Hello Marbles, as xpochian mention, Sarracenia seeds do need cold stratification. Meaning, they need a cold period of time in order for them to germinate. I read many people wrap their sarracenia seeds in moist, chopped sphagnum moss in a ziplock bag and place them in the fridge for 5-6 weeks and then after the 5-6 weeks, they take the seeds out of the fridge and plant them for germination. get some fungicide if you are planning to do so. Flytrap do not need the cold stratification, some sundews do require this. you should check what type of sundew seed you have. I read that you are growing your seeds in a small mini green house. That sounds fine, make sure to give your seeds some light, however make sure not the bake them inside with too much heat. if you have a mini green house, a 14 watt ceiling fan light bulb should do fine.(you can find these in many hardware stores) Carnivorous plants can indeed be growned in full sun. Just make sure their compost they are growing does not dry out. Make sure their media is moist at all times. Make sure not to cover them with a plastic wrap or dome if they are planned to be growned outdoors either, they will bake till death! I've growned flytrap seeds twice already, under lights and outside or in my windowsill. they took 3-4 weeks in order for them to germinate, after they germinated, i grew them in my room's sunny windowsill. they're still are. they are about to turn 1 year old this july. I also grew some of my flytrap seeds under lights as well. these are doing great as well. i got 100s of drosera capensis from seed from last growing season, these grow quite fast. This a pic of some of my flytrap seedlings that i grew under lights(i didn't use no dome or plastic wrap either, the pot was just placed under a 14 watt light bulb for 4-5 weeks) flytrap seedlings from seed: Seeds aren't as complicated as they appear to be, just give them time, patience is required(!) Good luck.

If you are growing your venus flytrap outdoors in full sun, then it will reward you with a lot of seed. If you are seeking to get seed, you must pollinate the flowers. The anthers are the pollen carriers(they are located around the flower & petals.). the stigma is located in the middle of the flower(the little yellow nub). You must allow the stigma to become "fuzzy" in order for it to aquire pollen from the anthers. You can use either an artist's paint brush, either allow pollinators pollinate the flowers(which may be a bit inaccurate, unless there's a lot of flying insects where the plant is currently been growing) or just Q-tips. But i would recommend an artist's paint brush. after pollinating the flowers, make sure your plant gets lots of full sun to give you seeds, it will need the photosynthesis in order to develop such performance.

Get it all the way out of the Deathcube asap, it will have trouble living in there. You don't need to repot immediately -- indeed, you might want to let it grow a bit before doing so, as it's probably a bit stressed out. A good indicator is if you are seeing little drops of gooey dew on the leaves -- the ones that have already grown probably won't get dew ever, but the new leaves should. Gooey Sundews are happy Sundews. Once you have a good layer of dewey leaves it might be time to repot. Potting CPs is pretty easy, what you will want to use for the most part is a combination of Perlite and Sphagnum Peat Moss. Perlite, in case you don't know, is a very common soil additive, it's the white pebbles in almost any commercial soil mix. Gardening Sand and/or Long-fiber Sphagnum is also pretty common -- it's very likely that your Lowes plants are currently growing in pure Long-fiber Sphagnum, every one I've seen is in it. What I like to do -- and I am no expert, mind you -- is use 1 part Perlite and 1 part Sphagnum for just about every one of my plants. I actually use an empty Lowes Deathcube for such, what I do is I pour in about a cup of Perlite and Sphagnum, then shake it like a martini, this mixes it up quite well. I have heard that whatever pot you use needs to have good drainage -- although I've also heard of people using pots with no holes at all. I've had a lot more luck with glazed or plastic pots than clay or terracotta ones, which seem to get a little white fuzz on them around my house. I've gotten all my pots from the local Fred Meyer, with about half of them being fully glazed neon-colored nightmares, and the other half being half glazed and half terracotta (the glaze stops halfway up). They have a single large drainage hole at the bottom which isn't ideal, I don't think, but as far as I know, works fine. You do not need to cover the pot per say, especially in a humid area like yours. What I would do is just put it in a windowsill and open it when it's warm out for humidity. You might even be able to keep it outside -- do you know what USDA zone you are in? http://www.arborday.org/media/zones.cfm I am in USDA zone 6 according to that list, and my D. Adelae and D. capensis var alba (Albino Cape Sundew) didn't like being outside all night too much (they lost their dew) but they do great in a windowsill. One challenge you are going to have is watering it -- it will likely not live with Tap water. You will need to collect Rain Water (assuming you do not have Acid Rain) or Distilled Water and use that instead. Distilled water (*not* "Purified" or "Drinking" water, those contain salts and minerals which will kill your plant) can be bought at most stores, I get mine from a WinCo, but I've also bought it from KMart and Fred Meyer in a pinch. Costs about $0.50 - 0.75 a gallon, 1 gallon should last you a week or 3. I use a turkey baster to water my plants, as well as a small squirt bottle to mist them every few days. One thing I've happily discovered is a "deep dish" Saucer for my plants -- I got mine from CaliforniaCarnivores, but you may have better luck finding them locally: http://www.californiacarnivores.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=13 They are standard 5" wide saucers but they're also about 4-5" tall, which means they hold about a cup of water. The soil will suck that up quite nicely and keep the plant at a perfect watering level. In a pinch you could make one out of the Deathcubes, I imagine, but that would require a hacksaw or something. Also, if you are going to purchase something from them (Venus Flytraps, Pots, Saucers, etc) I cannot stop singing the praises of the owner's book: http://www.californiacarnivores.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=3 It contains a wealth of information on the various types of Carnivorous Plants as well as caring for them and has a billion and one photos. Oh, and just one question -- what did the octopus plant look like? It was likely another type of Sundew, but I'm curious as to if it was what I think it was: My Cape Sundew was sold in a little pot with a baggie and a piece of paper that advertised it as an Octopus Plant, which I thought was pretty neat.

The advice of not letting your VFT flower is always suggested because most people are not experienced or are new in growing CP, so these people barely have their VFT thriving. Flowering takes a lot of energy and if your plant is week, it can die. But if you have your plant growing very vigorously, theres no problem. I always let them flower, never had problems. When I was a beginner, of course I lost my pants until I was told to cut them off. Now I have no worries letting them flower. I had one VFT grow a flower stalk this late of the year but once I started to induce dormancy, the stalk aborted and died. That VFT is now dormant. To induce dormancy, just place it in a cool part of your house and give it less light. Now, most summer leaves will die and stop functioning, also your VFT will start to produce some smaller traps with sluggish movement if you trigger them. Those are winter leaves. Once the plant is dormant, cut down on the amount of water, just keeps its media moist to keep the bulb from drying out. I keep my dormant bulbs in a pot and simply place it in the coolest room next to a window. They will receive some sunlight but its not enough photoperiod to break their winter dormancy. I always let my VFT grow on the same media for 2 years before transplanting them on a fresh media. Or you can dig out your bulbs after it has become dormant, cut the old leaves to avoid rot, wrap it with moist LFS moss to keep the bulbs from drying out, place it in a Ziploc bag, and then put it in the fridge (not the icebox!). Always check now and then to make sure you keep the LFS moss moist but not wet and you can check on the condition of your bulb. The bulb should be white and crispy. Come spring you can plant them on fresh media to begin its new growth season. Good luck!