FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I hear yah guys.... I haven't had any luck with my Nep seeds yet. Still waiting for germination, if it will ever. Nep seeds are one of the hardest to sterilize and to germinate. They need to be really fresh. I have over 1oo seeds sown in a regular mix and only 3 sprouted after 3 months. Cephs are easier if you use their leaves. For seeds, forget about it. Regular germination time is around 4-6 months and only a small % success rate.

hb

I germinated well every nep's seeds what i putted into TC. Key is very soft sterylisation in hypochlorite and freshness of seeds- 2-4 months max. I use 5% bleach activated to pH=7 for 10 minutes, wey good washing in 0,5% PPM - last bath, 5 species, around 200 seeds- any contamination. N. gymanphora is already germinating [after 2,5 weeks]- in 5-6 days ~50% seeds started to germinate.

Cephalotus seed [only one in tests stage] germinated for me in 3 weeks, but due tu bad container seedling dried for death..... Larger portion- 10-20 seeds was also lost, becouse i mistked medias and sowed them on multiplication medium....

For me worst are drosera's seeds becouse of their size...

Regards

Thanks for the information on the nep seed sativ. Sounds like you've got the process figured out well. I'm going to have to get some of the KH2PO4 to activate my bleach.

Awesome info sativ!

I just recently got my hands on some nep seeds, hoping to put them into culture this weekend.

renesis wrote:Awesome info sativ!

I just recently got my hands on some nep seeds, hoping to put them into culture this weekend.

Good luck renesis! I've not had any success with nep seed, but I've never gotten any really "fresh" seed either. I hope that you get some going!

Matt wrote:

renesis wrote:Awesome info sativ!

I just recently got my hands on some nep seeds, hoping to put them into culture this weekend.

Good luck renesis! I've not had any success with nep seed, but I've never gotten any really "fresh" seed either. I hope that you get some going!

Thanks! I hope I do get them going, at least even a couple out of the batch. The seller claimed they were harvested June 6th, I guess we'll see soon enough though!

Let me know if you get germination. Never had any luck. What type of Nep seed did you get?

hb

hackerberry wrote:Let me know if you get germination. Never had any luck. What type of Nep seed did you get?

hb

Probably one of the worst for seed viability. Its (viking x bical)x viking. I know bical seeds only last 3 weeks, these *should* be 2 weeks old. Hopefully with a little luck, some of them will germinate!

Goodluck renesis, I hope they do.

hb

Seeds from mothers "ultralowlanders"- bicalcarata, ampullaria, are vital very short time. But if it is in the cross [here mother plant is probaubly cross] they should be vital longer.

One other important thing about sterylisation- if you will use non-activeted bleach, look at the colour of seeds. When they will lok a bit paler, it's time to washing. When seed is thick[glabrata, neoguinensis] it will last longer, then thin seeds[rafflesiana]. Thin seeds are also more delicate and it's easy to destroy them. Good luck! My first nepenthes seeds was sterylised 10% commercial bleach, t= 6-8 min- some were contaminated, but germination was quite good.

sativ wrote:Seeds from mothers "ultralowlanders"- bicalcarata, ampullaria, are vital very short time. But if it is in the cross [here mother plant is probaubly cross] they should be vital longer.

One other important thing about sterylisation- if you will use non-activeted bleach, look at the colour of seeds. When they will lok a bit paler, it's time to washing. When seed is thick[glabrata, neoguinensis] it will last longer, then thin seeds[rafflesiana]. Thin seeds are also more delicate and it's easy to destroy them. Good luck! My first nepenthes seeds was sterylised 10% commercial bleach, t= 6-8 min- some were contaminated, but germination was quite good.

I did notice the colour change, it was quite drastic and didn't take long at all- about 4-5 minutes to change colour. Sativ, how long does germination take for neps in TC for you? I've heard everything from 3 days to several months.

I put about 60 seeds in TC and another 50+ in either chopped sphagnum or coir, or coir fibres. Hoping for all the best now!

Also Matt, I would not reccomend going with the pH7 buffer, I used about 250mL of the buffer (all I had with me!) to to adjust the pH down to just an 8. So it definitely diluted my bleach concentration, I think Sativ's solution is the way to go. I did some with unaltered bleach, varied times, and some with a PPM wash.

Ill post when something happens!

When it changes colour- it's time It means that NaOCl oxidized any colour substances in the sead coat, and also killed all "passangers". I preffer lower concentration of bleach, becouse it not start oxidation of seed so fast.

I had from 2 weeks to 3 months- it depends about seeds. Highlanders are usually slowest.

Now N. gymnamphora had started germination 1 day faster than my in vivo seeds- on peat+perlite. There was 16h photoperiod in vitro and 14 in vivo, so i think that in vitro doesn't slow germination in any case.

Regards