Hi

Well I have not grown from seed but have from a leaf cutting, this has made a tiny plant with traps less than 1mm in size, its growing fast but Im sure it will take a number of years before its chomping down any decent sized insects.
If you grow from seed, I suggest that you spread the seed on a moist peat mix in an enclosure with light that would ensure higher humidity.
As far as acclimatizing the plants, either or would be the same.
If you grew from seed, once the plant was big enough you would need to "harden it off" by lifting the lid a little more over a few weeks, the same is for a full grown plant so the choice is up to you.
Mabey consider getting a full sized VFT (the Giant Mutations are awesome like the ones from Cooks Carnivorous Plants) and seeds, you can then sow your seeds and harden off the full sized one, it will give you the best of both experiences I think.
If you purchase "from a store", choose a good retailer.
People such as www.cobraplant.com are awesome, they have superb plants that are very strong.
They only seem to sell the 3 standard forms of VFT which are TYPICAL, DENTE and RED DRAGON, Cooks carnivorous plants also has some great prices and has specials often.
Cooks has a massive variety of plants as well.

Hope this helps

Sheldon

Thanks sheldon! you've really answered my question, and you had a very good idea. I was wondering, is www.blackjungle.com a decent dealer in your opinion? I did get a nepenthes from them, and it's doing fairly well, but I never see anyone mention them here; I just thought if they were a good reputable seller of plants it would be better for the plants, because they're based in MA whereas I'm in connecticut.

Growing VFTs from seed is very difficult but really rewarding if you can pull it off. I have 6 or 7 second year seedlings in my VFT pot right now that are thriving.

In my experience I've found the hardest part is keeping them healthy over the winter. I've never had trouble sprouting the seeds but I've lost whole batches to fungus/who-knows-what in mid winter. Funny thing is this is the first year I've had any real success with seedlings and it's the first year I've pretty much just ignored them. Last July (2004) I just threw all the seeds from my VFTs back into the pot. I had 20 or 30 sprout. Then last fall, for the first time, I did nothing special with the seedlings. I just left them outside with all my other plants until night time temps hit the mid 30s and then I put the whole pot into hibernation in an unheated mud room. This spring I was thrilled to see 2 or 3 tiny litter traps pop up. Now I have, as I said, 6 or 7 growing very nicely. In the past I've tried to be very gentle with them making sure the temperatures were more middle range so they wouldn't freeze or over heat. They actually froze very lightly this past winter and temps have been in the 90s here for weeks. I just haven't had time to mess with them. Good thing I guess.

I've tried the same complete lack of care, other than watering, on all my plants for years and they just go nuts. I just pot them up, stick them outside in full sun, protect them from the high winds here in Iowa, keep them wet and leave them alone. I have a S X Judith Hindle that is in it's second year. This spring in addition to the original main crown from last year I have 7 new crowns producing pitchers. My S Leucphilla 'Tarnok' is similar. It's also in it's second year, last year it had 2 main crowns. This year it has 5. I started with 3 large VFTs 6 years ago. From budding I now have 17 as well as the 6 or 7 seedlings from last year. I guess nature really does know best.

Sorry long post to recommend this. Buy a few VFTs, and make sure you can grow them. There are a lot of people who have a great deal of difficulty in just growing strong healthy plants. If you manage to keep them healthy and happy they will bloom in the spring. Many will tell you to cut the flower stalk off because it will severely weaken or even kill the plant. These are the guys who can grow VFTs, but have trouble keeping them healthy. LET THEM BLOOM, if they are healthy and strong it will have no detrimental affect on them. 13 of my larger VFTs put up 23 flower stalks this year and they are all just covered with huge traps. Blooming and seeding didn't even slow them down. Why do I suggest this? If you can't keep large healthy VFTs alive and thriving you have 0% chance of keeping delicate seedlings alive. And most critically, can you over -winter a VFT and keep it alive? That is the hard part. Many can grow a VFT for a summer, few can keep them over the winter, even fewer have healthy plants grow in the spring. If you have sick plants in the spring then your growing/hibernation conditions and/or care are substandard. If thats the case, seedlings will not survive. One last thing to consider, if you have success with mature plants they will produce the seed you need to try and grow your own.

GL

Growing VFTs from seeds is a true rewarding experience. Not as easy to be expected, but when you understand the vfts conditions, you get the hang of it. If you don't have a vft yet, it would be easier if you grow a full-grown one, that way you can understand its conditions.Then, If you're really talented by growing them, you can allow your vfts to flower, but make sure to grow them under full sun, and water it every day.
So if you choose seeds, Patience is indeed a virtue. I allowed 3 of my plants to flower this recent growing season, i grew my plants under full sun as they flowered. They were very healthy, Pollinated the flowers, and got rewarded with hundreds of seeds.. now i have two 3" inch pots filled with little fangsters.
If i were going to grow vfts either from seeds or a store bought plant, i would choose the full-growned plant, however it is truly rewarding watching little venus' flytraps grow.
@!@#)What i did to grow my vft seeds was quite simple, after i harvested my vft seeds from my 3 flowered plants..
i pre-pared two 3" inch pots with peatmoss+perlite mixture(that's the venus' flytrap prefered media 50% peatmoss, 50% perlite) After that, i moisten the media, Placed/laid the seeds on top of the media.(keep in mind, if you ever get vft seeds, never burry them.) after placing them on top of the media, i sprayed them with purified water, then watered the pots with the tray method & grew my seeds in my growing chamber under flourecent lighting. After 3-4 weeks, they began to sprout.
This is my idea of my Growing Chamber:
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@##@ I grow my vft seeds here, and other carnivorous plant seeds.. and cuttings or divisions. After a while, i place my seedlings in a bright sunny windowsill.
This is how they appear to look after sprouting(i apologize for the blurry pictures)
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If you plan to grow vfts from seeds, prepare your self for a steady patience, never lose it. Don't watch the pot 24/7 because they will never sprout, they will germinate faster if you "don't watch the pot all the time* to me, the seedlings are growing VERy fast under lights, i transplanted over 100s of seedlings, it took me like 2 hours(not kidding) to transplant all my little vft seedlings from the small 3" inch pots to a taller/wider 4 inch pot..i potted them in a large 4 inch pot, they are still growing still.

When does any one sujest on planting the seeds? early spring?

hi, have not used bllackjungle so i am not sure myself,
If you were happy with your experience with them and the plants that you receieved then go ahead and give them another go.
I feel that a VFT can be difficult to grow to those that dont have the knowledge as of yet, I have never been a plant grower as such and receved my first VFT in Jan-Feb, with books such as THE SAVAGE GARDEN and info from people on forums like this you should do fine.
VFT's are very tough and can take a lot, the most important things are SOIL MIX, WATER and LIGHT,once these are correct you should be off to a good start.

Cheers
Sheldon

Hey AKheadbangers,

If you are refering about VFT seeds, Vft seeds can be sown any time of the year, as long as you keep the humidity high and temps around 75-80 Degrees.