Question on Tuberous Drosera and their Seeds

spiffyzha

spiffyzha

Carnivorous Plant Addict
So a while ago, I acquired some tuberous drosera seeds from @cpgeek. I've never grown tuberous drosera before, so I'm pretty clueless here. At some point last autumn, I teabag-method-ed them and planted them. At some point last winter, a few tiny D. auriculata sprouted, and subsequently all died (did I let them dry out? not sure.). But nothing from my other three pots (D. stolonifera x stolonifera "mini hills", D. platypoda, D. rupicola x purpurascens). Given that my D. auriculata were the only ones that sprouted at all, and in principle they don't necessarily need the heat treatment that I gave them anyway, it seems most likely to me that I gave my seeds too little heat treatment, rather than too much heat treatment.

I've read that sometimes tuberous drosera seeds will grow on the second season but not the first. So, I'm sort-of looking for suggestions here on how I can best signal to them that it's a new season now. Given the climate here in Vancouver, I suspect the seeds will never figure that out on their own. The seeds now are indistinguishable from the pots of media on which I sprinkled them, so I can't just teabag them again very easily, but I'm considering doing something similar by just pouring some hot water on them. I guess I should probably let the pots dry out before doing this? Is there a minimum amount of time I should wait with dry media? It will be a total guess as to how hot to make the water -- What I did last time seemed inadequate, so maybe I should make it warmer. But I can't easily remove the hot water after doing this like with the teabag method, so maybe I should make it cooler. But I would also have to raise the temperature of the whole pot of media, so maybe I should make it warmer.

Has anyone done this before? Ideas on what might be the best way to go about this would be super welcome.
 
Germinating most tuberous seed can be a hit or miss affair IME. Patience is a must! Peltata Complex seed are generally considered "easy"; however, even sown seed that had been stored refrigerated >10 years or kept too warm usually don't work for me on the 1st try.

In general, the round, smooth ones @spiffyzha is attempting to germinate typically need a pretreatment method, such as smoke and/hot water, bleach or a natural hot strat period outside in the sun. The trick seems related to breaking down the seed's tough, hydrophobic shell, much like how scarification works with Drosophyllum. I also never had luck with GA3 on older seed, but others have reported success with it. This difficulty of germination is the main reason why these plants remains rare in cultivation.

I recently had success germinating several D. ramellosa seed that were soaked in ~3% Javex (NaClO) for 1 hr, washed and then sown. Ramellosa seed is notoriously the most difficult to germinate requiring several years naturally! I plan on expanding bleach treatment to other round seed species. In contrast, I got good germination with 10-15 yo ripicola seed that were sown last September with nothing special other than keeping the seed wet and cool around 11-15 C. And I've had stray seedlings of a common stolonifera cross effortlessly pop up in neighboring pots.

I would just place your sown pots outside in spot that gets a few hours of direct sunlight daily and protected from rain, critters, etc. For example, in a tank partially partially covered with glass or a plastic sheet poked with small holes. Spray the surface of the pots with rainwater every few weeks into early summer to simulate rain and then let nature do the rest. In early to mid September when temps start dropping, return pots to the water tray, keeping them wet at 0-15C. You may see germination after a few weeks but it's not uncommon to have to wait until February. There are many reports of growers having to go through a few annual cycles before success is realized, so patience is your friend. Myself, I keep carrying over yearly a couple 1020 trays filled with seed-sown pots that haven't germinated in hope that one fall or winter they will! Good luck!
 
I sewed some D. Auriculata, D. Peltata seed and planted a D. Macrantha tuber in early september. It is now mid october and I’m seeing no germination but the tuber is sending up a stalk. It’s beginning to reach >5C at nighttime. How long do i keep them outside for? Do I bring in the tuber under lights and leave the seeds out til they germinate?
 
I would keep seed pots outside for as long as possible without temps dropping below 5C. Auriculata and peltata are not particularly difficult to germinate unless seed is older and/or temps are too high. Germination will usually only occur indoors (between 10 to 18C) and not generally outside during cold stratification phase (too cold unless day temps are >~15 C consistently).

You can bring the macrantha indoors since its already growing.
 
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