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Hi all,

I sowed plenty D.burmannii, capensis and intermedia 'cuba' and B.liniflora seed on 7-1-05 (~3 wks ago) and as of yet, only 3 D.burmannii seedlings have sprouted. The pots do NOT have algae or fungi growing on the surface and the byblis seed (the only ones I can see) appear ok.

I'm pretty disappointed by these results--should I be?

I gave them the best germinating conditions I could, namely:
*Prior to sowing, seed were temporarily stored in the fridge for 2-3 d to preserve viability.*
1. Soaked for 24h in 250ppm gibberellic acid
2. Lightly sprinkled onto 1:1 mix of sand:peat and covered pots with transparent plastic wrap with a few tiny holes for air circulation
3. Stood pots in 2" distilled H20, 6" under 80W cool white fluorescent lights (14 h photoperiod). Temp = 80-85F, humidity >70%.

Can anyone tell me what went wrong? I'm hard pressed to come up with anything. The only thing I can think of is that that the tropical seed (D. intermedia 'cuba' and byblis) were placed in the fridge for a couple of days.

Also, I have had the following seed in the fridge for storage for ~2 wks; should any be taken out?
a. Drosophyllum
b. Roridula gorgonias
c. D.filiformis, auriculata, binata, dielsiana, rotundifolia, stenopeltata
d. P.lusitanica

Thanks. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.
 
The GA3 is not necessary. Maybe the seeds where just old.
 
Give them more time. I have had 4 packet s of Byblis seeds sent to me over the past year. I think you are aware of my pipette dispenser set up. I did that the first two times. The first time they germinated within about 10 days. that was last Fall. But then I had trouble keeping temps & humidity up. One by one the seedlings died. Although two produced stalks and one flowered, I never got any viable seed. The second attempt took a few months for a few seeds to germinate, with the same set up. Then I tried something new. I have a tray that is mixed with peat & snd and topdressed with live LFS, sitting at a SW sill. It is under constant swampy conditions and totally open. I transferred the few seedlings from the second batch and germinated batch #3 in that tray. All is going well (so far) under these conditions. Batch #4 was sown in there a week or so ago, but hasn't germinated as yet.

I've personally germinated D. dielsiana, filiformis, intermedia, and binata seeds - last year - when i was a total newbie - all without stratification. I'm sure I would have better results had I done so. The last three probably would have appreciated, since they are colder weather plants. I think dielsiana is more a tropical type and may not need the cold stratification. Same with Byblis - but I'm not 100% certain.

P. luscitanica seeds from one batch were a total failure and under the same conditions, another batch poduced 10 seedlings - that all disappeared one weekend. I was told that a fungus got to them. But I wouldn't know for sure. I don't think that they need the stratification, either. The others I can't speak about. My instinct, other thanasking here, is to determine (S.G.) whether it is a cold weather or tropical plant, to decide whether to put the seeds in the fridge or just sow them right away - and even them it can be hit or miss.
 
Byblis liniflora didn't need stratification in my experience, but damp-off hit all but one really hard (they germinated in about 10 days FYI)
And as for D.burmanni the seeds supposedly "die" pretty fast (others have said that this is an illusion, and that they sometimes just take a loooong time to sprout, but in my case several dozen seeds yielded ONE little plant) so I would tend to agree with CP2K on that one, old seeds

As long as the seeds in your fridge are dry they should be fine, it's sort of better to keep them cool even if they don't need stratification
Hope this little bit of help helps
biggrin.gif
 
Guys, thanks for the replies.

CP2k: yeah, from now on, I don't think I'll use GA3 for any but Drosophyllum also because it's difficult to spread the tiny drosera seed when they're wet.

Jim, this is really useful information for me, and makes me feel better too. I guess I'll just wait and see. I like your method of topdressing with LFS as this would probably inhibit fungal and algal growth relative to moist sand or peat. Did the little guys just root into the LFS, then into the peat? Again, thanks for the reply.

Mabudon: yeah, it seems like the consensus is non-viability may be the culprit, which makes me feel better in that it was the seeds fault, not mine!

Well, they're not taking up too much space so I'll just keep them there until they germinate or start rotting!
 
I'm guessing that they are or will be descending into the peat/sand layer, though I'm also gonna pass on checking.
smile_m_32.gif
 
hehe..... that's probably a good idea.

sometimes CPs--and it seems like seed too--need a little tough love and some forgeting!
 
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