Stratify, sow, sprout, succeed
This guide, written by Carson Trexler and edited by David Fefferman, focuses specifically on sowing Sarracenia seeds in winter and getting them to germinate in the following spring, but the same care for Sarracenia seeds and seedlings applies to nearly all temperate carnivorous plants, stratification included. Also, if you’re interested in how to make pitcher plant hybrids of your own, check out this handy guide on Sarracenia hybridization we recently published.
Growing plants from seed is about as rewarding and fun as it gets! Unlike vegetative propagation, many seed-grown plants are genetically unique, meaning that a huge array of colors, shapes, and sizes are possible from seed-grown plants.
I recommend for folks who’ve never kept North American pitcher plants before to start with an adult plant first. Growing Sarracenia from seed can take a long time. It takes nearly four years after germination for even large, fast-growing plants to get big enough to flower. Also, the likelihood of germination is naturally probable, but ultimately unpredictable. You may be unable to get your seeds to sprout (try to wait at least 5 or so months before giving up on seed which you’ve already sown). But if you’re determined to start out with seeds, it shouldn’t be too difficult for you to keep them, especially if you’ve kept a temperate wetland plant before.
As seedlings are tiny and vulnerable, they will die if subjected to simple mistakes (like under-watering) that wouldn’t normally kill an adult plant so fast. In this way, seedlings are somewhat unforgiving.
That said, juvenile Sarracenia are themselves fascinating and joy to keep. Having a horde of seedlings can be just as fun as having a big collection of adult plants. Plus, with each new seedset, your collection changes each time!
Looking for Sarracenia seed to grow your own? Check out some of the fan-freaking-tastic Sarracenia hybrids offered by vendors in our marketplace:
- Sarracenia leucophylla ‘Hurricane Creek White’ x ‘Waccamaw’ Seeds$25.00
- Sarracenia (oreophila x flava “Don’s Red Tube”) HC Clone D x “Lunch Box” Seeds$18.00
- Sarracenia (oreophila x “Blood Moon”) HC Clone B x ((‘Leah Wilkerson’ x oreophila) x “Bengal Tiger”) Seeds$14.00
- Sarracenia (‘Plum’ x ‘Snowflake’) HC Clone A x (x moorei “red” x leucophylla ‘HCW’) HC Clone A Seeds$19.00
- Sarracenia ‘Red Sumatra’ OP x “Lunch Box” Seeds$11.00
- Sarracenia ((oreophila x flava rugelii) x “Atlanta Bio.”) x (‘Wilkerson’s Red’ x ‘Adrian Slack’) HC Clone B Seeds$9.00
- Sarracenia (‘Plum’ x ‘Snowflake’) HC Clone A x “Lunch Box” Seeds$18.00
- Sarracenia (‘Wilkerson’s Red’ x ‘Adrian Slack’) HC Clone B x (flava rubricorpora x ‘Adrian Slack’) HC Clone A Seeds$15.00
- Sarracenia leucophylla ‘Hurricane Creek White’ x (flava rubricorpora x ‘Adrian Slack’) HC Clone A Seeds$19.00

3.5-Step Instructions for Germinating Sarracenia
You don’t have to do it all this exact way, but this method achieves all the requirements and is pretty efficient:
0.5 Cold stratification – Sarracenia seeds require a period of cold, damp conditions similar to winter for about 6-8 weeks before they can germinate. In a temperate climate, seeds exposed to the elements and kept on damp soil will germinate in spring. This pattern of growth is exactly the same as that of adult plants, which are dormant in winter and grow again in spring. If you live in a temperate climate and can pull off stratifying seed outdoors, skip to step #1.
If you live in a warmer or tropical climate with mild winters, or if you plan on growing your seedlings indoors, you’ll have this extra step of stratifying seed manually. A great method for Sarracenia stratification is to dampen a paper towel with reverse osmosis water, scatter the seeds across it, cover the seed with another moistened paper towel, and place this in a plastic bag or Tupperware container in the refrigerator. Leave them here, mostly undisturbed, for the 6-8 week period.
If a little mold forms on the paper towels, don’t stress it. Mold shouldn’t have a negative effect on the seeds themselves, but be sure to use fungicide after sowing them on soil. Remember to label your bag with a sharpie, and include a plastic label inside the bag should the sharpie wear off. Above all, remember to write the date!
1. Sow your seeds any time in mid-winter (around 8-9 weeks before last frost) on a medium of wet sphagnum peat – avoid perlite or other inorganic substances so the tiny roots will have access to water. To conserve space, use a large container. A four-inch-wide pot can fit about 20 seedlings for the first two years of their lives. Be careful to space your seeds about 1 centimeter apart so they do not immediately compete against each other. Do not cover your seeds with soil, and do not fill the pot up to the brim with peat! Leave about 1/2 inch between the soil line and the rim of the pot so water won’t wash away your seeds. If fungus is a concern, spray liberally with a sulfur-based fungicide weekly.
