Drosera seedlings - about 6mths old

[hongrui]

i sowed a batch of seeds in jan and here they are, 6months after germinating.

D. capensis 'Alba'


D. capensis 'Typical'


D. capensis 'Broad leaf'


D. nidiformis


D. villosa


D. intermedia 'Great swamps' [David] - this was sowed i think in march/apr


xxx
i've actually got another 2 forms of capensis, the red form and the narrow leaf form. however they are only about the size of D. villosa even though they were all sown at the same time.

[David]

hongrui, could you share how you germinate yoru sundew seeds. I don have much success with them except for d. spatulata.

[hongrui]

i sow the seeds on LFS, on peat/perlite mix. the pot is placed in a water tray, on my window-still with no cover. i do not mist the seeds, only topping up the water in the water tray when necessary. i personally find that misting the seeds decreases the germination rate.

[tarence]

Uh oh.....i`m misting my seeds ! Btw, doesn`t perlite tend to make the seedlings dry up if they happen to try & germinate on the perlite grain itself ? i use the same medium as you for drosera seed germination & find that the ones which attach themselves to a grain of perlite tend to dry up quite fast as it doesn`t allow moisture absorbtion.

[hongrui]

tarence, i've not observed perlite drying out the seeds because while my mix is peat/perlite, the seeds are sown on a top layer of LFS. and i ensure the water level is high such that the LFS is is always moist.

[David]

Thanks hongrui

[artificialive]

hongrui said:

i sow the seeds on LFS, on peat/perlite mix. the pot is placed in a water tray, on my window-still with no cover. i do not mist the seeds, only topping up the water in the water tray when necessary. i personally find that misting the seeds decreases the germination rate.

Thanks for the tips hongrui. Btw, how much light the window receive each day? Assuming that it is a glass window, is it opened or closed? How about the ventilation and humidity?
More questions to come. haha ;D

[tarence]

ok noted hongrui.....next question, heheh...what`s the germination rate like plse ?

[hongrui]

the window is southern facing and gets quite a lot of light. it's a glass window, but it's always open (unless it's raining really heavily). the area is very well ventilated, and humidity levels is between ~40% at noon and probably 95+% at night.

germination rates for the capensis and nidiformis is close to 100%, D. villosa is 5 out of 20, but i've only got 1 germinating for D. intermedia.

[tarence]

thx hongrui for the info....

[David]

hongrui, whould you know what the temperature is like at the window where you place your seeds? morning, afternoon and night? Sorry, I intend to copy your environment as close as possible. Running out of ideas on what else to do to get my sundew seeds to germinate.

[artificialive]

Thanks for the tips hong rui. i'll try to simulate the same environment as yours

[cindy]

Tarence, when you mist your seeds they tend to get buried in the media and they rot instead of germinating.

I agree with Hongrui that high humidity helps, though 100% is actually not that advisable. With 100% it means a covered container and the seeds do not get a new supply of oxygen until you open the container. Seeds that germinate in lower humidity give rise to more hardy seedlings which will do well in your conditions.

[hongrui]

David, the temperature is around 29-30C now, but the highest temp that i've noted is 33C. in the evenings it gets down to about 27-28C and when i wake up around 7am, it's usually around 25C.

i'd say my germinating area is bright (no direct sunlight) but cool. i actually root my neps and drosera cuttings here, and also acclimatise new arrivals (except for neps) here too.

i hope this helps! let me know if you need any more info.

[David]

Maybe that's why seedlings do not germinate well for me. I cover them up, so 100% humidity. And temperature is a few degrees higher as compared to hongrui's growing environment.

Hmm... gotto get myself an aircon for my cps... Switch it on whole day... Ouch!!! (Just had a vision of a hammer knocking me on the forehead)... vision is blur now.... Hammer slowly moving away unblocking the view of attacker... it's... it's... it's THE MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS! Ahhhh..... ok, ok, not air-con for plants... no air con for plants

[artificialive]

Haha Funny u David, u made me laugh ;D

[David]

Eh, why my head feels wet???... Feeling dizzy...

Oh... oooh... I'm bleeding...

My forehead is bleeding.... Help! Husband abuse!!!




(I think if my wife sees this, she actually hammer me on the forehead)