FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hey everyone! I am starting this thread because I have purchased 50 D. capensis "giant" seeds from eBay just a few minutes ago. I was wanting to document them with weekly updates and to get some advice. I have successfully grown Drosera capensis from seed before, but many of the seeds I scattered never produced a seedling. I have been fascinated about the giant form of the capensis. No one seems to have any adult ones for sale anywhere. The seeds are from Argentina and cost about $23 and they should be at my house sometime next week. I am really hoping these seeds are the true giant form. I can see it being very easy to screw a customer over by saying the seeds are the giant form but are no different than a typical capensis in reality. The vendor had a 100% positive feedback and people who have bought giant seeds in the past said they got what they wanted. So I have faith the seeds will be legit, but no way of telling until they are mature.

Here is the exact listing where I purchased the seeds:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0933102851

Also, here is what the "giant form" looks like in comparison to the "wide-leafed" form. This photo is not from the Argentina vendor I purchased the seed from.


Now, here is my situation. As I said earlier, I have grown cape sundews from seed before, but had a very low success rate. I planted probably 250 seeds and got 50 visible seedlings growing among my VFTs. This seed pack I purchased has only 50 seeds in it, and I want the highest success rate as possible. I know the basics of growing sundews from seed like not burying them and pretty much just scattering the seeds on top of some moss. I also know the keep the top of the moss as moist as possible because it tends to dry out the fastest and the seeds will be trying to grow their first roots. I plan on using a self-watering pot from Wal-Mart that is 4" tall and about 5" wide. I was planning on using my standard CP mix of sphagnum peat moss and perlite for media. It is 50/50 ratio. Should I put clear plastic wrap with air holes over the seeds once I have scattered them? I have a T5 light that is very good for starting seeds, but the sun is also coming out more now that it is Spring where I live. Should I grow the seeds under the grow light for 16-18 Hours or should I grow them on a sunny windowsill that gets less light but real sunlight? How far should the seeds be from the grow light?

Thanks

Follow this recipe of mine, and unless the seeds are absolutelr not viable, they will for sure germinate.
In a plastic food container, place chopped (in blender) sphagnum moss that was rinsed in boiling water, make an uniform surface, spread the seeds followed by distilled water spray. Close with plastic wrap and put it under 6500k fluorescent lights. Forget about it for 2 weeks. Watch the seedlings sprout. Wait 2 weeks, and open it, spray it daily with distilled water and continue for them to grow.
Peat-perlite has been my complete failure in germination, from 6 seeds I ordered once years ago from ebay also, only 1 single plant of 1 of those species grew.
About sun: avoid it until your plants are 1 week after been transplanted from my tray system.
Also, I have long known that seller (even more time than my 8 year CP experience), they have an outside page http://www.plantas-carnivoras.com.ar/ and have always had a big variety of seeds and plants.
They are the MOST expensive seed providers you will ever get to see. I have only bought a couple packages from them because I don't like to buy small seed quantities, they were 2 Pinguicula sps.
But in Argentina they are the biggest providers of CPs that I know.

I can say to you, if they sell a variety, it trully is the variety. About germination I cannot assure you the success. If my technique fails, the seeds were not viable.

Your plan should work fine and the advice coline has given is good as well. There are many different ways to do this. D. cap seeds are like weeds and once your plants are established and flowering you'll be finding seedlings popping up everywhere, and you wont have a clue how they got there.

akinkysnorlax wrote:I was planning on using my standard CP mix of sphagnum peat moss and perlite for media.

I've grown many spats, cap, dielsiana, actually most of my dews on my growlist I've grown from seeds. I've used both 50/50 peat/perlite, chopped sphagnum, peat/silica sand, live sphagnum and they all seem to work well.

If you use peat I would suggest rinsing it a few times before using it. You'll get a lot less extra junk on top of the media and will look a lot better. In my experience the extra junk doesn't harm the seedlings or hinder germination, but I have heard people that it has. It never hurts to rinse your ingredients first. That's why coline said to boil the sphagnum. Helps reduce algea and kills a lot of spores basically sterilizing your media.

akinkysnorlax wrote:Should I put clear plastic wrap with air holes over the seeds once I have scattered them?

akinkysnorlax wrote: I also know the keep the top of the moss as moist as possible because it tends to dry out the fastest and the seeds will be trying to grow their first roots.

I would highly recommend the plastic wrap. Just give the seeds room to grow and it'll work great. The high humidity will help with germination. The plastic wrap will not only keep humidity up it will hold heat in a little too. The plastic wrap will keep the soil from losing moisture also help the seedlings stay hydrated since they don't have extensive roots yet. Once the seedlings are large enough then you can start slowly lowering the humidity over time by making the small vent holes in the plastic into larger holes over a week or two until you can remove it all together. By then the leaves should be harden off and the plants should have larger roots systems to maintain moisture.

akinkysnorlax wrote:Should I grow the seeds under the grow light for 16-18 Hours or should I grow them on a sunny windowsill

Either will work. If you use a window sill remember the sun will heat up the container like an oven so you want to be careful of over heating. Don't be scared to use the window it works great and its free. Artificial lighting works well too most of my seeds were germinated under lights. keep the seeds as close to the lights as possible 1 to 2 inches and they will do great, but lights increase the electric bill.

