Roridula seed germination

[jeff]

Bonjour

you use what substrate ?

you use for the seed a smoke paper , like for the stylidium ?

jeff

[nimbulan]

Hi jeff,

I started the seeds on 1:2 peat:sand for half and 1:1:1 peat:sand:perlite for the other half (I ran out of sand.) I made home-made smoke water by burning peat and Roridula gorgonias leaves for one half, and commercial liquid smoke food flavoring for the other half.

I have noticed no difference between those two treatments, as I have now had 2 out of 5 seeds germinate from each method. Currently I am leaning towards the idea that temperature (low 20's day, <10 night) is the most important factor in germinating these seeds, and the smoke treatment may not be necessary at all. In the future I will test germination with no smoke treatment.

[shoggoths]

A few years ago, I put Roridula dentata seeds outside in April without smoke treatment and cover them with one foot of snow.
The snow melt slowly and at the end of Spring, 2 out of 4 seeds germinated.
So temperature could be the number one factor.

[lloyd]

8 seeds germinated!

24 hour soaking in distilled water with smoke infused vermiculite (I have some to spare, BTW).

[nimbulan]

Good to hear, Lloyd! Hopefully you don't have as much trouble with the roots being unable to penetrate the soil as I've had.

[nimbulan]

Has anybody experienced this before or know what it means? These two seedlings are the same age but while the first one is developing normally, the second one just keeps getting taller with no sign of getting ready to produce leaves. The stem on the first one was red from the beginning while the stem on the second one has always been white. I have two seedlings showing each growth pattern.

Roridula dentata by Nimbulan, on Flickr

Roridula dentata by Nimbulan, on Flickr

[lloyd]

I have some with the seed coat on for weeks, seems to be ok.