Hello dboyle88,

First off, Venus Flytraps can self-pollinate, but using a fine paintbrush or cotton swab to brush the inside of the flowers can help if insects are not visiting the flowers. Usually bees will pollinate the flowers readily if they are outside where they can get the full sun they need.

April 9th.

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1. After flowers have shriveled, you will need to wait until they all dry completely and blacken back to the scape. If you take them too early, they will not have ripe seeds. If anything is still green or moist inside the flower, it is too early. wait till the central fruit blackens completely and hardens, then the sepals will start splitting open again and you might even see some tiny seeds start getting ready to just fall out. This may take a month or two after flowering is complete.

May 8th.

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2. Once everything is blackened and dry, clip the flowers off carefully and crush them in your hand and let the black pear shaped seeds fall out on a white paper or in a plastic cup. They are tiny, so watch for them. There will not be many per flower, only about a dozen or two at most, maybe only a handful or even none. On average, you might get about 6-8 per flower.

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3. After collecting the seeds, nothing special is required, just damp sphagnum peat moss and distilled water. I just dropped my seeds on the soil around my adult that flowered just like what would happen in nature. Never bury them under the soil as they will die trying to make their way to the surface. They sprout shallow so just drop them on the surface or sprinkle a tiny bit of granulated moss over them to just barely cover them if you want... it is not needed though. Neither is a propogation cover. My adult plant is in an open pot and the seeds sprouted in that with no additional humidity.

May 28th only a few days after sprouting. They took barely two weeks to germinate.

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4. Watch them grow.

June 16th... about a month after germination. They are growing just fine a few inches from their older siblings, some yearling plants under the adult 3 year old plant.

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This youngster still has it's cotyledons and seed attached.

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Collecting and germinating Venus Flytrap seeds is easier than planting a garden. No digging and no extra work. Just collect the seeds and drop them on soil, then keep them watered and in a well lit area. Seedlings can be protected inside under florescent light for the first year or so if you like.