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regia from seed

Kinabalufan

Kinabalufan

Iv just managed to get some Drosera regia seed to germinate :-D
Iv heard these are very tricky to keep alive. From my tragic experiance with an adult plant I found they dont like high humidity, is this true for seedlings? what humidity should I keep them in. Also I guess they dont like high temps either. At the moment they are in a pippette box (like a little growth chamber) this has very high humidity which is great for getting seed to germinate. The first seed germinated in 9 days. Should I leave them like this until they get a true leaf or open it up now? I realllllllly want to suceed with these, as regia is truely the king of Drosera and seeds are not so easy to get. Its coming on to autumn here too which is an added complication, as they need a dormancy but im guessing they wont need that the first season.
Any advice greatly appreciated.

regia004.jpg
 
Best of luck. I'm on my 4th try for D. regia seedlings. They grow well for me up to the 1-2.5" stage then I lose them. It doesn't seem to matter what media I use or temps or humidity - each time they get roughly to that size, they start to go downhill. I've even had them come back from the roots but die again.... :0o: Getting an established plant or even plants from root cuttings has been much easier for me..... I'll be following this thread to see what recommendations others provide.... ???
 
I love this species. I have the "normal" type originating from Peter D'mato and the Big Easy type. The Big Easy is much more difficult to grow.

These plants like to die back to their roots if it gets too hot or too cold. I thouhgt I'd lost the Big Easy, but I hadn't!

My best advice is to give it cool tbs during the winter (because it can tolerate it), and NEVER THROW OUT THE POT. Until you're sure it's dead.

If I were you I'd put the seedlings in pure LFS and give them some highland temp cycles.
 
Congrats on the germination Kinabalufan! the following info will pertain to you too :)

Ron, are you using a 2-inch pot for these seedlings too? I haven't tried growing them in that small of a pot, but I have seen they are a bit sensitive to water when I have the water level too high-even when they're in a 6 inch pot. I was lucky enough to get some seedlings from droseraguy at a cp gathering, and they've been doing well for me in a 4 inch pot. They're about 3 inches tall now, and seem to shrink down to an inch if they aren't fed for an extended period of time. I'm using a 50:50 peat sand mix with a bit of perlite. This is grown in my basement where it's semi-cool (never above 75 F in the summer) and around 62 F in the winter.

I also grow the 'Big Easy' in Joseph Clemen's recommended mix- the following is a quote from an old message he sent me:
Those that I had best results with were in undrained quart-sized plastic pots. I put a two inch layer of pre-moistened shredded redwood bark (actually from Sequoia sempervirens trees) in the bottom of the pot and filled the remainder with a 50/50 mix of LFS/shredded redwood bark and topped with sprigs of living Sphagnum
Click to expand...

This mix has worked quite well, but I think that peat would work quite well too, since my seedlings have done well in it so far. Not sure how well this mix would work for plants that aren't already established though...
 
Jefforever said:
I love this species. I have the "normal" type originating from Peter D'mato and the Big Easy type. The Big Easy is much more difficult to grow.

These plants like to die back to their roots if it gets too hot or too cold. I thouhgt I'd lost the Big Easy, but I hadn't!

My best advice is to give it cool tbs during the winter (because it can tolerate it), and NEVER THROW OUT THE POT. Until you're sure it's dead.

If I were you I'd put the seedlings in pure LFS and give them some highland temp cycles.
Click to expand...

I've got one that appears to be dead. I'm not holding my breath for it... but I'm not tossing it yet, either.
 
Odd because 'Big Easy' gets it's name because Joseph found it easy to grow:

Under my cultural conditions this clone Drosera regia ‘Big Easy’ has been just that, big and easy to grow and propagate. It produces leaves a maximum of 23 cm (9 inches) long (Figure 6). It has never gone dormant, never flowered or even initiated a flower stalk. Several times I have managed to propagate it from leaf cuttings floating in jars of pure water (see detail in Figure 3). It readily initiates buds and plants on any and all pieces of severed root. I have propagated hundreds of plants this way and have traded them widely.
Click to expand...
- http://www.carnivorousplants.org/cpn/Species/v33n3p83_89.html#easy

Does seed from this clone share the same characteristics?
 
The seed is from two different clones as it doesnt self but dont know if either is the "big easy" type. I can probably manage red wood bark as Sempervirons grows well in Dunedin but I cant see how undrained plastic pots would work as Im guessing damping off (phytophera) might be what kills seedlings. As least if I do kill them all I will know Im in good company.


