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Trying some fancy Utric seed

As bad as I generally am with seed I've got the bug in my bottom to try some of these big and beautiful utrics I fawn over pictures of and would like to get going in my vivariums. Seed will take plenty of time to get anything going enough to transplant some in the vivs I'm sure but it's economical at least, IF it works out.

I should be receiving seed of the following shortly:

U. quelchii
U. praetermissa
U. nelumbifolia
U. alpina (big flower form)


I was planning to fill up small 3" net pots with ground LFS, fine bark and perhaps some fine grit for drainage, not sure if the cherrystone might make it too heavy for the young stolons so I may just do the bark and shredded LFS. I can use live LFS ontop of the pot if that would be better to sow on. Does anyone think the net pots should sit in maybe 1/4" of water until I see signs of germination on the surface then allow them to start drying to just moist conditions as for neps/helis?

Any tips for working with these seed would be much appreciated as I've never tried Utrics from seed before.
 
Swords,
If these are coming from the European guy (Czech?) off eBay, the U. nelumbifolia are likely to be toast based on the harvest date the guy gave me. Let us know if you get any germinations on the others...
 
I've seen that post Frenchy that's what gave me the big idea to try them! LOL

How quickly does one generally see germination in these species? Someone has a time-lapse GIF of nelumbifolia germination on the Cp photosite but it doesn't mention a time period.
 
i would imagine the seeds being very hard to locate due to their small size. may i suggest that you germinate them on a moist paper towel? this ensures easy viewing and you'll know if the seeds made it or not, rather than losing them in the peat and never knowing. once that is successful, you may transplant them onto a media you desire.
 
How quickly does one generally see germination in these species? Someone has a time-lapse GIF of nelumbifolia germination on the Cp photosite but it doesn't mention a time period.
In my meager experience with these guys, they are not all created equal. U. nelumbifolia & U. humboldtii seeds act like gelatin-coated baby plants. The 'gelatin' dissolves in less than 24 hrs (I had a few take 2 days) and off they go. I received some others in a trade with a Brazillian grower and they were DOA (3 week shipping). I received lots of seeds (100-300?) and not one sprouted.

I have not germinated any of the others listed. U. nephrophylla & U. longifolia took close to a month (3-4 weeks) before I found seedlings but a knowledgeable friend said that I should normally see growth before that...
i would imagine the seeds being very hard to locate due to their small size. may i suggest that you germinate them on a moist paper towel?
The European distributor of U. campbelliana sowed his on sterile cotton for this reason, something I plan to do the next time I try to grow them .... :headwall:
 
There was a post I could have sworn was on the CPUK site but I can't find it for the life of me now... It had some time lapse macros of the germination process. The whole procedure didn't to take more than 24hrs, I don't remember the species though... I'm sure it must vary by species though.
I received some U. nelumbifolia seedlings from a good friend and have been meaning to transplant to a mix more like what Travis recommended in the post linked above but I keep putting it off... Right now mine are in wet LFS which sits in water about 1/4 of the way up in HL conditions. Fairly slow growing but they seem to be doing all right.
 
maybe from now on we should start shipping Utric seeds in most paper towels then?
 
There was a post I could have sworn was on the CPUK site but I can't find it for the life of me now... It had some time lapse macros of the germination process. The whole procedure didn't to take more than 24hrs, I don't remember the species though...
Barry had something that fit your description of U. humboldtii germination (Here's the post on the ICPS site but I believe he took the pics down... ??? Here's another one of some U. nelumbifolia germination.
 
  • #10
Sorta off topic but

I received 3 groups of U. nelumbifolia seeds from a Hawaiian source ;)
Shipment was from Hawaii to SE Kentucky and then a one day delay in opening.

Group 1 was in a sealed vial with plastic stopper
Group 2 was in a vial that had a paper towel as a stopper
Group 3 was in a paper towel in a mini Ziploc IIRC

The paper towels (group 2 and 3) were both damp when shipped but dry upon arrival.

All three were put in separate pots of LFS/water slurry

Group 3 germinated first and had the highest percentage
Group 2 was next in line
Group 1 lagged the others by two days and had a lowest germination rate

I thought the results were interesting to say the least, I don't really understand why group 3 didn't germinate in transit (Light dependent?)
Overall germination rate was in excess of 75%

Av
 
  • #11
Barry had something that fit your description of U. humboldtii germination (Here's the post on the ICPS site but I believe he took the pics down... ??? Here's another one of some U. nelumbifolia germination.


Yes! The second link was it! (http://icps.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=utricularia&action=display&thread=3063)
Thanks Ron, might have helped had I been looking in the right place... :censor:
Great macros in that thread and since they are of U. nelumbifolia the thread may turn out to be a bit relevant for you swords! Picture updates as this develops? :poke:

Thanks Ron!
 
  • #12
What I was told and seemed to infer based on the reports online was that if kept moist with out being wet the seeds of the rapidly germinating species could be kept from germinating and green for weeks (up to 2-3). However, if they dry out they are pretty much toast. If you can see the embryo inside the seeds (humboltii, nelumbifolia, etc) drying out seems to be the biggest threat to survival. Testing things with hard small seeded utricularia and using longifolia as a test model. Not a member of ipurea or orchioides they seem to produce small hard seeds that take months to germinate. Longevity unknown. Seed storage conditions hard to say also. Testing them right now.

In the mailing trials:
Group 2 was in a vial that had a paper towel as a stopper: the paper towel stopper was lightly moistened and should have provided a higher level of humidity during the trip

Group 1 was in a sealed vial with plastic stopper: no additional moisture was given save what ever was in the air when I sent them.

The trick seems to be to provide some moisture without free water. With excess water the seeds/seed pods developed fungus.

One odd note. Freshly collected seeds seemed to take their sweet time to germinate vs those that were held in moist/high humidity conditions. Most my beta testers reported that they would germinate in 24 hours or less. Freshly collected took about 2 days for me. It is almost like the shipped seeds were primed and ready to go.

I have no idea how this applies to the small, hard seeded members of the terrestrial Ipurea utricularia. I need some to test one day :)
 
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