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Germinating Drosera regia, mark II: "The reckoning"

Hello from the Great White North...

I've just received about 100 D. regia seeds from a supplier in SA (rhymes with GilverMill) and assuming they are indeed viable, this will be the second time for me germinating D. regia..

If I am successful germinating, the majority of the plants will (hopefully) be employed in some kind of propagation network...

Anyways, here is the preamble...

Probably about two Januaries ago, some D. regia seeds became available in the ICPS seedbank. Now, I had been growing CP's for about 6 months at that time, and I had never germinated any seeds before. So, I got some regia seeds, along with some others.

Now, I was very lucky, and 1 of the twenty five seeds survived to become about five inches tall. Sadly, I lost it this summer, because I put a frozen water bottle too close to its pot, and it froze to death...

So, I was successful with that last batch, but that have been a fluke (and I would like to get more than 1/25 survival rates)

Anyways, since there are some glorious people on this forum, who have experience with regia (some who even got seeds from the same ICPS batch)

I figured I would make a thread documenting my experiences, and perhaps occasionally asking for help...

So, to start out, any recommended mediums? I was thinking milled sphagnum... But are there any other recommendations?

Mucho gracias,

Peat, earl of moss...

:-D
 
2:1 or 1:1 peat to sand is a dependable alternative . . .
 
Thanks David! I'll try that as well!
 
dappled light. not full on direct bright light. photographs in-situ are rigged, surrounding tall grass which was to provide shade for the plants were pulled out to make a more photogenic shot.
 
Cool, I'll put them under the Nepenthes overgrowth on the top shelf...
 
though i should correct myself....that is more for dealing with seedlings rather than germination. germination probably needs to be done in brighter conditions (think a recent brush fire clearing an area and plants have to regrow, some faster than others)
 
Ah, good point there... Brighter conditions may also reduce the risk of mould growth..
 
I had 10 seeds. One germinated and is growing quite well. Using peat and sand, alittle heavy on the sand.
 
What about temperature? Should seeds be kept warm like most subtropicals or cool like the mature plants like?
 
  • #10
I recently had a D. regia seeds sprout, and so far it is growing well in about 60% humidity and the light given off by a 40 watt-output fluorescent, in temps that vary from 65-90 degrees fahrenheit. It would probalby do best in a range of 60-75 Fahrenheit.
 
  • #11
I planted my seeds on straight vermiculite, well doused with an anti fungal, at about 90% humidity. Temps were 75f to 85f daytime, 50f to 60f nighttime. I would recommend transplanting fairly quickly (I didn't), as vermiculite seems to be a very poor D. regia media. I prefer a media mix of 50/50 perlite/dead sphag and I like to fertilize weekly with the standard half strength orchid fertilizer.
 
  • #12
I, too, got in on that ICPS Seedbank sale. My best results were with grated lfs over regular lfs. This worked best for me probably as fungus was a major killer of seedlings and the grated lfs provided significant protection once I started using it. It's worth mentioning that I had poor circulation in the terrarium I was germinating them in and fungus was a problem anyway.

I wish you success!
 
  • #13
I've had about %100 germination on my batch and didn't lose a single one to fungus. A wide tray of lfs + perlite (kept very wet with water almost reaching the top) under a very bright light (the usual 6500 K daylight bulb) and watered with daisy tea. Sorry I don't remember the english name for it...You know, the herbal tea with dried daisy flowers. I always use it for my seeds and I've never had a fungus problem.
 
  • #14
Chamomile, maybe? Whatever, that is interesting.
 
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