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Drosera gigantea

i Have some drosera gigantea seeds that i am wondering if you need to scarify these. i mean there so small i dont see how its possible. well in nature i guess they just take a long time. how did you sprout yours?? anybody?
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Most tuberous Drosera seed will germinate given enough time. The best thing to do is sow them out on a pot and keep it moist through the normal growing season. If you don't get germination then let the pot dry out and keep it hot and dry through the summer. Return to the tray again the following winter. I have heard many cases of tuberous Drosera seed taking 4-5 years to germinate. I have germinated macrantha, stolonifera, graniticola and peltata in one season and I am still waiting on ramellosa after 3 years now so...
 
Is now maybe not a good time to initiate germination?
 
Now is actually about the best time. Remember that these plants have evolved the habit of growing during the cool wet winters and dying back during the hot dry summers. This cycle is largly light dependent but temp plays a role too, if you tried growing them in summer here they would crap out pretty fast from the light cycle and high temps.
 
Regarding germination rates, I have found that fresh seed wil almost invariably germinate within weeks of sowing without any need for pre-treatment. This current season (I'm in Australia remember) I sowed around 15 species of tuberous Drosera of supposed varying degrees of difficulty in germination. Within 2 months I had germination of every species sown. The germination seemed to coincide with the coolest nights of fall where they received temps as low as 2 deg C (sorry don't know F). The last month of summer is always the best time to sow the seed as after germination it gives themt he longest growing season possible- resulting in the largest seedling tuber possible.

The seed that was used was all collected the season before and so was very fresh. Species included- D. macrophylla, ramellosa, various forms of D. macrantha, D. andersoniana, D. graniticola, D. bulbosa, D. platypoda, various forms of D. stolonifera, etc.

I suspect that the seed that takes years to germinate is simply old seed. Nothing can substitute for freshness- you just have to be able to get your hands on the fresh seed.....
 
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