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Tuberous Drosera

Hello everyone,

I sown D. peltata ssp auriculata? and D. stolonifera ssp. stolonifera back on 9/20/03.  They were placed on the surface of a 8" pot with equal mix silica sand and peat moss.  Water level kept 1/2 way up the pot, and weekly mistings.  2x 4' light bulbs are just a few inches above the seeds.  

The first sign of growth from the ssp. auriculata was on 10/23/03, and by early November there were dozens of new plants. Here's a picture I took today (2/10/04).

sspauriculata.jpg


Now the D. stolonifera ssp. stolonifera on the other hand did not show signs of growth until late January of this year.  Today you can clearly see some growth.

stolonifera.jpg


The seeds were not treated in any way.  Photoperiod is 15 hrs in summer and 9 in winter.  

I would like to compare the germination timeframe with others out there.  Anyone grow these plants from seed?

-Homer
 
I am planning on it(I got some D. bulbosa major recently), but the length of time to get some of these to germinate with my laziness is daunting. That is a wet situation you used, with water halfway up the pot. I seem to remember some saying that some need to be sown dry for the Summer than watered in the Winter.
It would be great if a bunch of us got together and each one took one species to concentrate on. Then down the road, we could trade tubers....

Regards,

Joe
 
Sorry I missed this thread. I have found summer sown seed will not germinate for me until about December for either D. peltata or D. auriculata (or more correctly D. peltata ssp. auriculata).

D. bulbosa is one of the most stubborn of the tuberous species to germinate, and all of them are stubborn. My experiments with GA3 were disappointing, even though seed used was freshly harvested within the season.

I will heat stratify the seed I now have in the back window of the car over the next summer season, and will sow the seed in August. Jan W has stated that this type of long, dry, hot strat. can produce some good results.
 
Hi,

I had great success with several fresh species. Sow them in late summer and let them get some of the heat. When the autumn arrives, give them more and more water until the soil is really wet. Under that conditions most fresh seeds will germinate. Seed from some sources never germinate because they are too old (Lowrie).

You can sow D. auriculata, peltata (+menziesii) without any special treatment anytime during the year. They grow without dormancy for me: some plants are always in growth, some are dormant. Some die back, some emerge from dormancy all the time. You can keep these in a tray all year because the tubers of these species do not rot easily.

ALL other species are MUCH HARDER to keep. So please do start with the easier ones and do start them from seeds. Do not buy tubers at once. First start some easy ones from seeds. These pretty and uncommon to extreme rare plants deserve it!

BTW: Good work Homer!!! Nice plants!

Jan
 
Hi Homer,

I started some of the stolonifera around the same time that you sowed yours. In the last 3 weeks, I am noticing germination.
 
Jan,

For those of us in bitterly cold Winter and who are using artificials, how long a period of heat stratification would you say? I have a sun lamp somewhere I could put over them and then grow them in my basement, which never gets above 70 F.
I am really finding this thread interesting.

Regards,

Joe
 
Hi Joe,

I would suggest you to wait until mid to end of the next summer. Sowing now would be useless because D. bulbosa is not as easy as D.auriculata. If this species experiences increasing temperatures after germination (in about 2-3 months if all goes well) they would grow only for a short time and go dormant too early because summer arrives! Better wait for the real sowing season.

Good growing!
Jan
 
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