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Post by ellen687 on Mar 28, 2006 23:05:31 GMT -5
I got N. mirabilis seeds (Thanks, Syble!). My previous experience with Nepenthes seedlings growing was unsuccessful - growth stopped after 3rd picher, replanting didn't help. Please, who had success with growing nepenthes from seed - advice how you did that (media, temperature, light, fertilized or not). Thanks.
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Post by Syble on Mar 28, 2006 23:24:48 GMT -5
I suppose the wee bit of information I can give is that I'm using 2" pots, sowing approximately 10 seeds per pot (sparsely) my medium is peat/perlite with a top coat of milled sphagnum. Once it's moistened and seeds put on top, I put the pots in a clear plastic container under grow lights to germinate, they grow, and so far thats where I'm at! Mind you I just had some superthrive sent my way and hopefully that can help the pale colour, I've tried it out on one pot and it seams to have made a difference, but I'm trying it out on another to see if it really worked. Hope this helps and that someone will add to this, Thanks, Sib
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Post by ellen687 on Mar 30, 2006 12:02:43 GMT -5
Thank you! I tried Superthrive on the first batch of seedlings when they stopped to grow and seeds that didn't germinated and didn't see noticeable changes... Is milled sphagnum ready made (where to buy?) or just chopped sphagnum?
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Post by Syble on Mar 30, 2006 12:25:41 GMT -5
you can buy it, but what i do is take really dry LFS and rub it between my hands, it disentigrates. Thanks, Sib
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Post by Flytrap on Mar 30, 2006 20:07:49 GMT -5
I germinate all my plants - nep, sarr, drosera, ceph, darlingtonia etc on the same medium : Canadian milled peat moss and clean sharp sand in a 65:35 mix. I used to sterilize a bit of sand in an old toaster oven then sprinkle the cooled sand on top of the CP seeds lying on top of the growth medium.
The secret is high humidity! ie. I germinate all CPs...and especially the Neps (and even my Lithops) in 'ballooned up' plastic bags ... Once they germinate, I always spray CPs with a diluted (50% of recommended solution) "No-damp -off" (an anti-fungus).
when my baby neps are about a month old, i start to "harden" them. ie. expose them to less and less humidity.
HERE'S THE KEY KILLER for all seedlings: All seeds germinate if they're fresh and viable ( ie. no dud, er sterile, seeds)! The reason why most people (in my observations) do not get grown mature plants from seeds is due to Laziness. Yep. that's the answer. They spend the first few months, maybe a year, babying the new seedlings ... then they slack off, and the plant dies. this ususally happens around our winter time ...but this is the time when you've got to be even more vigilant with the ambient humidity (cuz our heated winter air is so dry).
This has happened to me a few times. I had a few hundred Nep xhookeriana seeds i collected, had almost 100% germination ...grew the plants to about the size of quarters, then loss half of them because the water dried out on them too quickly in it's first winter. After growing another year, the second wave of losses occurred in the second winter. I'm now down to only about a dozen or so xhookeriana, but boy these are the survivors...call them "more drought resistant" if you like. The largest xhookeriana from this batch of seeds is now around 3.5 feet across (5 years old)... and you should see the pitchers on these suckers.
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Post by Syble on Mar 30, 2006 21:19:07 GMT -5
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Post by ellen687 on Mar 30, 2006 21:59:41 GMT -5
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Post by Syble on Mar 31, 2006 9:11:05 GMT -5
LOL, yep, those are my high tech growth chambers! 3 takeout salad dishese and a cake pan(which is my prefferred) that has an extra tall dome! Sib
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jimscott
Seedling
Je n'aime pas 'CITES'!
Posts: 88
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Post by jimscott on Apr 3, 2006 9:37:49 GMT -5
I received N. mirabilis seeds 3X from a Hong Kong grower and each time nothing sprouted. I have tried various ways, that included high heat, high light, and high humidity. Nothing works for me!
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Post by Syble on Apr 3, 2006 10:36:42 GMT -5
Maybe they just wern't good seed? Sib
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jimscott
Seedling
Je n'aime pas 'CITES'!
Posts: 88
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Post by jimscott on Apr 4, 2006 20:41:18 GMT -5
It had been suggested that by the time I received the seeds, they may have lost their viability. I'll never know!
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