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Post by brian on Feb 15, 2009 16:52:08 GMT -5
I'll be getting seeds next week for drosera anglica, filiformis and (the weird one from alpine parts of Australia) arcturi. Flats are all ready but I'm trying to decide if I should just sow and grow, or sow then chill then grow. If I opt for stratification then how long should they soak in the media before I put them outside, and how long in the cold before I bring them in? I'm especially worried about the arcturi since some sites tell me the viability is short and could only be 5% after 5 weeks
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Post by hackerberry on Feb 15, 2009 17:16:57 GMT -5
Try Gibberellic acid soak for 24 hours then sow.
hb
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Post by brian on Feb 15, 2009 17:45:46 GMT -5
They may be too tiny to be able to soak them in a solution then retrieve them for planting, can I plant them then squirt a little gibberellic acid on top? (and does this let me skip imbibation and stratification?)
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Post by hackerberry on Feb 15, 2009 17:51:02 GMT -5
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Post by brian on Feb 15, 2009 18:08:19 GMT -5
Thanks!
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Post by lloyd on Feb 15, 2009 18:50:53 GMT -5
I would let them soak for as long as possible. Put them in a baggie, a drop of Tween 20 or dish soap, add distilled water, put them in the fridge. If they're in the fridge for less than 6 weeks: pipette the leftover water, replace it with a GA3 250 ppm solution for 24 hours. Then use the pipette to sow the seeds.
I had some rotundifolia seeds last April, it was too late to stratify, so I used the GA3. A month and a half later dozens of sundews began to germinate. It was a cold spring, so they had some natural stratification.
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Post by khoas on Feb 15, 2009 18:56:18 GMT -5
I'll be getting seeds next week for drosera anglica, filiformis and (the weird one from alpine parts of Australia) arcturi. Flats are all ready but I'm trying to decide if I should just sow and grow, or sow then chill then grow. If I opt for stratification then how long should they soak in the media before I put them outside, and how long in the cold before I bring them in? I'm especially worried about the arcturi since some sites tell me the viability is short and could only be 5% after 5 weeks I really can't see how arcturi could have such a short half life for the seeds. They cannot germinate until, at least, mid spring. That means several months before conditions are right for germination. Maybe the seeds were stored at room temperature.
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Post by hal on Feb 15, 2009 19:10:11 GMT -5
Interesting thread. Do all Drosera seeds benefit from a soak in some sort of surfactant before sowing?
So far I've just been sowing them straight onto damp peat/sand mixture.
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Post by lloyd on Feb 15, 2009 20:19:42 GMT -5
I use the Tween 20 so they will be wetted while stratifying and while soaking in the GA3.
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Post by brian on Feb 16, 2009 7:00:07 GMT -5
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Post by dvg on Feb 16, 2009 10:32:18 GMT -5
Brian, one of the least expensive sources for GA3 is from Rare Exotic Seeds out of Montreal. If you decide to get some there, pick up some smoke primer paper while you're at it. Comes in handy when you are trying to germinate some of those tricky Drosera and Drosophyllum.
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Post by brian on Feb 16, 2009 11:16:06 GMT -5
Oops, just ordered online from Gardens North, 100 mg 95% GA3 11.50 (incl shipping) plus tax. probably enough to last a long time at 250 ppm. Thanks, dvg, I'll check out Rare Exotics anyways!
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Post by lloyd on Feb 16, 2009 12:06:49 GMT -5
GA3 is supposed to be unstable in solution, although I have kept it in the fridge for months and it always seems to work. Keep the powder in the fridge, too. To make it last longer, I use only small amounts of GA3 at a time. I add 10 mg. to 40cc. distilled water, making 250 ppm which seems to be useful. I could even add 1 mg. to 4 cc but as I said even the solution seems to be Ok in the fridge for a few months.
RareExoticSeeds sells 1 gram for $7.50 including S&H.
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Post by hal on Feb 16, 2009 13:45:11 GMT -5
Where do you get an inexpensive digital scale that will measure 10mg?
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Post by lloyd on Feb 16, 2009 14:53:42 GMT -5
www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.10515I have this one but the accuracy is not that great at low mg. amounts. It's sensitivity is variable below 10 mg., sometimes not registering anything until you get up to around 7-8 mg. Other times it's not too bad from 10 mg. to 20 mg. Over 20 mg. or so, it seems to be accurate to a mg. I use a homemade scale: www.erowid.org/archive/rhodium/chemistry/equipment/scale2.htmlto get fairly accurate readings of 10 mg. to 100 mcg. (so far-I'm working on extending the lower range.)
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