Roridula - Humidity for germination and growth

[Mark Long 19]

Hi all

I'm currently having a go at growing some Roridula and Byblis from seed on behalf of the botanic garden up here in Bangor. I sowed the seeds two weeks ago but wanted to check that the conditions are suitable.

All seeds are in a chamber receiving a lot of light (16 h photoperiod) and are kept at a constant temperature of 20 C. The air movement in the chamber is very good and the RH is currently 50%. The byblis are covered with a propagator lid to increase the humidity for them.

My main question is this; is this humid enough for germination of the roridula? What kind of humidities are preferable for larger plants as well?

I'm happy with the Byblis so far, some tiny plants (filifolia and guehoi) are now visible within 2 weeks of sowing.

Thanks for your help,

Mark

[gardenofeden 244]

Sounds fine Mark. I have always germinated in my greenhouse no problem, just standing in lagoons with everything else.

[CZDalkan 2]

Hi Mark

I sowed several seeds of R. gorgonias in mixture of peat and silica sand 1:2. They germinated very quickly in three weeks.

I´m not using any chamber or special lights or anything else. Using square 4x4 cm pots filled with the soil and put in 1cm of water. Seeds were sowed on top and slightly pushed into the soil for better contact. Success in my conditions is 99,5%

Download/open attached file (xls) and you can see temp and humidity of growing conditions.

I have seeds only on northern windows sill. Just direct sunshine (if shining). Air movement? Seeds needs any? ;-)

No special conditions to germinating :)

http://www.dalkan.cz/2013-web.xls

But seedlings require other conditions

Happy growing

Dalibor

Edited June 6, 2013 by CZDalkan

[Mark Long 19]

Cheers guys, I'll keep at it and see what happens. I'll get them into the greenhouse sometime soon now that we've actually got a bit of sunshine here!

Thanks again,

Mark

[Mark Long 19]

4 weeks (and 3 days) have past since sowing the Roridula and Byblis seeds and we've got some promising looking activity. Out of 10 R. gorgonias seeds, 7 have germinated (image below) and 1 has been discarded as it appeared to have gone moldy. No germination from R. dentata yet.

So far we have 4 of B. filifolia and guehoi out of 22 and 16 seeds respectively. A bit disappointed to see so few germinate, but I'll keep them under the lights and keep my fingers crossed as well.

Mark

[Maiden 172]

Nice Seedlings ! :) i have to try roridula this summer.

[CZDalkan 2]

mlong: something new with your Roridula seedlings?

Edited December 23, 2013 by CZDalkan

[Richard Bunn 443]

Did you smoke treat your seeds? Just thinking of the low germination rate.

[CZDalkan 2]

It is not necessary to do smoke treat for R. gorgonias if the seeds are fresh.

[Mark Long 19]

Hi CZDalkan, I've been following your post on your R. gorgonias and they look fantastic! If we get ours to look anywhere near as impressive as your ones I'll be a very happy chappy :)

The R. gorgonias have done ok, we have 6 plants which are about 10 cm tall and another 2 that are smaller, though growth seems to have slowed a bit as it's darker and cooler here. At the moment they're in a bright spot in a very roomy greenhouse with not very high humidity. How do you grow yours over the winter?

No luck with the others though. One R. dentata germinated but was still only a tiny seedling when it started to get darker. It died shortly after, as did the byblis unfortunately.

So all in all, keeping my fingers crossed that the R. gorgonias continue to do well next year, I think we'll leave R. dentata for the time being and would really like to have another go at some Byblis, so if there's someone out there who can help with tips on growing those I'd be really happy to hear you :)

All the best and have a good Christmas,

Mark

[CZDalkan 2]

Hi Mark,

Thank you for compliment. :)

You can saw my winter growing on the photo in my topic (http://www.dalkan.cz...G_8278-copy.jpg). Southern windowsill, no additional extra lights (maybe a little bit from terrarium with the chameleons) Temperature and humidity you can see here http://www.dalkan.cz...2013-12-23.xlsx (every month has its own sheet). Soil mixture is peat:silica sand 1:2, in the pot is approx 1cm drainage and no water level through all winter time. Watering only from the top, just to make the soil wet. Maybe once every three or four days.

This winter will be different due to buying dehuminifier.

You can see this year´s seedling on previous photo too. They are not quite tall, but looks very healthy. I think that yours seedling are bigger than mine. ;)

Merry Christmas to all

Dalibor

Edited December 23, 2013 by CZDalkan

[Mark Long 19]

Hi Dalibor

Thanks for sharing your conditions, I was wondering how much I should be watering them. I've been watering about once every week or so by pouring a little into their tray, but just enough so that the substrate absorbs it fairly quickly and stays just a little damp. They're growing in a peat/perlite mix about 1:2.

I'm away from the gardens at the moment but will be back after Christmas, I'll post a few photos when I get back.

Cheers,

Mark

[CZDalkan 2]

Hi Mark,

thanks you for your future pics. :)

I need these plants watering so often becouse the soil is quietly dry and flower stalks (at this time) going down. You have probably different conditions so make your own decision about watering. :)

best regards

Dalibor

Edited December 25, 2013 by CZDalkan

[Mark Long 19]

As promised, here are some pics of how last summer's R. gorgonias seedlings are doing. The pics are taken in the teaching lab at Treborth, as the light was better than where we're growing them in The Temperate House. I was worried about how they would do over the winter, but so far so good I think!

[Richard Bunn 443]

It is not necessary to do smoke treat for R. gorgonias if the seeds are fresh.

But the germination rate was low. I smoke treated mine and got 100% germination.

[Mark Long 19]

Hi Richard

Sorry, are you referring to the Roridula or the Byblis?

I did smoke treat the Byblis but didn't have many germinate, so not sure what went wrong there as I'm still very much learning with this genus. As for the R. gorgonias, I did not smoke treat them but we got 8 plants from 10 seeds, so I'm pretty happy with that :)

How are yours coming along? Definitely looking forward to spring and some more daylight!

Cheers,

Mark

[Richard Bunn 443]

Oh Sorry Mark I was confused. I thought it was your Roridula that was low germination. Mine are doing fine. They're not doing much at all since they germinated in the autumn but over Christmas the 4th seed germinated. I saved a few of the seeds back in the fridge just in case there was a cultivation error or something.