FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I recently acquired some seeds that i would like to get going asap. Trying to find detailed info online about doing the proceedure is like pulling teeth. So far ive found someone smoking them on a grill , but that doesnt really help. Im obviously wanting to keep the temps down below a certain point lol.. i need to know about using hay, or straw, or about using dried peat to smoke with. After smoking is complete, and when i pour water on the fire to put it out, is it good to water the seeds with this burnt, wet peat or hay once i sow them? Im assuming it is good to do that, as i would think this is exactly what happens in their environment. I am really hoping someone has a good video link that works, where it shows this treatment being performed, as opposed to explaining the process to me. I dont want to mess this up, as i may not be able to find these seeds again. Thanks

I dried some peat under the grill until really dry, then you can get the peat smouldering easily , I then put smouldering peat in a glass bottle covering the top so it filled with the smoke , added small amount of rain water and let infuse with smoke. I then added seeds to smoke infused water and let soak for an hour and sowed. Got this off another grower for use with roridula and it worked well for me, but have no idea what results would of been if I hadn't bothered , I also scarified the seeds

Would these possibly be Roridula dentata seeds? I have a pack sitting here too. I've been trying to research the smoke treatment process as well. One person I found burned some peat, captured the smoke in a glass container and let it infuse into water, then soaked the seeds in the water for an hour. He also poured the water over the pots after sowing. I'm planning on doing something similar with some old dead leaves from my R. gorgonias plant.

Past the smoke treatment, I gather that temperatures are very important - you want it to be <10C at night and 10C higher during the day. Ideally this happens in the fall after a hot and dry summer, but can't blame us for being impatient!

Edit: Looks like Corky beat me to it!

Thanks for the input guys, thats better than i can find online anyways. I have R.Dentata, R.Gorgonias, and B.Gigantea, B.Aquatica that i am trying to do today. I guess if it doesnt work, i can always try to find more again someday...

R. gorgonias doesn't require any treatment, and for B. gigantea I would recommend a 1000ppm GA3 soak for 5 days (yes, 5 full days.) I was advised to do this by an experienced grower on Facebook and now... This is actually B. lamellata but you treat them the same. These are EXTREMELY slow to get started though, it took a month to shed the seed coat and was only about 1cm tall at that point.

Wow thats awesome good growing right there for sure!
.so the r.gorgonias i can just sow like a normal seed then, correct?
And wow on the 5 day soak on the gigantea. Guess id better get to it then. That is invaluable info, and i appreciate that alot!
I can't believe theres not enough info on these particular species circulating on the http://www.....! Lol

R. gorgonias is supposed to germinate pretty readily without any treatment, though temperatures may be important (same goes for R. dentata.) You want to mimic fall conditions in South Africa - namely warm days (10C higher than night) and cool nights (<10C.) If they don't germinate right away don't give up. The seeds can take a while. If it gets to summer time and you still haven't seen any life you can try doing it the natural way - let the pots dry out then start watering again around September and keep them outdoors. Just be careful of slugs and other pests.

Disclaimer: I've never done this before, I'm just repeating other people's experiences.

Haha you got it! Thanks again

Where on Earth did you find B. aquatica?

One more thing I forgot to note - B. gigantea is supposed to be fairly prone to damp-off, so be careful with watering when they're small. Always be careful watering Roridula too, of course.

Benurmanii wrote:Where on Earth did you find B. aquatica?

I have family overseas, and coincidentally, my cousin grows them. She sent me a couple to try my luck.

nimbulan wrote:One more thing I forgot to note - B. gigantea is supposed to be fairly prone to damp-off, so be careful with watering when they're small. Always be careful watering Roridula too, of course.

Yes indeed, i had been told that as well. I will probably top water in between slightly drying out periods.

I started my seedling in 1:2 peat:sand in a peat pot and have been watering on the same schedule as my Neps, every 3 days. The surface and the peat pot dry out completely in between waterings and that seems to be doing the trick so far.

nimbulan wrote:I started my seedling in 1:2 peat:sand in a peat pot and have been watering on the same schedule as my Neps, every 3 days. The surface and the peat pot dry out completely in between waterings and that seems to be doing the trick so far.

Peat pots are the way to go. I use them on all sensitive species

Benurmanii wrote:Where on Earth did you find B. aquatica?

Pm sent