VFT Lifecycle

[tzestan]

It is not easy to find information of complete VFT lifecycle in cultivation. There are fragmented postings of the the plant in various phases. I am starting to grow from seeds. This is a good place to document the development. Also to serve as a reference growing the plant till mature plants are obtained.

Phase 1: Germination
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Temperature: 29 Celsius, day-night difference about 3 Celsius
Light: Direct sunlight 3.30-5.30pm, indirect sunlight the other time
Water: Rain
Relative humidity: 60-90%
Soil: Dried long fibered sphagnum moss (LFS)
No cold stratification. Seeds are put within 5mm from top of LFS.

The setup is shown here.


Germination stages:
Day 16


Day 23


Day 30


Seeds germinated: 46% (11 out of 24)
2 seeds wilted before putting up trap leaves. No obvious reason, likely to be weaker plants.

I believe all viable seeds have germinated. Some statistical analysis here,
Mean: 14.55 days
Standard deviation: 2.73 days

With the information, graphs based on normal distribution can be plotted.

Figure 1: Germination on a particular day after sowing.

Example interpretation:
4% of viable seeds germinate on day 10.
15% of viable seeds germinate on day 14.

Figure 2: Cumulative germination on a particular day after sowing.

Example interpretation:
By day 17, 80% of viable seeds should have germinated.
By day 20, 98% of viable seeds should have germinated.
Viable seed estimation: If 20 seeds are sown, and 10 seeds germinated by day 17, you may predict total viable seeds 10 / 80% = 13 seeds. The remaining seeds are likely not viable.

The graphs are constructed based on small sample I have. Regardless, it should give a rough idea on germination rate and duration.

Phase 2: Growing
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As the seedlings start to put out trap leaves, they are now in growing phase.

Conditions remain the same as germination, except the direct sunlight duration has increased to 3 hours, ie 2-5pm.

Will update as it goes...