Germination rates.

[dcobbold]

What percentage of seeds can reasonably be expected to germinate?

I have tried this year to grow from seed, s. purpurea, s. flava, d. capensis, d. rotundifolia, p. grandiflora, & p. vulgaris. All the above obtained from the CPsoc seedbank.

I have followed all suggested methods/stratified where appropriate etc., but I have had very variable results. The drosera have germinated best and I have quite a number of seedlings. NONE of the s. purpurea have germinated, despite various sowings from jan. to april this year. I have about 4 or 5 small s. flava seedlings, despite having planted over 50 seeds. Also of the p. seeds, I have only 1 which has so far germinated.

Is this a generally accepted success rate, or would you normally expect better results?

:?:

[David Stanley]

I've had very similar experiences David and have come to the conclusion that there's all kinds of variables that will affect germination, foremost of which is the freshness of the seed you use.

We're very lucky to have access to such an extensive and well run seed bank but I think that, inevitably, some of the donated seed is fresher than others.

I'm doing my best to grow as many plants in my collection as possible from seed so I rely very heavily on my annual allocation from the seedbank. This year, after three years of failures, I've finally got some Darlingtonia to germinate. I didn't do anything different to previous years - it's just this time it worked.

But even if the initial rates seem slow, don't necessarily give up. Many members have reported 'written off' seed germinating the following year or even later.

David

[vic brown]

I've had very good germination from temperate Ping seed from the CPS Seed Bank recently, high germination of P. vulgaris in 2003 and the same with P. alpina this year.

I'm quite a high doner to the Seed Bank and make sure that all the seed I donate is fresh from the season in which I donate it. Donating seed is also the only way to get more seed than the Members Allowance, under the 2 for 1 scheme, so I get try more seed from the Seed Bank than most. I find that the bulk of what I order will germinate, though I've never managed to get any Utric or Genlisea seeds to germinate and I think freshness is certainly a problem with these (I've had 100% success with lots of fresh Utric seed recently, which I've obtained in private trades).

Much of the more exotic seed is now bought in from various commercial sources. I was pleasantly surprised when I managed to germinate 5 of the 7 types of Drosera petiolaris complex species I tried this spring. All the seed was kept very warm and dry for several months before planting (on top of my hot water tank, constantly at about 40C). Then they were planted in a heated propagator, in sun with additional lighting and with high humidity! Min. temp. about 25C at night, Max about 45C in the day and . There was nothing wrong with most of the seed I received, but I doubt that any would have germinated without the correct treatment, which requires homework and preparation.

Vic

[Dieter]

Just one addition to Vic's comment:

I am currently trying to germinate a variety of different utricularia seed I obtained from the CPS seed bank. With very little success. Last weekend I found at least a tiny seedling of Ut. delicatula.

Privately traded (=most probably fresher) seed gives also much better results in my hands. That is also the reason why I offered my utricularia seeds here in the forum before sending it to the seed bank.

Best regards,

Dieter

[Guest Sheila]

I usually get a good germination rate from cps seed. a lot of my sarras have been grown from it. I've not been so successful with some of the more uncommon drosera seed, but I put a lot of that down to my growing conditions maybe not being quite right for them.

[Dunc]

The germination rate seems to vary from seed to seed, year to year! I have had some good success - this year, so far, is not a good year with little sign of ANY activitiy from any of the seed yet!!

:?

[gardenofeden]

The germination rate seems to vary from seed to seed, year to year! I have had some good success - this year, so far, is not a good year with little sign of ANY activitiy from any of the seed yet!!

:?

I agree, some of my Sarracenia are only germinating now after a January sowing, very late!! I usually find that CPS seed either germinates well or not at all, eg about 10% of CPS Sarracenia seed does not germinate. But this is not unusual, some of my own fresh seed will not germiate on occasion.