PetPitcher Forum - shawnintland: D. burmanni seedlings & ? (Read 158 times)

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shawnintland: D. burmanni seedlings & ? (Read 158 times)

Re: shawnintland: D. burmanni seedlings & ? (Read 158 times)

shawn,

May I know what conditions did you germinate your D. Burmanii seeds?

I saw you used Dried Sphagnum moss, I am guessing pure Dried Sphagnum?

How about lighting? Full sun? Artificial? etc?

How many seeds did you sow by the way?

TTFN
Arvin

Re: shawnintland: D. burmanni seedlings & ? (Read 158 times)

Quote:

Originally Posted by arvin555 (Post 998)

First off, let me say that these were my first attempts, so it may not be the best media to use just my attempt; I germinated them on very finely chopped sphagnum (at least after the first batch) by putting it in a blender for a few seconds. I had to wet the sphagnum with mist as I added it to the boxes 1 cm. at a time or it doesn't wet thoroughly. The boxes were covered with a clear lid and set in bright light (Sun) but not direct sunlight. The little boxes I used stayed moist, so I only had to re-wet them once every 10 days or so. I can't remember how many seed there were but I think about 10 per box and I tried to set them far enough apart that I would be able to remove them without disturbing the next plant. The finely chopped sphagnum helped in that, unlike the long fibers, it allows you to prick out the plants without pulling up other plantlets when its time to transplant. The downfall I had was when transplanting them... I should have hardened them off (kept them covered and slowly transitioned to open air) so I lost almost half of them. Good luck!
Shawn

Re: shawnintland: D. burmanni seedlings & ? (Read 158 times)

Thanks very much for sharing your style of germinating, this helps a lot. Unfortunately I won't be able to get away with using the blender for sphagnum moss :) hehehe!

TTFN
Arvin

Re: shawnintland: D. burmanni seedlings & ? (Read 158 times)

Finally got my Burmanii seeds to sprout however I noticed that they turned brownish and that unfortunately the cocopeat medium I used has some cyanobacteria (blue green algae). I am wondering if burmanii seedlings do turn brownish naturally or is there something wrong? Maybe too much sun? maybe algae is causing problem? Nutrition?

TTFN
Arvin

Re: shawnintland: D. burmanni seedlings & ? (Read 158 times)

Oh oh, I think we could say something's gone wrong! Again, I'm no expert on these but I've never seen a brown one that was healthy. How much sun were they out in? Open container or closed? A picture would probably help. Let's see what others say around here.
S.

Re: shawnintland: D. burmanni seedlings & ? (Read 158 times)

arvin...nope, a browning d.burmanii seedling is not good news. check on your humidity levels. is your medium wet enough ? if they are too small, don`t expose to full sun yet.

cocopeat = peat moss ? sorry, not too familiar with that medium since i don`t use it. but your other sundews planted in it are ok ?

Re: shawnintland: D. burmanni seedlings & ? (Read 158 times)

Thanks for your reply guys, I was afraid of that. I will try to take photo soon. But my seedlings are in the following environment:

1. Cocopeat (coconut husk or is it trunk that has been grounded I think)
2. Small 3 inch container with Lid, it is more or less sealed.
3. Water/humidity is high coz it gets droplets of water all over the container and on the Lid.
4. More or less direct sunlight, though for the past few weeks we didn't have much sunlight because of monsoon.
5. There is cyanobacteria growing on parts of the surface of the medium.

The burmanii seedlings are in their own container, my Indica container, nothing at all, my spatulata doing okay but it is in mixed cocopeat and sphagnum moss (not blendered) Spatulata looks nice and green, container looks the same as what Shawn used in the photos. Luckily no algae in that one too! It is located in the same place as the other seedlings, so same lighting.

I will take photo and post soon.

