FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi Everybody.

Its been a while since I have chatted on here.

I have had a strange occurance while sowing seeds, I sowed some drosera binata (mixed clones) seeds last night in my basic indoor fish tank terrarium where the temperature is 25 degrees Celsius and the lighting is a red an blue LED strip combined with an aquarium white flourescent tube, they are both lit for 12 hours per day.

When I checked them this morning, I noticed that a couple of them started germinating already, as there was a white root-like structure emerging from a seed husk. Do drosera binata seeds really germinate that fast or is it a non carnivorous plant that got into the pot on accident?

I also sowed some Drosera Arcturi seeds in there at the same time (they need stratification first) which I did not do so the sprouts cannot be them.

I have attached a picture below.

Wood1988 wrote: I noticed that a couple of them started germinating already, as there was a white root-like structure emerging from a seed husk.

That could be drosera binata, their seedlings are paler than most droseras'. Although, that could just be a mushroom. Only time will tell.

Possibly a mushroom, I dont know how long mushrooms take to sprout though. I will check again either tonight or tomorrow.

I thought Drosera binata takes 2 to 4 weeks to germinate so I'm still stumped.

Wood1988 wrote:I thought Drosera binata takes 2 to 4 weeks to germinate so I'm still stumped.

I agree, binata take especially long.
My experience with them shows that they usually germinate succesfully (after a long period of time), but their growth rate is extremely slow.

Very disapponting that its unlikely a binata.

I dont think it could be anything else though, as nothing else was in the seed packet which i bought from a specialist nursery, the soil is 'Carnivorous Plant Repotting Mix' so I doubt any other seeds were in there.

I would suspect that's a hitchhiker seed of some other type of plant, though it's hard to tell what's going on in your picture.

Wood1988 wrote:Very disapponting that its unlikely a binata.

Well, we won't know until it grows a bit more.

Wood1988 wrote:I dont think it could be anything else though, as nothing else was in the seed packet which i bought from a specialist nursery

At this point, it could really be anything.

CPhunter101 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 17, 2021 3:45 pm That could be drosera binata, their seedlings are paler than most droseras'. Although, that could just be a mushroom. Only time will tell.

I thought mushrooms don't have seeds? Don't they just shoot spores due to the fact that they are fungi?

My thoughts exactly, do mushrooms sprout 'fruiting bodies' overnight I'm not sure they do?

I don't know if this is actually a germination of Binata, but I want to take this opportunity and say that Binata "Small red form" was the fastest PC that ever germinated in my crop, in just 6 days after sowing they started to germinate, it was a record in my cultivation.

Aquis31 wrote:I don't know if this is actually a germination of Binata, but I want to take this opportunity and say that Binata "Small red form" was the fastest PC that ever germinated in my crop, in just 6 days after sowing they started to germinate, it was a record in my cultivation.

Yeah that's binata. The species has rather unusual seeds with a membrane around the seed with "wings" so they're easily recognizable.