It's late, and I'm sleepy, so I may not be thinking clearly but . . .
Could it be that old seedlings don't have the strength to push through their seed hull? And when stripped of their seed hull, their energy is focused on growth instead of the struggle to break free?
Dear Acro-san,
Konnichiwa!
It is nice to hear from you. Your thought is one of my conjectures, though it is not a reason why I started to remove the
Nepenthes seed husk.
But one reason is not conjecture. Simple comparison cannot be made, but please reread this thread.
The period until germinating
5 years old
N. eymae seeds (removed the seed husks): approximately 20 days
1 year old
N. northiana seeds (not removed the seed husks): 60 days
An ordinary phenomenon by this naked seed method. This is one of the answers for Emc2-san's post. I hope I can reply his other question in the future.
I'm curious too. Do you see any benefit of doing so for TC?
I'm never able to get 100% sterilisation of Nep seeds, always have some fungus in at least a few seeds. Does removing the seed coat allow a better treatment?
It is too ridiculous if my conjectures are called the hypotheses. For example,
Considering the habitat of
N. northiana, Their seed dispersals are difficult. I think they are the anemochore. The seeds will be scattered because of the wind that rises along the precipice. The
N. northiana seeds do not look like the structure that can be dispersed in the distance compared with the amp/raff/bical group. The places are not always the suitable environment even if they can stick to the precipice fortunately. A lot of seeds should wait patiently for the following wind (or rain). When a patient seed moves to another place, How does the seed judge whether it is suitable or not there? The place might be the temporary wet place.
There might be the peculiar living beings at the perpetual wet place. Tiny creature like snails or bugs might bite the
Nepenthes seed husk. The particular fungi or bacterias might decompose the
Nepenthes seed husk. It might induce germination.
You might think I am crazy.....
I call what I removed the
Nepenthes seed husk. Some members on TF call it the
Nepenthes seed coat. I am not familiar with the technical terms. The membrane that I provisionally call it the seed coat still wraps the actual seed, except the one end where the root will be emerging. It still seems to protect the seed.
I illustrate it by using the peanut though it is improper.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/879/40334770635_83cfc721f7_o.jpg
Nepenthes eymae: the part that put a red ring around, the membrane doesn't exist originally there.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/819/41187203172_429b0ef693_o.jpg
Peanut: the part that put a red ring around, I artificially removed the coat.
Kind regards from the Far East