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Drosophyllum


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Hi all,

I've received some Drosopyhllum seed today, with so many differing ways to treat the seed (GA3, sand paper and cutting with a knife) to obtain the highest germination sucess I was wondering what the consensus of opinion is?

Also what the best medium to grow them in? I'm considering a sand/vermiculite type mix in a large terracota pot, how does this sound?

Thanks in advance.

Rich

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Guest Sheila

I grew one in a large 12 inch terracota pot and it was huge. In contrast I have one now growing in a 4 inch terracotta pot and it is tiny in comparison. So I would say the big pot is the way to go.

You don't need GA3 to germinate these and cutting the seed can damage it so it won't grow. I would give it a quick rub with sandpaper, not too much, just enough to rough the surface a bit. then I put the seed in a glass of rainwater for 5 days before sowing it. It germinates well on a saucer of wet vermiculite, but must be transferred into its permanent pot as soon as it germinates. They are prone to damping off so try to get it established where it has good air movement.

I find a mix of equal parts sand, vermiculite and perlite is good for Drosophyllum No peat is needed

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I second Sheila on a large pot - no need for Slacks double pot system then (which never worked for me!). I add a bit of peat in the mix but overall its very free draining and mainly grit/sand/perlite - I've never had limestone to mix in. Mine is on my trays with the rest of my plants but raised up out of the full depth of water on a few tiles. It thus gets some water when the trays are full but then none once the level drops a bit. Its been like this for a couple of years - guess I fussed too much on this one in the past!! Fresh seed seems to germinate freely with no treatment, just sow asap and keep very lighly damp until germinated and well rooted - then slowly dry out to stop any damp-off.

Good luck, its a nice plant once established.

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Mine is in a 6" pot. It almost died today from thirst. I woke up to find its leaves droop. I immediately watered it and sprayed it till the leaves firmed up. The heat went up to 101F today and humidity down to 13%.

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With the half a dozen or so Drosophyllum that I've sown, I've had almost 100% germination. This may of course be due to good batches of seed rather than technique!

For what it's worth, I used the point of a medical lancet to pierce a tiny hole in the side of the seed - I'm sure one could use a sharp needle to the same effect. Fairly simple as long as your hand/eye coordination is OK! I then soaked them for a day or two before sowing, putting one seed each into peat pots filled with sand/perlite/vermiculite. These were then planted out into large terracotta pots, and subsequently 'slack-potted'.

Bruce

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Thanks all for the replies and pointing me in the right direction!

I think in hindsight given I have 16 seeds I can aford to try a few different methods, my first choice is to go with Sheila's suggestion as I dont yet have any GA3 but I do have sand paper :) in a 1:1:1 Perlite, sand, vermiculite mix.

I'll let you know how the seeds do.

Rich

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