TTFN
Arvin

Re: shawnintland: D. burmanni seedlings & ? (Read 158 times)

Finally was able to upload a bad photo of my burmanii :) Please note the different color of the seedlings, some are brown, some are still greenish. The greenish ones, I hope means they are healthy, but maybe there is possibility that they are green because of the blue green algae they are sharing space with.

http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n...urmanii003.jpg

In Comparison the Spatulata that germinated looks healthy green:
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n...atulata005.jpg

Re: shawnintland: D. burmanni seedlings & ? (Read 158 times)

Hi Arvin,

Cocopeat can be toxic to CP's. I have seen it used with Nep's with success but generally not with other CP's such as Drosera. This may be the cause of the problem. Maybe you could replicate your conditions using either Sphagnum moss or Sphagnum peat. Another option for germination of seeds would be perlite or vermiculite. Cheers.

Re: shawnintland: D. burmanni seedlings & ? (Read 158 times)

arvin, i can`t comment of the media used as i`ve not used cocopeat before.

from the pic tho......it looks like there is algae attacking your plantlets as well as the medium seems to attract it ( it doesn`t look too wet so that`s not why algae is forming, perhaps there is some element in cocopeat which attracts algae formation)....you might try to gently scoop up the algae, or perhaps use a toothpick to remove small portions of it at a time. the sundews are a bit small to move about at the moment.

what do the rest think ?

Re: shawnintland: D. burmanni seedlings & ? (Read 158 times)

TS, Ithnk the problem with cocopeat is that it contains nutrients. I am not 100% sure of this but I think I have seen this given as a reason as to why it is not very good for use with CP's. This may explain why there is algae growth on the media.

Re: shawnintland: D. burmanni seedlings & ? (Read 158 times)

Hi Arvin,

Well, perhaps the direct sunlight is too much for them? I have yet to move any of mine into 'direct' sunlight and they are doing fine (although could use more light now that they are larger). I also have not tried cocopeat as a starting media so can't help much there. Your media looks about the same as mine as far as moisture content and it sounds like they are in the same conditions (lidded boxes) so sunlight and media are the main differences.
Good luck saving them!

Re: shawnintland: D. burmanni seedlings & ? (Read 158 times)

Thanks for your inputs guys. I actually have another batch in dried sphagnum moss, unfortunately that too had some algae, but they don't look blue green to me, we'll see.

The Spatulata that I got from a fellow CPer here is in cocopeat actully, and they are flowering, so at least for grown ones, they are okay in cocopeat.

When you say Perlite or Vermiculite, are we talking about pure perlite or Vermiculite? I can get these no problem and can try. :)

Actually I also want to try using jelly as medium. Now you guys might think I'm crazy or that I have a lot of seeds to spare, actually not really, Burmanii was given by a fellow petpitcher member, and I am run out, already and hoping some will live to adulthood. I do have some spatulata seeds to try out. :)

TTFN
Arvin

Re: shawnintland: D. burmanni seedlings & ? (Read 158 times)

Arvin, for seed raising pure perlite or vermiculite is OK. I would transfer into a more traditional mix as they grow though. I haven't seen anyone growing mature plants in pure media.

When you talk about jelly as a medium are you refering to agar. This is used for TC plants and they grow well. The only problem may be that it is also good for the growth of bacteria, fungus etc. and so may lead to problems down the track. I would b einterested to see your results though.

Re: shawnintland: D. burmanni seedlings & ? (Read 158 times)

Thanks guys!

I will try vermiculite because though I used to be fan of Perlite (still have them) I don't like how they float around :) I also have pumice but maybe next time.

Yes sorry I meant Agar. I was going to do an experiment with my nephews (well it's my experiment but I wanted them to be part of it so my wife will support it) :) I used unflavored Gelatine Mix, but unfortunately they don't stay firm in room temp, I tried double the dosage, but still nothing. I am going to try another mix, I also bought Agar to try if all else fails. I also experimented with just plain ones, and ones with some rooting hormones and one with orchid fertilizer. These are just mediums though no actual seeds yet. Will try basil seeds first for these Agar experiments though. Will post updates of course. :)

TTFN
Arvin