrock Peat' - might be difficult to find in small quantities)
1 part -   Horticultural sand - sharp but not too course and free from shells or chalk.



Good luck

[yorky]

I think I have posted this link before, but it really is the most informative site I have seen for fly traps.

http://www.flytrapcare.com/

[Aunt Sally]

That is a good site, yorky

[cadalot]

Thanks Aunty and Yorky, I'm glad I asked now