2. Place the pots outside in mid-winter, but protect them from heavy rain or fallen leaves, or else the seeds may wash away or get covered up. You may want to keep a large humidity dome or screen over them for the express purpose of keeping debris out. Keep the soil wet by placing the container in a tray of water, just as you would your other temperate carnivorous plants. Remember, North American pitcher plant seeds require a period of cold and wet conditions to germinate – just as they would experience in the wild. If necessary, spray for fungus using a sulfur-based fungicide.
3. Wait until spring to see germination. Seeds may sprout at any time in spring, so keep an eye out and don’t throw them out too soon!
After germination, treat your seedlings as you would adult Sarracenia. There is no difference in care between adult and juvenile plants. Sprouts are as cold-hardy as adults, as long as they experience seasonal fluctuation to prepare them for cold weather. However, because of their small size, seedlings dry out very quickly, so it is important to pay attention to the water levels in their trays.
When seedlings go dormant, all their leaves may die off. Fear not, for what looks like an empty pot will revive in spring.
You can fertilize Sarracenia seedlings, especially if grown under intense artificial lighting, to quicken growth. We’ll cover this topic in a future post.
Continuing Care
It is wise to separate your seedlings once they’ve gotten 7 to 8cm (3+ inches) tall. At this point, the soil is probably overcrowded with roots and competition between dense plants can kill whole masses of seedlings. Mold, if it gets into such an environment, can kill your project with devastating speed. I recommend dividing your plants into single 1-inch wide, 2.5-inch tall rose pots, or into group pots over 4 inches wide, with one plant allotted per diameter inch (for example, a 4-inch pot can house 4 seedlings, a 6-inch pot can house 6 seedlings, etc.). Once rhizomes are 3/4 inch wide the plant should be given its own 4-inch pot.
Sarracenia do not require high levels of ambient humidity. Though their rate of transpiration is fast, their hydration needs are met entirely by their roots. It is not necessary to keep Sarracenia seedlings in lidded containers. Such containers are crisis prone. Lidded containers can take a moldy turn in an instant. The most important aspects to master before tinkering with ambient humidity are the more essential elements of water and light.
Enjoy growing!

Thanks
How do you get the seeds? Do they have to be pollinated? Please help
Yes david, you will want to pollinate fresh flowers several times within a few days. use a aintbrush to gather pollen off the auditorium floor, then brush them on the small protrusion that overlaps with the gap between each flower petal. Keep notes if you transfer the pollen from one flower to another.
How do you collect the seeds, do they need to be pollinated?
I have seen bumble bees gathering nectar from the flowers. The flower structure is such that the bees will automatically pollinate the flower.
You can pollinate the plant by hand, but it takes some timing. The stamens are only receptive to pollen for a short period of time – only a few days at most, if I recall correctly. If the flower is not pollinated, the ovum will enlarge somewhat but no seeds will be produced.
Pollinated pods take a long time to mature – they are not ripe until September or October. Leave the flower on the plant until the pod starts to split open on its own. You can then collect the pod and harvest the seeds.
Bees love Sarracenia flowers! It’s interesting – theoretically, the flowers are actually designed to not be self-pollinated by bees. Bees head in over the top of the stamens and through a gap in the petals, collect pollen from the umbrella-shaped style, and push their way out through the underside of the petals. In this way, bees carry pollen from one Sarracenia to another Sarracenia and deposit it as they pass over the stamen of the next plant. This increases the genetic diversity of a population, fostering healthier, stronger, and more resilient pitcher plants!
Your formula for the number of seedlings per pot is far too restrictive. For example, it would allow only 12 seedlings in a 12″ diameter pot. If you think about it, you can fit four 4″ pots inside the top of an 8″ pot, so the 8″ pot should be able to hold at least 4 times as many seedlings, not 2 times.
A much more realistic formula would be the square of the radius. That produces the following number/pot:
4″ – 4 seedlings
5″ – 6 seedlings
6″ – 9 seedlings
8″ – 16 seedlings
10″ – 25 seedlings
12″ – 36 seedlings
The formula means that each seedling requires roughly 3 square inches of surface, so: For a square or rectangular pot, multiply the length times the width and divide by 3.
A 5″ x 5″ square pot would hold (2.5 x 2.5)/3 = 8 seedlings.
A 10″ x 18″ tray would hold (10 x 18)/3 = 180/3 = 60 seedlings.
Howdy William! Thanks for your thoughts. The article states about 20 seeds in a 4 inch pot. Do you mean to say that you think that the density of plants is restrictive to growth of the seedlings? Your formula works well for larger, more established plants, if you have a limited number of seeds, or ample space to spread out. Given that not all seed are viable/germinate, it does have the potential to waste a bit of grow area. When you have multiple seedpods producing 200+ seeds, space quickly becomes a limiting factor. Even if isn’t a limiting factor, I’d argue that brand new seedlings require far less space to get going.
Given a regiment of fertilizer, longer photoperiods, and 1-2 years of skipped dormancies, the method in the article has grown some monster seedlings densely and successfully. Seedlings definitely need to be repotted before crowding starts impacting growth and after 1-2 years, you’re going to want to repot the plants in fresh soil, wether they’re overcrowded or not.