Pinguicula Seed Viability

[SoLongFairWell]

I know Pinguiculas are very fussy when it comes to how long the seed remains viable but I don't know how much this varies among the different species.

Last August I bought some seeds of the regular P. primuliflora and as I had trouble getting someone to put my greenhouse together I only sowed them yesterday as I had nothing to lose. Does anyone know how long this species remains viable for?

[ada]

It depends how its kept,some people say if kept in the fridge it will be alright for months,even a year.

In my experience kept pings seeds rarely germinate.

Fresh seed,sown straight away works best for me.

ada

[Rodrigo]

Hi Richard, the great germination rates are obtained when the seeds are fresh (harvested at a maximum of 3 months), otherwise they may not germinate or born only after 6 months sown.

I have a friend, in Brazil, who waited seven months for the germination of a one (I said one) seed of P. planifolia of thirty who were in the pot. And that they were fresh seeds.

Best regards,

Rodrigo

Edited June 16, 2013 by Rodrigo

[kisscool_38]

That's difficult to make a general conclusion on for plants with so many different growing types. Some temperate species would need frost to germinate and can then be kept for months to wait for winter conditions. Annuals species seeds that need humidity to germinate could be kept for year (they to survive during many years of dryness). Germination of some species may be also induced by decreasing or increasing light period...

All I want to say is that a short seed viability is a non-sense for plant survival, if seeds only last one month, many species would disappear each year simply because there isn't a constant climate throughout the year, seeds have to endure a bad season before conditions are getting better and that they can germinate. For example, for peatbog restoration programs, they sometimes clean the ground to make peat visible, some species such as Drosera and Pinguicula that disappeared a long time ago in such habitat will greatly germinate from the seedstock of the peat and colonize again those peatbog.

If your seeds doesn't germinate after months it's simply because you didn't kept them the right way. Once again, it's difficult to make a general rule for all Pinguicula species. But I could germinate P. sharpii seeds that were kept for 6 years.

[SoLongFairWell]

Aymeric, the funny thing is it's the primuliflora seeds I bought from you. I completely forgot to put them in the fridge. Mind you, I was banking on the greenhouse being built at the time so it wasn't my intention to leave them all these months.

[kisscool_38]

I'm never putting seeds in the fridge. I obtained better results keeping them at room temperature.

[SoLongFairWell]

I don't usually but I think in this case it may have helped.

[sundewmatt]

i just sowed some ancient seed i had stored in the fridge for over a decade. this included several pings from the SE USA. we're now on day 24 and... no sign of growth from the pings.

on the other hand, so far I've had around 30% of the other seeds (mostly Drosera) germinate, with more popping up every day.