- Fri Nov 13, 2020 12:47 am
#368774
After my recent experiments with Byblis (I now am the owner of 5 species ), I decided to see what effects gibberrellic acid would have on Sundew seeds, specifically tuberous seeds. I was inspired to attempt this by the time of the year. At this point in the natural cycle, tuberous sundews and their seeds are in full swing or moving towards it. When planting these seeds, most require you to keep them in specific conditions for a time to simulate a natural cycle that triggers germination. This can be anything from water levels to brush fires and temperature. There are a host of variables at play. In nature, the plant will germinate at a certain time of the year, use their growing season (winter) to take in as many nutrients as they can and then die back down below the surface to create tubers to preserve themselves through the hot, dry summers.
Sorry for the long winded description but it was necessary to explain why I'm doing this experiment. By this point, if I was to germinate "naturally," I would have had these planted by the first week of September to give the plants enough time to germinate and grow before dying back. It's important they get enough nutrients in their cycle. Since I am two months behind, I considered gibberrellic acid. Using it at a dose of 250ppm, it's my hope that they'll germinate in the next few days, effectively shaving off a month or more of pre-treatment in order to catch the seeds up to their "natural" cycle. After that, it'll require frequent feedings but I wanted to see if I can grow these plants late through their season and still have them form tubers at the end. I used Drosera Hookeri, an easy to grow tuberous sundew that does not have the extensive requirements that others have. However, GA3 could also be used to skip heat stratification and effectively be used for seeds that do require smoke treatment (such as other tuberous species and Byblis).
It was a chore trying to work with the tiny seeds, I landed on soaking the seeds in a 250ppm mixture (rather than 500 for byblis) for approximately 24 hours. Using a coffee filter, I soaked the seeds and inverted the filter over the pot and washed them out from above. There was probably a more creative and less messy way to handle that but it was the best idea I had at the time lol. I planted these seeds tonight. If there are any significant things to repot, I'll update this thread.
Current Conditions:
Soil: 2:1 Sand/Peat Mixture with a little perlite in a 3.5x3.5x5 inch pot
Light: Yescom 225 white panels with a timer currently set to 12 hours
Temperature: Current temperatures are about 75 degrees day/69 night
I also used the 250ppm mixture to soak some Drosera Burmannii "Perlata" (HK x Red) seeds that I received from the seed bank. Burmannii are finicky seeds in my experience. If I plant 50, I get 4. If I leave the plants alone, they'll propagate on their own at random. It took months to see any response from the seeds at all so I wanted to see if this would get them in the game faster. We'll see how it turns out.
11/12/20 - Sowed seeds after soaking in a 250ppm GA3 mixture (is not necessary with this species if planted by September)
Sorry for the long winded description but it was necessary to explain why I'm doing this experiment. By this point, if I was to germinate "naturally," I would have had these planted by the first week of September to give the plants enough time to germinate and grow before dying back. It's important they get enough nutrients in their cycle. Since I am two months behind, I considered gibberrellic acid. Using it at a dose of 250ppm, it's my hope that they'll germinate in the next few days, effectively shaving off a month or more of pre-treatment in order to catch the seeds up to their "natural" cycle. After that, it'll require frequent feedings but I wanted to see if I can grow these plants late through their season and still have them form tubers at the end. I used Drosera Hookeri, an easy to grow tuberous sundew that does not have the extensive requirements that others have. However, GA3 could also be used to skip heat stratification and effectively be used for seeds that do require smoke treatment (such as other tuberous species and Byblis).
It was a chore trying to work with the tiny seeds, I landed on soaking the seeds in a 250ppm mixture (rather than 500 for byblis) for approximately 24 hours. Using a coffee filter, I soaked the seeds and inverted the filter over the pot and washed them out from above. There was probably a more creative and less messy way to handle that but it was the best idea I had at the time lol. I planted these seeds tonight. If there are any significant things to repot, I'll update this thread.
Current Conditions:
Soil: 2:1 Sand/Peat Mixture with a little perlite in a 3.5x3.5x5 inch pot
Light: Yescom 225 white panels with a timer currently set to 12 hours
Temperature: Current temperatures are about 75 degrees day/69 night
I also used the 250ppm mixture to soak some Drosera Burmannii "Perlata" (HK x Red) seeds that I received from the seed bank. Burmannii are finicky seeds in my experience. If I plant 50, I get 4. If I leave the plants alone, they'll propagate on their own at random. It took months to see any response from the seeds at all so I wanted to see if this would get them in the game faster. We'll see how it turns out.
11/12/20 - Sowed seeds after soaking in a 250ppm GA3 mixture (is not necessary with this species if planted by September)
Last edited by Apollyon on Fri Nov 13, 2020 6:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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