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Year round Sarracenia growing---from seed!!!

Gather around anyone who wants to listen!!!!
My "secrets" to getting large mature plants in less than 4 years. Growing Sarracenia seed from some on this forum, think it is hard. Maybe if you are going through the dormancy way of growing, but here's a SUPRISE!!!!! Sarracenia are really easy to grow and maintain, year round, for 2 years. All you need is:
1. Seed heating mat with thermostat.
2. A container for holding water.
3. Seedpaks with many little pots!
4. Incandescant or flourescent light bulbs.

Whew! Glad I got that out! I fill the seedpak pots with straight Canadian Sphagnum Peat. I place them in the water tray, and keep it full, filling when it reaches the halfway mark. Water container sits on top of the Seedling Heating Mat. Mine is set @ 80 degrees. I have already striated the seed. Simply lay the seed on the soil surface. DO NOT BURY THE SEED!!!

When the seedlings sprout, just leave the lights on 24/7. This has no affect on the seedlings except to help them grow. Sundews cannot live in the 24/7 lighting, so don't try it and lose your plants!!! However, Sarracenia seedlings go absolutely nuts, and continue to grow. I keep them in this situation for 2 full years, no breaks! The lights I use are Reveal lightbulbs, daylights, 100 watts. They never sleep! The plantlets can be as tall as 12" by th end of the 2nd year, 16" to 24 " by age three. I have one now belonging to Tony Paroubek that is ready to be shipped this spring. It is only 2 years old, the rhizome HUGE, and budding! Not even 3 years old yet, and budding! By the third year, seedlings HAVE to have a dormancy, or they may die. It is easy, and rewarding, and takes the drudgery out of winter. And you can do this all you want, all you need is seed. So do not discount growing seed, just learn the easy way, and lengthen your growing season to all year long!!!!
 
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Hmm, all I need is a seed heating mat.

Can this method be used on Darlingtonia too?
 
I have never tried this with Darlingtonia. I don't know. All I have to do is to drive for an hour or two, and I am up to my neck in Darlingonia. I don't think it will work, but an experiment is in order!!
 
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Awesome, I guess I better go turn my grow rack back to 18:6 daylight:dark. I put it on 24 hr when it got really cold and my timer broke.....Don't want to lose my dews and neps!! I will set up a different shelf for sarr seedlings now. What is the hottest I should allow them to get (My grow racks are in the garage in south Louisiana - hot, Hot, HOT).
 
Sarracenia love the heat as long as they have high humidity along with it. It brings out color (the heat) that you may not even know is there grown hot. We get to 105 Degrees F around here, but the humidity is low. Cooks the hoods sometimes. A cold water ionizer in that kind of heat brings on BRILLIANT color. Set the ionizer as close to the plants as possible and turn it on. Then, observe the beauty! It also spares the hood from cooking!!
 
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Hrm, I knew that you could skip dormancy for the first two years, but I didn't know about 24/7 growing. Do you think it would be possible to transition plants which didn't grow 24/7 their first year to that system?
 
yes. They will do the next year ok. If they had done 2 years on 24/7, you would have the mature babies within the first 3-4 years. Lets see what happens after the 24/7 treatment.
 
Is only the first two years from germination that can skip dormancy or can they go two years on, two years off repeatedly? It might be interesting if one could grow some monster Sarrs. Maybe not towering over the skyline of San Francisco but maybe as tall or taller than they usually get in the wild.
 
I only grow them 2 years this way. Anything else may kill them, and I am not willing to take the risk.
 
  • #10
Seeds

Hey Bug, I let all my Sarrs flower. How do I know when to crop the seeds? I thought they where ready but when I opened the seeds where green.
 
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  • #12
Hi Bugweed and everyone else,

I hope it is OK to post a reply to a thread that has not been active recently.

This is a very interesting subject and I have some questions for you guys:

1. After the plants have been growing for 2 years nonstop, they need a dormancy, right? What I want to know is whether they could keep growing non-stop for another 2 years after the first dormancy? Or won't this be practical with the size the plants will attain and the restraints on the lighting etc.?

2. More importantly, could this technique be applied to small plants of tissue culture origin?

3. Do the seedlings receive any natural light or are they entirely dependant on the artificial light? Or doesn't it matter?

I look forward to your insights!

Cheers,

Pieter
 
  • #13
It's possible you could squeeze another missed dormancy out of them, but they'd decline at some point down the line. The advantage of the first dormancy is also that they increase significantly in size the year after.

In theory, it could also apply to tissue cultured plants.
 
  • #14
When the seed pod turns brown and cracks open a bit, then you can usually get the seeds out.
 
  • #15
i know this is an old thread but could it work on tropical pitchers.
 
  • #16
Sarracenia seed

YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY CORRECT!
I stratified some fresh seed from this year as well as a seed pod I had saved from 2007. I planted them on peat in a system from Gardener's Supply that has a a bunch of small reservoirs for the peat with holes in the bottom that sits on a water reservoir covered with a wicking cloth. I put this whole thing on a heating mat in a small terrarium with 24/7 light. Germination has been much, much better than in the past, the seedlings are growing much, much, much (much?) faster than previous years. Even the older seed (which normally I have very poor germination rates with ) is giving me ~20-25% germination. I highly recommend this method!!!
 
  • #17
Sorry this is so old, but if i leave it at the windowsill where it gets average light, should it stay in two years or could i keep it three?
 
  • #18
Er what does the heat mat do?
 
  • #19
my house is warm do i need a seed heating matt? ( i dont have 1 thats why im asking) :)
 
  • #20
Sorry this is so old, but if i leave it at the windowsill where it gets average light, should it stay in two years or could i keep it three?
nope. Sarracenia go dormant according to photoperiod and to a lesser extent, temperature. it will go dormant on the windowsill.

I loved this topic when it was first brought up. its a genius idea that many people use around the world to propagate from seed.

Alex
 
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