I Decided to plant a bunch of seed i had in the fridge from 11-16 years ago. I planted some P. macroceras seed that was collected 5/02/1993, and of course it ALL sprouted. I have tried to grow P. macroceras from seed in the past and it always died. About a week after germination the seedlings start to turn brown and rot. I have only succesfully grown 4 macroceras from seed and i could not count how many i have tried. Has any one had experience growing this plant from seed, if so what were the conditions? I currently have the seedlings under T12 flourescents 90% humidity and 75 degrees. I have sprayed the plants with PPM thinking the rot might have been fungal.
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk
Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!
P. macroceras seedling care
I put PPM on all of the babies and it seemed to have worked as none have died yet. They usually died within the first week before. I have never pollinated macroceras, i always let the bugs do it for me. I would assume with a toothpick and a steady hand you could pollinate them easily. There is a thread on this forum about pollinating mexican pings, temperate pings are similar.
thbjr
Don't eat me,... Mr. Flytrap
PPM is a product used in Tissue Culture, it prohibits the growth of fungi with out harming the plant material. I believe PPM stands for Plant preservative media. I use it to kill mold and fungi on the soil of my plants. I soak all of my seeds in it and GA3 because the GA3 promotes the growth of mold which can kill the seeds. I have found it to be very useful.
so far it has saved the macroceras seedlings, they are about 2 weeks old now, i have only had 4 seedlings make it past one week in the past. Out of about 200 seedlings i think all of them have survived this time.
so far it has saved the macroceras seedlings, they are about 2 weeks old now, i have only had 4 seedlings make it past one week in the past. Out of about 200 seedlings i think all of them have survived this time.
All of the seedlings have survived so far and they are all producing 3 or 4 leaves. For some dumb reason i decided to count them and i have 176 macroceras, 94 pumila.
Good thing i am building a 30 foot long greenhouse
I am going to start using PPM on all of my seeds, i have not had any mold on any pots that were sprayed with it, and i am fairly sure the last P. macroceras seedlings were killed by mold because the only thing i did differently this time was the addition of PPM.
Good thing i am building a 30 foot long greenhouse
I am going to start using PPM on all of my seeds, i have not had any mold on any pots that were sprayed with it, and i am fairly sure the last P. macroceras seedlings were killed by mold because the only thing i did differently this time was the addition of PPM.
Ok, I know this post is old now by a few years, but as far as I can tell Sgardner, if you want to grow temperate pings, you need to keep them outside, because they just DO NOT like house conditions. Temperate pings need cool nights as I have just spread some P macroceras seeds and P grandiflora in a clear plastic bin outside and I do not even think anything is germinating. In any case though, you MUST keep them outside and they must get 3 hours of very bright sun which my seedlings are getting now as the sun sets around 9 pm here in montana. I would suggest from what I have seen of any cold temperate pings and growing conditions, is keep them outside protected from mid day sun so they either get 3-4 hours in the morning before 11 am or after 3pm in the afternoon until sunset. The seeds need very cool nights around 40's to 50's to germinate as they actually grow up to the subalpine zones of mountains with very harsh climate and unpredictable weather. The seeds will not germinate in temps above 75F as they do not get that kind of heat except for the 2-3 month growing season in the rocky mountains. The seeds need to be kept around 75F outside, shaded from the hottest sun of the day for at least 3-5 hrs and they can handle sun in the morning or afternoon, but the temp needs to be mid to high 70's MAX for germination and they need to have nights that are at least 10-15F cooler than daytime temps so lets say seeds are 77F during the day, they need to be around 50-60F at night or cooler. They are slow growing plants and they need a montane environment to do well. Humidity needs to be high, but they need fresh air circulation as well. I would leave the plants outside to get full morning sun for 3-4 hrs and then be shaded the rest of the day and hopefully night temps will be 10-15F lower than daytime. Humidity around 45-65% seems adequate although I do not monitor the actual humidity all day int he bin. I would say even if it is 85F here during the hottest part of the day, the plants rarely get above 77F being in the shade and the wind blows a nice cooler breeze so temps do not feel 85F- maybe 75F if that as the evaporating water cools the bin as well. I would guess the temp in about 75F max day and 55F max night. We are still in the mid to high 40's at night but that is good enough for them. They also grow well in very rocky kinds of substrate like serpentine rock mixed with some play sand should be fine, although one guy who sent me some self pollinated seeds said he grew his in pure peat moss and they do fine. Anything that holds moisture, but the plants need to be exposed to VERY cold winter temps at 0F or less in order to properly get through dormancy and they must have ideal conditions in summer to form a strong hibernaculum. They can produce gemmae, but I would not count on that either as they seem to test my patients and limits. Although they are easy to grow because you leave them outside and don't try so hard to grow them. they should be fine outside, but I doubt you will have any success growing indoors as they just need very tough conditions to grow. They have been growing that way for 1000's of years and are used to it. Hope that helps
