FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I tried to germinate CP seeds in test tubes filled with distilled water, using a magnifying glass to easily see when they started to germinate and sprout a root and leaves. I tried tropical and subtropical species, mostly Drosera. I wrote that up a few months ago as "CP Water Germination Experiment Phase 1". Here is a link: http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/cp-wa ... 30877.html. I also had some temperate species of CP. I put those seeds in test tubes filled halfway with distilled water and stuck them in the refrigerator for 8 weeks of cold treatment or stratification. On May 1st, 2016 I took them out of the fridge, put them in a bright warm place, and waited for something to happen. Here are the results. Some stratified seeds did germinate.

Drosera intermedia (seed from 1999) germinated. 4 days after stratification period done.
Drosera filiformis “Manchester NJ” (1999 seed) germinated after 5 days
Drosera anglica germinated after 5 days.
Drosera rotundifolia “Manchester, NJ”germinated after 8 days.
Drosera tracyii germinated after 10 days.
Drosera filiformis “Florida Red” germinated after 10 days.
Sarracenia purpurea “Wisconsin” germinated. 34 days

It is now close to the middle of July. I'm calling an end to the experiment. The following stratified seeds showed no sign of germinating. Maybe they were too old. Maybe they didn't like my technique. I'll pot them up normally and see what happens.

Cephalotus follicularis “Hummer's Giant ” x self
Darlingtonia californica
Drosera erythrorhiza “Collina”
Pinguicula macroceras
Sarracenia alata
Sarracenia flava
Sarracenia leucophylla
Sarracenia minor x S. psittacina
Sarracenia oreophila
Sarracenia purpurea “purpurea”

During the course of this project, I continued to add tropical and subtropical species to test tubes to germinate them. Here are my results since my last article on this subject.

Drosera capensis “Gifberg” germinated. After 8 days.
Drosera omissa (Giveaway) germinated 8 days.
Drosera burmannii “Humpty Doo” 10 days until they germinated.
Drosera hartmeyerorum 2nd batch 10 days until germination.
Drosera indica “Africa” germinated in 10 days.
Drosera hartmeyerorum seeds germinated after 11 days.
Drosera binata “Multifida” seeds germinated in 15 days.
Drosera hartmeyerorum (Fish Farm east of Kununurra, Kimberley, WA ) germinated after 16 days.
Drosera madagascariensis ( 2nd pkg of 30) germinated in 19 days.
Drosera madagascariensis germinated after 21 days.
Drosera capensis “Bain's Kloof” germinated after 40 days.

I think my failure with Sarracenia, Darlingtonia, and Pinguicula happened because I was using old seed (except for the one species that did germinate). It would be interesting to try this again with fresh seed.

I am quite happy with this technique for tropical and subtropical seeds.

I would call my results with temperate Drosera seed better than I could have hoped for.

From now on, this is how I am going to be germinating seeds.



Good growing,
Mike

What a great experiment! Thanks for sharing! Growing seeds from 1999 that's crazy. I might try to germinate my seeds the same way. What kind and where did you get a test tube? Was the D. Omissa hard to germinate? Mine haven't germinated yet and it's been a week and a half. Thanks again for sharing!


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I bought my test tubes at Amazon. My first attempt used plastic test tubes but after the first use, they were prone to algae growth. My second attempt used glass test tubes that I sterilized with boiling water then put them in a pressure cooker for 20 minutes at 10 -15 psi to absolutely sterilize the glass. They were 16mm in diameter and 150mm tall. I used a rubber stopper because Cork can't be cleaned and sterilized and reused, I believe.

The Drosera omissa germinated with no problem but looking closely at the seeds, I saw that many of them were crushed and split. With the naked eye you couldn't see the damage, but with a quality 10 power magnifier you could see many of the seeds were broken. It looked like the Postal machinery crushed the envelope and caused the damage.

Good growing,
Mike

Oh wow thanks for all the information! I'm definitely going to have to try this!


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I've been stratifying some Sarr, Ping and temperate drosera seeds. I would like to go wih water germination with those if it's possible(I'm lazy). So far for me with tropical Drosera, I've had better germination rates going the water route. Could the same be expected for Sarrs and Pings?

I've had mixed results from Pings. P. moranensis germinated well, 7 - 10 days if I recall correctly. P. macroceras did not germinate.

Sarracenia gave me very poor germination, even after 2 months stratification.

Temperate Drosera exploded into growth a week or two after its 2 month stratification.

Don't let my poor results deter you from trying. Good luck if you do.

Good growing,
Mike

Thanks Mike. I'll give it a shot. I think I'll try it at 4 and 6 weeks stratification time.