|
Carnivorous Plant Propagation |
 |
 Dionaea Muscipula |
 Sarracenia |
 Darlingtonia Californica |
 Drosera |
 Pinguicula |
 Bladderworts |
 Nepenthes |
 Cephalotus |
 Aldrovanda |
 Gibberellic Acid |
 Flower Pollination/ Seed Collecting |
 Terminology |
First of all, be warned. Once you learn how to properly propagate carnivorous plants it can become extremely addictive. Some carnivorous plants are easier to propagate than others. In my opinion Drosera are by far the easiest and Sarracenia the hardest, right next to pings. I highly recommend getting a bottle of SuperThriveTM. It can be hard to find but you will find a link to it in the links section. Anytime you end up with a bare root plant for any reason soak it in SuperthriveTM per their instructions. It greatly reduces carnivorous plant shock and can mean the difference between a dead plant and a healthy one. Plain and simple, this is a good product. This is the most important use of SuperThrive, to prevent shock. Anyway, there are three basic types of propagation for carnivorous plants. Each type that works will be better described in its appropriate category. The basics are as follows: Carnivorous Plant Root, Stem, Flower Stalk & Leaf Cuttings(Basics, use buttons above for details.) All can be very simple to extremely difficult. Luckily most carnivorous plants propagate easily if it will work at all. Leaf cuttings are taken using various methods, please look up the carnivorous plant type to get details. The trick to being successful with carnivorous plant leaf cuttings is good humidity and soil contact. Use a propagation chamber (easy and cheap to make) to keep humidity at 80% or better until plantlets begin to grow. All you do after you have the leaf is lay it on its preferred medium and wait a few to several weeks. Make sure all the under side of the leaf is in contact with the media surface. Put a pinch of soil on the cut end to help keep it from drying out. You can also put little bits of soil on long leaves periodically. Most often a plant will appear under each pinch. Once they form roots you can acclimate them and pot em up. |
To do a root cutting you must first remove the carnivorous plant from the pot, unless a root/roots are growing out of the bottom of your pot. You can cut the roots into one or two inch sections, each producing one to several plantlets that will usually mature within one growing season. Just lay them on soil in a propagation chamber and cover slightly with soil. Please look in the appropriate carnivorous plant sections for specific details.
Flower stalk cuttings can be taken any time before the stalk browns. If you want the seed then wait until it flowers and the stem dies past them. That way you can cut the dead growth off and let the seeds finish processing in a bag. Or if you don't want seeds just cut it off anytime before it starts to produce flowers. Cut it as low as you can without harming the plant. You don't have to get all the way down. Just cut the stalk into sections that fit in your propagation chamber. Cover each cut end with a pinch of soil to help keep it from drying out. Keep as much of it as you can in contact with the soil. Put a couple pinches of soil along the length of it, most often a plant will appear under each pinch.
Stem cuttings are what you do to produce more Nepenthes. The difficulty of stem cuttings can vary greatly. Basically you cut the top of the plant off, at least 3 leaves worth, and stick it in soil. In a few weeks it will root in or die. Please click on the Nepenthes button above for more details.
 |
 Sometimes it helps to sterilize your propagation chambers and media. You can do so by placing it in the oven at 250° for 1.5 hours or nuke it for 1 min per cup of media. |
Most carnivorous plants naturally try to make new plants. One way they do this is to sprout more plants off to one side or from under the ground. Division is simply what its called when you separate these new growths from the original plant. Generally you wait until the new growth has some roots of its own, then simply cut free. Techniques vary from plant to plant, please click on the appropriate button for detailed info.
All natural carnivorous plants can be grown from seeds. This assumes you can find the seeds for sale or have flowering plants you can collect the seed from yourself. To learn how to collect your own seed see the seed section above. You can purchase seeds from the reputable sellers on the links page. If you have tissue culture supplies already I highly recommend culturing seeds. No mater how you grow the seeds sterilize them first.
Seeds of carnivorous plants that have a dormancy require stratification before they will grow. If stratification is required it will be covered more in depth in the appropriate sections. The cold stratification process can be bypassed with the use of Gibberellic acid, also covered more in depth in the appropriate sections. If you choose to use Gibberellic acid (GA3) make sure you read the instructions.