Conditions to germinate Drosera.

[Richard Hole]

Hi

Do you think the conditions described below would be good to germinate Drosera seed? A concern could be mold. However, after they germinate I plan to take them out of the terrarium. I could spray the surface with a 10% solution of organic cow's milk. However, I am not sure if that could cause any problems with the germination. Do you think it would be all right or do you think it would be unnecessary unless the mold starts?

I plan to grow the Drosera seeds in a large terrarium made by a fish tank. I plant to have it inside a greenhouse outside. White Solarweave plastic will be on the roof which filters out half the light. Below it I have 70% shade cloth. I assume this would give a total of about 85% shade.

The terrarium will have water in the bottom below the shelf where the seed box stand. I also plan to stand the Drosera seed box in a tray of water. The terrarium will have an inch gap up the top for ventilation.

Are these conditions good?


Regarding using milk as a fungicide, http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s1484677.htm states:
"First I'm going to show you how to make a milk fungicide. I'm using organic milk because it contains all of the antibiotic qualities necessary to make this work. The magic ingredient is one part of the organic milk to 10 parts of water. You give that a good stir and it's ready for use. The objective of spraying is to make sure that you cover every single part of the plant, both sides of the leaves and coat the stems as well. Fungicides work best as a preventative, not as a cure. Now this has been proven to work on everything in the cucumber family, so my choko is fine. I've found them to be very good on begonias. Research in South Australia is proving that they're very effective in controlling mildews on grapevines. Research has also shown that if you have too much milk in your solution, you can encourage sooty mould, so stick to the recipe; one part milk, 10 parts water".

Should this be all right?

Your help is appreciated
Regards Richard.

[piscesilim]

Never try, never know.

I am using 1 part peat/ sphagnum moss : 1 part perlite/sand as substrate. I put this substrate in a clear tupperware. Sow the seeds on top of the substrate. Then cover it and put in bright area. If the seeds are fresh enough, they will germinate in a month time.

[arvin555]

Never Tried Cow's milk, can't get them easily here, organic fresh that is.

As for Drosera seeds, my main concern is actually Algae than Molds

TTFN
Arvin

[Richard Hole]

Hi

Thanks for the reply.

I probably should have given you the species that I am trying to grow.

The Drosera seed that I listed on my earlier question in this section of the forum are below. However, I have ordered some others since and listed them first. Based on the answers I plan to sow the ones in the second list apart from Drosera filiformis and Intermedia which I plan to stratify and sow next spring. Also, with the tuberous Drosera like Peltata, I plan to sow at the end of February. We are in mid Summer at the moment. I am at 757 m altitude in the tropics near Cairns.

In the first list I think Whittacki is tuberous and should be sown in late February. However, I am not sure if there are any others that should not be sown now or which ones in the first list below require special treatment. Do you know of any others?

admirabilis
auriculata
Binata
capensis ‘Giant’
capillaris
chrysolepis (=pusilla)
dielsiana
indica ‘Purple flower’
natalensis
oblanceolata ‘Hong Kong’
spatulata ‘Fraser Is., QLD’ (Lovellae)
ventusa
Whittacki


The ones I listed on the previous question are:

Slackii
Peltata
Aliciae
Filiformis
Burmannii
Intermedia
Nidiformis
Dielsiana
Capensis Broad Leaf
Capensis Red form


Should the above Drosera seed grow well in the terrarium and sitting in a tray of water? I thought that I would put them in the terrarium together with the Nepenthes cuttings.

Your help is appreciated,
Regards Richard.

[Richard Hole]

Hi

I thought that Drosera seed may grow better with the frequent misting of a small burst of fine spray during hot dry weather. I thought of setting up a simple automatic misting system where the jets would only give a very fine spray on the Drosera seeds or seedlings and Nepenthes during warm dry weather. That would save overheating of the Nepenthes cuttings as well and maintain high humidity for the Drosrea Adelae and young Drosera seedlings. When the hardier Drosera grow, I could pot them and leave them under the mist for a few days and then transfer them out into an area that gets almost full sun.

I thought of wiring a simple balance arm misting sensor in series with a thermostat where the thermostat is exposed to the sun. This would mean that mist only occurred during drier sunny weather. That would mean that the plants would not get softened up too much and reduce the chances of damage in a mechanical breakdown.

The other way I was thinking of is an automatic shading system where a motor would automatically unroll some 70% shade cloth when the weather became hot. However, the misting system may save having to do this because it would keep the foliage cooler when it is sunny. This would also mean the plants would get more light. Currently, I have the plants described above under white Solarweave plastic that cuts down on 50% of the sun and light. The greenhouse is ventilated and open on the sides. However, I plan to shelter the plants from the wind by a lower peace of plastic for a wind break.

Do you think that the idea of a misting system is a good idea under the Solarweave plastic without extra shading?

Your help will be appreciated,
Regards Richard.

[arvin555]

Hmmm, some of your drosera species I have no experience yet. But I think your plan is a bit complicated... try the KISS method. Keep it Simple Sam!

My suggestion, and what I do:

1. Water tray under pot, not too deep though.
2. Cover the top with some kind of moisture cover, I use plastic cups or plastic bags.

I am under the impression that the plantlets do not want to be come wet from above, that is why I just make sure the water tray always has water.

Just control the temperature so that they won't get too hot or too cold.

That's it!

Putting them in terrarium should work well as you planned, but I don't know about the misting part. As long as the medium is moist and there is no germination yet, I don't think it will matter much.

TTFN
Arvin