germinating NA pitcher plant seeds

[Flytrap]

Hi all,

I had sent this short note to one of our colleagues here on ocps, and I thought it may be useful for folks thinking of germinating sarracenias and darlingtonia seeds.

All NA pitcher plant seeds require a period of stratifying - essentially, a cold wet period to signal the plant seed the occurance and passing of our winter. The botanist in me want to go into talk about chemical inhibitors and blah blah blah... but to the ordinary cp lover, let's just say that this is nature's way of ensuring that seeds don't germinate too early, only to be killed off with a freezing cold snap.

One of the methods that my friends and colleagues have employed over the past couple of decades is the use of artificial or a fast track stratification for sarracenia and darlingtonia seeds. North american pitcher plants require lots of rain and water to wash off the chemical film around each seed to allow water to penetrate the seed. Stratifying them in wet moist peat moss or wet sponge helps remove this... but the moment you allow the moisture to disappear, the seeds usually dries out and dies. So what you want is to ensure that seeds remain constantly moist during it's stratification period.

Grab a plastic container and lid, fill it up with icy cold water, drop in one or two drops of dish washing liquid... shake up, and let sit over night.

Drain off water in morning, Rinse with cold water and sow your seeds.

The dish washing detergent washes off the water repellant film, helping seeds absorb water, and thus germinate.

David

[Rick Hillier]

Flytrap, that is fantastic advice... I've never heard of that before and I was never familiar with the process that you described. I learned something new today. Thanks!

[lloyd]

I stratify my seeds with a drop of Tween 20 in distilled water in the fridge. I also have found that gibberellic acid 250 ppm with a drop of Tween 20 for 24 hours at room temperature will germinate sarr's and temperate dews with or without stratification. I usually do both.

[Flytrap]

You're welcome, Rick... we learn a lot off you too!

Like most of you out there... any advice shared on how to fast track plants into large robust plants are always welcomed.

One of the other things I've done in the past to speed up plant growth was 18 - 24hr light cycles for immature sarrs and vfts under fluorescent lights, without the annual winter dormancy period. Plants would mature within 18 months... and essentially, ready for blooming. However, once the plants are sexual mature, you can no longer allow it to miss it's winter's rest. It just becomes a normal plant afterwards.

The problem about our society these days, is , we want things instantaneously... like fast growing plants.... Plants on steroids. Now if I can only get my Nep villosa to grow fast!

[dvg]

That's an excellent tip Flytrap. Do you know if that will work for other seeds that have germination inhibitors. Some interesting cacti seeds won't germinate in their first year and actually get better germination rates when they are seven or eight years old.(Mammillaria theresae).

About making your villosa grow, I have tried two things. If the pitchers are big enough to feed on D. melanogaster, put about ten of those on the soil surface and cover with a clear dome to keep the flies around for a while. If you put too many flies by your villosa, it will catch a good number of them, but blacken the pitchers more quickly. Once I was able to feed my small villosa some melanogaster's, it really jumped in size. I also tried some coffee (poured through the planting mix) on a couple of very small villosa, to see if I could escalate their growth rate a little. I'll keep you posted on how the coffee affects them.(If anyone decides to try the coffee tonic, remember to only use it once, and it should be good for a year).

[hal]

Where would one buy Tween 20 and Gibberelic acid?

(By the way I did a science fair in about grade 7 where I germinated plants using Gibberelin. I'd forgotten about it until now)

Post script: Just answered my own question - it seems the U of T Medical Store has Tween 20 and GA3

Followup: is GA3 good on Australian and South African drosera seeds?

[prmills]

Well, that's neat to know. I'll have to try that with a few of the seeds I'll be getting

Thanks!

[lloyd]

Hal, I can't believe that I didn't know about the U of T Medical Store and BioShop Canada selling Plant TC chemicals! Thanks for letting us know. I live within walking distance and have been ordering chemicals from the USA.

I use GA3 on all seeds before germinating. Usually 24 hours of 250 ppm with a drop of Tween 20 to wet the seeds.

I think you can get cheaper GA3 from RareExotic seeds. I use 10 mg in 40 ml distilled water to make 250 PPM. It seems to last months in the fridge. So 1 gram will make 100 batches or 4L of 250 ppm. I keep the powder in the freezer although it is supposed to be Ok in the fridge.

[brian]

I'll vouch for Flytrap's long-day method of pushing sarr seedlings - I set my flourescents to 18 hours for seeds that sprouted in July and never got around to decreasing it. They are doing great. I'll set them out in my bog this summer to begin the seasonal cycle. As for his suggestion of using detergent to break the coating, I am printing it out and filing it in the back of my Savage Garden! When I first ordered Sarr seeds I planned to nick them with a knife like you do with bigger seeds, but they were too damn tiny.

[Flytrap]

Thanks Brian. Oh... yes, the nick the seed trick. I remember nicking up my fingers more than the seeds. I think after about 8 seeds, you sort of wonder if it's worth it.

Remember to give the sarr it's annual dormant rest once it flowers. If not, the plant will struggle for a while, then rot on you...

[vraev]

fantastic advice D. I truly appreciate u taking the time to explain this to us. Of the many S.leucophylla green seed that I got, only 3 germinated. But hey, thats better than my experience with nepenthes seed. lol! I will definitely print this out and keep a record of it.

Any tips for germinating nepenthes seed master? I also had similar rotten luck with it. Seed freshness is a big factor, but apart from that...I have no other idea. Media doesn't seem to be it as peat media was any more better than LFS media.

[Flytrap]

The more seeds that get germinated and raised to adulthood, the better it is for the diversity of species and plants. I firmly believe in raising plants from seeds - whether sowing it and growing them the old fashion way, or sowing them on sterile media a la TC.

My difficulty is in the lack of genetic variety due to cloning and plant divisions. Although this is great in spreading a desired plant around... it doesn't do much for the genetic pool.

More power to all of you out there raising CPs from seed.

Dr V, I'll prepare a new thread for raising Neps from seeds. The key is fresh seeds and humidity... while keeping that creep, Mr Fungus away.

[hackerberry]

Thanks for the info D. I will be watching our for the Nep Seed germination technique.

Cheers!

hb

[carnivoure12]

I just used your method for some sarr seeds and a batch of filiformis, i put a few drops and put them in the fridge, is this good? Have you had success with your sarr germination this way?