hello everyone, i recently purchased some sarracenia purpurea seeds online and i want to try growing them. I looked online for instructions but all of them say they need to be stratified. I live in Hong Kong and its warm all year round so is this step neccesary plus its now summer so winter is already past. what should I do? i have very little seeds.
Unless you have S. purpurea subsp. venosa you aren't likely to succeed as the species Requires a Winter dormant period to survive. From Wikipedia "In its most basic form, when the stratification process is controlled, the pretreatment amounts to nothing more than subjecting the seeds to storage in a cool (ideally +1° to +3°C; not freezing) and moist environment for a period found to be sufficient for the species in question. This period of time may vary from one to three months. To accomplish this you merely place the seeds in a sealed plastic bag with moistened vermiculite (or sand or even a moistened paper towel) and refrigerate it. Use three times the amount of vermiculite as seeds. It is important to only slightly dampen the vermiculite, as excessive moisture can cause the seeds to grow mouldy in the bag." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratification_(botany)
You could try to start a few of them (maybe 1/5 of your total seed count at most) and stick all of the rest in a cool place (like an ice box/refrigerator or similar if you have one) for a while. If the ones you try initially actually grow then they were probably stored in a cold place before you got them and should all start reasonably well.
do I need to care about it when its stratified? will is sprout in the fridge or do i need to plant it before it sprouts?
Stratification can occur at any time. Germination in the Autumn may even help your plants get to a larger size before they have to deal with heat and humidity which can be fatal to many temperate climate plants. You observe at least once a week for germination and plant immediately when they've sprouted. If they haven't sprouted within 90 days then plant them out ASAP.
does this method apply with other carnivorous plant seeds? I have some venus fly trap seeds I want to grow. I also want to know if flytraps eat dried flies and do seedlings need to eat.