I hope this helps and I'm sure if you follow the advice you have you'll have success unless the seeds aren't any good. Can't wait to see your week by week updates.

Since I already have the peat/perlite mix (already washed too) I will most likely use that. I may get some long fiber sphagnum as well and chop it up to use as a top layer. I will definitely use the the plastic wrap to boost the humidity. How many and how large should I make the holes in it? I will put them very close to my T5 light so I don't have to worry about overheating. Should I keep watering normally through the bottom of the pot? Thanks for the help everyone.

Putting it really close is not as necesary, mines are at about 12+ inches from the lights and grow well, and holes, I never do them, it prevents fungal or algal spore from the air that come and grow, as I previously killed many of them. When it is time I take the plastic at once off, in the afternoon.

I have had the most success germinating outside in my unheated, but insulated shed. Temps have been in the low-high 40s fairly consistently. I use the tray method with a container of 100% dead LFS. I purchased 2 plastic trays of the same size (1 on the bottom, with water in it, and one on top). The germination chamber I use is on another larger plastic tray, which is on a heat mat that has been on 24 hours daily (I use a soil thermometer to make sure my LFS never goes above 80F. If it gets up there, I attach my heat mat to a timer). For lighting, I use 4x T5 HO bulbs with a 16 hour photoperiod; 2 are 6500k and 2 are 2900k about 6-8 inches from the seeds. I fill the container up about 4 inches of distilled water, and never water again (unless the water starts to look murky). The humidity should basically recycle the water since the setup is completely closed. I usually get strikes within 1-2 weeks (my capensis seen below had strikes in 11 days).

Once the plants have definitive true leaves, start acclimating your plants to less humidity until they are ready to have natural humidity from the environment. At that point, I begin feeding them crushed beta pellets/freeze dried bloodworms (be careful for mold if you are using LFS- make sure you don't just sprinkle the food all over the LFS, aim for the seedlings. It takes longer, but is worth it IMO).

Thanks Starchy, I was hoping you would chime in on this thread considering your experience with growing sundews from seed. Your set up is quite elaborate. I am thinking I will make a similar setup as yours but just with a smaller pot. I will have to water it more than once through the bottom since the tray in my self watering pot is rather small. I will be watching over it.

akinkysnorlax, i used desalinated coir. In my room it is 70 - 80 % humidity, so i already poked some holes in the plastic lid (2 inch from the light), before the germination occurred, so no hardening need it. The seedlings of drosera capensis var. alba appeared in 9 days, without a heat mat, from 5 AM to 8 PM (my lights, in the signature). You may feed them, once a week, only when they have dew. The first leaves are non-carnivorous, but i read in the forum that they may be carnivorous first. Starchy, what CP have you germinated, in your image ?

I feel compelled to post just to say that giant D. capensis is AWESOME! I must have one!

Lord Death wrote:I feel compelled to post just to say that giant D. capensis is AWESOME! I must have one!

Exactly what I was thinking when i decided to get the seeds. I was tired of waiting that an adult one would be posted on eBay.

akinkysnorlax wrote:I will have to water it more than once through the bottom since the tray in my self watering pot is rather small. I will be watching over it.

You really shouldn't have to water it very often if you keep the humidity dome closed. The heat from the mat causes the water to evaporate quickly and collect at the top of the dome, then fall back down and recycle. Just add water if the level in the tray gets below an inch.

roarke wrote:Starchy, what CP have you germinated, in your image ?

A mix of D. capensis typical/alba. I'm not sure if seedlings tend to appear more red or if I did not get very many of the alba variety.

Thanks. Unfortunately I do not have a heat mat. Its usually 75 degrees in my house once things start warming up though.

There is also a new listing for the D. capensis "Giant Form" seeds posted on eBay.

There is also a new listing for the D. capensis "Giant Form" seeds posted on eBay.

Thanks for the heads-up. They are now MINE!!!

Depending on how many I get germinated I *may* be up for distributing the extra plants within the UK and Europe... If anyone's interested, that is.

Since I have no sphagnum moss any more, do you folks think that 100% moss peat would suffice as a germination bed?

I am still waiting for my seeds from Argentina, but in the meantime I have already assembled the media and pot. I decided to used chopped up NZ LFS courtesy of Joel Garner from Joelscarnivorousplants. I soaked the moss and microwaved it to eliminate any spores that may bring the moss back to life and possibly overtake my capensis seedlings.

Here is what the current media and pot look like. I went ahead and put saran wrap over it with no holes.


Top view of the LFS. Please note again that the diameter of this pot is about 4.5 inches, while depth is about 4 inches.


I plan on getting a coaster for the pot which will move it closer to the light but thats about it. The same size coaster as the other ones. Is it close enough to the light? My growlight is specifically made for seed germination.


Thanks again for viewing and please mention any questions or comments.

Good array and size, because those packages of seeds trust me they come with the exact number of seeds they sell, I did not get much luck with P. lusitanica and P. macrophylla I ordered (I'm still waiting germination), but some D. nidiformis they sent as free bonus are sprouting.