[/QUOTE]Quote:
Those that I had best results with were in undrained quart-sized plastic pots. I put a two inch layer of pre-moistened shredded redwood bark (actually from Sequoia sempervirens trees) in the bottom of the pot and filled the remainder with a 50/50 mix of LFS/shredded redwood bark and topped with sprigs of living Sphagnum[/QUOTE]
 
yeah, i didn't do the undrained pot thing...and had great results so that definitely isn't necessary
 
So far so good, 21 seeds (close to 100%) germinated and the first true leaves are starting to appear. Should I think about repotting them now while they have hardly any roots to disturb or should I leave them longer? Its starting to get really cold with temps at night getting down to 10 degrees C (50F) will they go dormant if it gets too cold?

tm2regiatrueleaf003.jpg
 
  • #10
arent they found in highland conditions? im sure they will be fine.
 
  • #11
Well, I'm sure the media you're using will work well for them. But if you're going to transplant, now is the time.
Regia should only go dormant in higher temps above the upper 70s or 80 degrees F
In cooler temps is when it thrives (unless, of course, it gets to 32 or something obviously)

Are they on a windowsill? It seems they might be able to use a bit more light.
 
  • #12
Thanks for the advice Amphirion and Cplantaholic. They are in a little growth chamber made from a pippette box which is good for getting things to germinate, now Im opening it up to give them more light and lower humidity and they will go on the windowsill. I think I will prick out some of them which will give the ones left some space as well. I dont really expect all 21 to survive but I will try. I think Dunedin is cool enough for them any way so high temps wont be the problem. I will post again with a pic in a month or so unless they all die of course.
 
  • #13
sounds like a good idea to me.
I look foward to the update! I'm sure they won't all die by then lol
 
  • #14
That's odd, Stewart McPherson writes in "Glistening Carnivores" in respect to D. arcturi, D. stenopetala, and D. regia:

Due to the more extreme conditions of the elevated habitat, these species do die down for the winter similar to the species of the northern hemisphere. For example, D. regia does not produce a true winter resting bud, but it does produce a small, compact rosette of leaves that are greatly reduced in size. These leaves protect the apical bud in essentially the same way as the resting buds of the species of the north. (page 138, Red Fern Natural History Productions 2008 hardbound edition)
Click to expand...

My "H" and "C" clones both shrink down in the winter and grow huge in the summer. During the Dog Days indoor temperatures (Fahrenheit) are in the mid 70s at night and mid-high 80s during the day.

The "C" clone woke up a few weeks ago and the latest leaf is about 8 inches long. It looks like the leaves will get up to 12 inches in the summer. The clone "H" was dividing like crazy (up to six growing points now) before shrinking for the winter. It's just beginning to wake up. I hope it's done dividing and will resume growing although it looks like there's a new offshoot forming.

Lois has experience growing these from seed.
 
  • #15
Hey NaN,
So you grow these indoors in mid 80s, and have no problems it seems...
I tried exposing my 'Big Easy' to 85F temps and that is when they shrank into the bud, which has oddly enough been described to the tee in that excerpt you gave, although Stewart refers to it as a "winter bud". All that I have read previously has described D. regia as a summer dormant sundew.

Last summer I was able to keep my 'Big Easy' and medium-sized seed-grown Regia from droseraguy (not 'Big Easy' form) looking good all summer in the basement, where temps reach a max of 75 degrees F normally, with a 8-10 F drop at night. I also heard from quogue that he shared the same experiences as me.

What are your "winter" temperatures? Mine are doing very nicely right now from 58 F at night to 65 F in the day
Also, what media/ pot size are you using for yours?
 
  • #16
Not a number: I read that too, and thats why I asked a while ago about temp. Maybe I should have kept the seed until spring here but I thought nice seed like that should be sown and im not good at waiting. I was just told the seed came from 3 clones crossed, so there is a good amount of genetic variation. In New Zealand most D regia plants would be from tissue culture so I think its pretty important to get more DNA involved. I pricked out 5 seedlings ok yesterday and they survived overnight, so thats a good start. I will just have to keep them growing as long as possible and hope they dont go into dormancy too soon. My D arctaurii outside are starting to go into dormancy now but its is warmer inside and seedlings do different things to adults sometimes.
 
  • #17
1 year and a couple of months latter I thought I should update this thread with what happened to my Drosera regia seedlings. I started with 21 seedlings now there are two that survived. They both quite healthy 1 is much bigger than the other. They dont like it too wet and really respond when they catch insects any here is a couple of pics of the biggest plant. considering how sensitive this soecies is Im quite happy to have two survive.

P1070743.jpg


P1070746.jpg
 
  • #19
You have these?

PipetteDispenserContainer.jpg
 
  • #20
Yeah Jim thats what I use those pippette boxs they are really good for drainage and keeping the humidity high for germination I open them up once they have germinated.
 
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