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Pygmies under flourescent light - how to produce gemmae?

Cindy

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I've been growing the following plants under T5s. They flowered for me and I thought perhaps soon, I could try and stimulate gemmae production.

D. puchella
D. occidentalis x puchella
D. ericksoniae x puchella

They are now receiving 12 hours of artificial light and are growing normally as they would for spring. How should I go about stimulating summer, then autuum so that the plants would produce gemmae?

Another question: Are the flowers of the above plants self-pollinating and produce viable seeds?

Thanks!
 
I would alter the photoperiod (reduce) to simulate a change in seasons. I had some that received a fixed 14-hour photoperiod and they would flower like crazy, all the time, but no gemmae. I have no experience in getting these to prodce seed.
 
In the fall I set the daylenght to 10 hours and put in the basement 50-60 F. temps. After a few months they all seem to produce a bunch of gemmae. In the spring temps are upped to 65-70 and 16 hours of light. My D. scorpiodes is flowering with a band of gemmae around it's middle. As far as seeds go ? good question.
 
As implied above, they should experience a change in seasons, which include lighting, water, and temperature. They seem to need a relatively dry, hot summer, followed by cooler temps and more water. It is in our autumn that they produce gemmae.
 
Thanks, everyone. Does flowering exhaust the plants? I notice that tropical sundews like D. intermedia and D. spatulata put out smaller leaves when flowering.
 
Cindy: i have D. pulchella. its a pink.purple flower form. mine produces seed even if i dont help it. in my experience flowering does not exhaust my plant. the only think i have noticed is slower growth. but its such a small change that you really dont see a difference. speaking of seed. i have some i just collected from the plant a few days ago.
Alex
 
I've never noticed flowering to have any negative effects.
 
I've also observed spathulata putting out smaller leaves while flowering. And Burmanii shrinks half its size while flowering and it looks very raggard after that.
 
I just keep the photoperiod the same as it is where I live, that way I don't have to worry about it problems with photoperiod.
 
  • #10
Alex (glider), I keep cutting the flower stalks away...perhaps I should just let the fellows flower. I have only one D. pulchella and two of each of its hybrids...that's why I am concerned about the exhausting effect on the flowers.
 
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