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Hiya I've got myself some seeds the other day from The Carnivorous Plant Society stall at Tatton Flower Show which are Nep ventricosa x Rebecca Soper, Nep ventricosa x talangensis and Sarracenia oreophila. I've had some success with growing Sarracenia and Drosera from seed. But thought to take on a bit of a challenge and something new with the neps. The lass who was minding the stall was quite knowledgeable about the neps that were on display, she said that the seeds aren't as hard as what people think with them being highland varieties to get going if kept to their basic conditions and not let them dry out. I've followed what she had instructed me on how to sow the seeds which was to get a clear plastic tub, line the bottom of the tub with kitchen paper, soak the paper in rain water, sow seeds, put a clear bag over the top, leave in a bright position and keep the paper moist. Then transfer seedlings onto some sphagnum moss when they are germinating (this might be wrong as I can't remember exactly what she said when to transfer them). I've used clean take away tubs and have left the lids slighly ajar to give some ventilation in the thought to lessen the risk of damping off. I've only got an east facing window sill at my disposal that gets plenty of light throughout the day and is the only suitable place I've got to use for the time being. After some poking about on the net to make sure on what to expect such as how long it takes the seeds to germinate, I came across a post on here from a few years back titled Nepenthes seed germination for beginners by Gareth Davies cpukforum.com/forum/index.php?/topic/38136-nepenthes-seed-germination-for-beginners/ and is an interesting read. But its the part where he mentions about lighting and using 9 watt fluorecant lights for kitchen work surfaces to give the seeds more light. This is where I would like to ask is this necessary to use these lights as well as sunlight and will the additional light help to achieve a high germination success rate? Any other tips would be helpful to further increase the chance of my nep seeds to germinate. Cheers Mike

How do you guys control mould whilst germinating nepenthes seeds? I ask because i have some bicalcarata, spectabilis, flava and mirabilis seeds in milled sphag moss at the moment for the past 2-3 weeks. I treated the seeds to a hydrogen peroxide spray and did the same with the moss aswell as a blast in the microwave before sowing. i still get tiny amounts of green and white mould, less than the size od a pin head which i have been picking out to stop it spreading too much. does anyone use sprays etc it would be handy to know. thanks.