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Standard seed starting media for Drosera

pedersonplants

The Obsessive Gardener
I've spent some time searching through this forum hoping to find just 1 seed starting media that could be used for ANY drosera seed.

I have something like 14 packages of drosera seed and 3 packages of sarracenia seed coming in about a month from the ICPS seed bank.

As I read through this forum and my books, it sounds like everything needs something a little different to germinate. This just isn't feasible in the real world. I can easily separate the stratify from the don't stratify varieties but what about the actual media?

Is there anyone here that has found/created a potting media that works well for most species? If so, will you please share it?

Sometimes too much research leads to TOO MANY answers. LOL.
 
I just started messing with those peat pellets and one worked wonderfully for some sarracenia. I am trying it again now and tossed some pieces of LFS to the top (shredded).

All of the other seedlings I have are mostly sarrs that I just filled egg cartons with holes poked in the bottom of each cut with peat/perlite mix and put them in the fridge. Worked wonderfully.
 
Thank you for responding. Am looking at all methods. May try two methods if enough seeds are in the packets.
 
I have found milled sphagnum moss to work excellent. I used to buy the Mosser Lee stuff, but now I have a little food processor to mill my own, so I can use New Zealand sphagnum, if I wish.

Cheers,

Joe
 
I'm kinda in the same boat Diana. I went throught my fridge last night and pulled out all the seeds I've been storing in the crisper bin. Some seed was a couple years old so I decided to just put all the seeds in their own individual 2oz deli container. I now have about 20 of those containers on my plant shelf.

Pros: The seedlings get a head start on algae and moss that may form on the soil before they sprout and if they don't sprout I don't have to waste time setting up a pot of soil for them.

Cons: If they do sprout, my eye sight will be a lot worse after I fish the little seedlings out of the water and set them in a pot. Also is very labor intensive. You may not have the free time needed to transfer a bunch of seedlings to a new pot.

I have used this method for sprouting various sundews, my Darlingtonia seedlings and P. luscitanica seeds. It has worked better for me than direct sowing on soil in many instances.
 
Will you please explain more. What media are you using in those 2 ounce deli cups? Are you sprouting them in nothing but water?

I'm sorry; I'm not understanding.

I'm retired on disability. Way too much time on my hands. I have a new aquarium with a reptile top to protect the seedlings from my pet birds and vice versa!

I often have help from children in the pursuit of my plant growing. Figure I might as well let them see what is involved in growing as many types of plants as possible. The idea of insect eating plants really excites the 9-11 year old boys in our all boys garden club.
 
I sprinkle the seed in my other cp pots :D
 
Then how do you know what plant is growing? I'm not an expert at identifying plants as seedlings. I like to keep everything neatly labeled.
 
BCK definitely meant that he uses little cups of R/O (or distilled) water to sprout them, thus the "fishing the seedlings out" part of his post. I'm going to have to try that if I ever end up with Darlingtonia seeds again, I've failed with the darn things several times on pretty much every medium there is, so it's going to have to be something I haven't tried that works for me, thanks for posting that BCK

For the record, for Drosera, peat/sand mix is what I use for EVERYTHING and it seems to work out fairly well. As long as you keep it wet enough, you really can use just about any mix of "CP approved" stuff for many species, especially sub-tropicals. I have NO experience with sprouting tuberous 'dews or petiolaris complex plants tho, only temperate and sub-tropical species so far
 
  • #10
Germination media can pretty much be anything that most CPs grow on as long as it is nutrient poor, good moisture retention and neutral or slightly acidic.

Pure peat, standard "CP" mix, pure LFS or milled LFS. Lately I've been using pure LFS with excellent results. Finely milled LFS is ideal as it has all the properties listed above in addition it provides a somewhat uniform surface so the seeds don't fall into the crevices and has anti-fungal properties.

You only need 1/2-2 inches of media if you plan on transplanting the seedlings as soon as they get to a manageable size. Most temperate and sub-tropical Drosera will thrive in pure LFS. Tuberous Drosera I probably would not transplant until they've gone through at least one full growth cycle and formed good tubers. In that case I would germinate the seeds in the recommended medium mix and tall pots.
 
  • #11
I get the deli cups at a local restuarant were they serve sour cream, salad dressing, and salsa in them. They hold about 2oz. and have a clear lid which makes it easy to see the seeds floating in the water and I don't have to worry about knocking one over and spilling it.

Mabudon, I used this method on the last batch of Darlingtonia seeds I tried (Thanks Stormbringer!!) and had about 95% germination. I've tried Darlingtonia from seed two other times and got zilch using the "sow them on the media" method.
 
  • #12
I did my week's grocery shopping at Gordon's Food Service this morning. Now have 100 of those 2 ounce cups.

Will go looking for stronger magnifying glass and may try this method of using just water.

Will be trying several methods to see what works best for me.
 
  • #13
Mabudon, I used this method on the last batch of Darlingtonia seeds I tried (Thanks Stormbringer!!) and had about 95% germination. I've tried Darlingtonia from seed two other times and got zilch using the "sow them on the media" method.
Cool cool man, thanks very much for clarifying that, I have been trying for what, 3 years now with ZERO success "on medium" so next batch I stumble across, that's how I'm doing it, good to know :D

Diana- that's the BEST thing you can do- find what works best for YOU- best of luck with your experiments- they might ALL turn out "perfect" and then you'll have the oposite problem- it's usually how CPs work out after all :D
 
  • #14
I think it has more to do with the seeds than the medium. All germinated on 2 to 1 perlite - LFS mixture with a pinch of live Sphagnum on top (stratification medium):

Germinations/Sown:
'Othello' x 'Othello' (from LACPS direct from Barry) - 1/3
californica (from ICPS seedbank) - 5/9
'Othello' x ? (from ICPS seedbank) - 19/20

Ok, enough thread hijacking - further Darlingtonia discussion should take place in the proper section. ;)
 
  • #15
How long can D. capensis seeds last and still be viable?
 
  • #18
When I first started procuring seeds, particularly sundew, I mixed sand and peat and placed the slightly moist media in plastic pipette containers, that have a hinged lid. I had the containers by eastern window sills, to avoid greenhouse effect and usually by 3 weeks I would get germination. A lot of sundews also need to be at least 70 F. Sometimes the seeds you receive are just infertile, and no matter what you do, they fail.
 
  • #19
Got my seeds today. Am delighted that the ICPS labels the seeds that need cold stratification and tells you on some where the seed came from.

Will try at least two methods IF I can divide the seed packets in half easily.
 
  • #20
I now have 11 drosera species started in just distilled water and the same 11 in a mix of peat and perlite.

How long do these usually take to germinate?

Also, how do I cold stratify drosera seed? I've read about the sarracenia but haven 't seen anything specific to drosera.
 
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