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sarracenia seed

Hello everyone,

I have a S.purpurea ssp. purpurea that has a seed pod that has accidentally been on since last year. It has gone through a winter on the plant. I harvested the seed today and have two questions:

1. Is the seed likely to be still viable?

2. If so, does the seed require stratification prior to sowing, (despite the fact that it has gone through a natural winter)?

Thanks in advance for your time.

Ken
 
1. should be

2.nope.

Simply done
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alex
 
Sararcenia seed will lose viability before too long, so, better get started. Seed stored under refrigeration, not wet, but cold, can last over 8 years.. Viability will drop off dramatically as it ages. Wet stratification is what works best for sarrs, so be your own judge. I think you will be fine.
 
Hmmmm......then it seems that their viability is questionable. I think I'll stratify them to increase the liklihood of germination.....can't hurt them and can only help.

Thanks, guys, for replying.

Take care,

Ken
 
I have a question relating tothis topic. As we all know, both VFT's & Sarracenias are temperate plants and indigeonous to roughly similar locale, as well as requiring dormancy. VFT's flower in the spring and seeds get their start shortly thereafter. What about Sarracenias? Are some that flower in the spring and others in the fall? What happens to the seeds that are produced in the spring? Do they get their start in the summer? Do they not have a cold stratification period?. Is cold stratification necessary for them? Which species flower in the spring and which in the summer or fall?
 
Hi Jim,

I am by no means knowledgeable of Sarracenia--I only have 3 in my collection, but as rules of thumb:

1. Based on what I know, Sarrs flower in late spring and into summer.

2. Sarr seed require a cold stratification generally between 4-6 weeks.

Hope this helps.

Ken
 
JimScoott. What are you doing out of the Hel! of No Duct Tape? Get back there, and fix something. OK. Sarrs mostly are spring bloomers. The occasional plant will give up a late season bloom or two. Mine started coming up in early February. (I think there was a thread somewhere about that.) They were finished by late March or early April. Harvest is in September from these blooms, and cold stratification will be in order. They WILL NOT grow without it. Late blooms, I always just cut off when they show up, as it is late season, and I just do not want to deal with them.
 
Something I've also noticed with Sarrs is that although their flowers lose their beuty quickly it takes the whole summer for the pod to swell, turn brown and crack. I personally have given up on trying to propagate them my self so I just let it do it it's own way. Here's how it has worked for me so far. The pod swells and cracks over the summer, by fall/winter the old brittle stem breaks pretty easily, the pod falls onto the damp wet soil and degrades, in the early spring the pod has degraded to the point that when I water the plants(it rains), the water breaks the pod apart and the seeds are scattered. By the time it is warm enough to actually grow the seed have been damp and cold for some time. Since this is my first year, success has been limited because well, I didn't take very good care of my plants over the winter....
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Hi,
Here is something that might be of interest. I was reading bestcarnivorousplants web site on germantating Sarracenia seed and it sugested putting the seed in the frig for 48 hours before planting. So i took it one step further, i took s. rubricorpora seed that had no cold treatment at all from last year, soaked them in the frig in the tea wrapt in paper towel for 48 hours.Then i planted them on the surface of the peat mix. Much to my suprise they sprouted in 4 to 5 weeks.

                             Regards      
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