Starting seeds of Sarracenia

I have a packet of seeds from Plants of Distinction marked Sarracenia purpurea Species Mixed. Anybody have any tips for germination? I would really like to give these a go.
Thanks!

They need a cold damp stratification. Stick them in the frig dry for now. Pull them out some time in December. Get a little tray of some sort that has a depth of about 3-4" that has a lid. Food storage containers work great. Prepare a mix of rinsed sand and Canadian Peat. Buy the Canadian Peat now as you will have a hard time getting your hands on it in the middle of winter. Mix your peat with some rinsed play sand or any sand will do. Try around 3 parts Canadian Sphagnum Peat to 1 part rinsed sand. Squeeze out all excess water with your hands and fill your little tray. Sprinkle the seeds on top and stick the lid on and put it in your frig for 60 days and forget about it. Pull it out in February, remove the lid, and set the tray on a heating pad to get the soil temps up to about 80F. You don't want to fry them but they will now need some heat like most other temperate species. There are many who do just fine placing the little tray in a window sill and those who do great positioning a grow bulb over the top of them.

They need to be kept constantly moist at this stage. If you let them dry out, that can be a problem. I stick my finger in the little tray and create a well and I add water to the hole. Most people drill little holes in the bottom of their germination trays and place their trays inside of other trays that they keep filled with distilled water to make sure the seed never dries out.

You'll be fine. Germination times are all over the board. I've had them sprout in 30 days and I've had some sprout in 6 months.

Thanks for this thread! I tried starting some of those seeds last year and was a miserable failure. I didn't do anything like what is described above! I do want to try again so I'm bookmarking this thread!

Thank you so much!!!
The information is wonderful, Equil, now I am much more prepared.
The info on the seed packet didn't seem detailed enough, so I am glad I asked too, lol.
(Good luck , Pixy, if you try again!)

Cool, post photos when your puprurea babies germinate and I think they will.

Pixy, what are you going to try to germinate? Some Tall Pitcher plants only require a 30 day cold stratification and if you extend the period too long... your germination rate will plunge.

I can tell you a neat little trick to see what temps your soil is at for almost anything you want to germinate and it is cheap too which I like. Go to WalMart and pick up one of those floating aquarium thermometers for $1.86. Pull of the little suction cup and insert the tip into your medium about an inch down.

Here's what I'm referring to-
http://www.petdiscounters.com/customer/product.php?productid=1051095

Some people use these stick on thermometers but I don't know how well they work and I don't know if they would "unstick" from the germination tray to be able to be reused-
http://www.petco.com/shop/product.aspx?sku=34517&cm_ven=nik&cm_cat=82&cm_pla=34517&cm_ite=5434033&CMReferringUrl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.yahoo.com%2fsearch%3fp%3daquarium%2bthermometer%26fr%3dFP-tab-web-t-288%26toggle%3d1%26cop%3d%26ei%3dUTF-8

WEll, now I know what I did wrong from the getgo! Those seeds were in the fridge for way too long. They probably never had a chance! I do want to try again, have to order more seeds.

This little Drosera spathulata has some seeds ripening. What do I do to germinate them?

Er uh, I don't know how much help I will be. Other than D. binata spp., all the Drosera I grow is temperate. I am pretty sure D. spathulata is a self pollinator but you might want to look that up if you only have one plant that was growing inside otherwise you'll be germinating seed that may not germinate.

I'm pretty sure your seed to D. spathulata should have never been in the frig. Those can be stored dry just tossed on your counter top until you are ready to use them. Slip them in a paper envelope as opposed to a ziplock anything.

The seed to D. spathulata won't need any type of stratification. I have germinated Drosera seed that isn't temperate before to give away and I just sowed the seed on top of the soil and set it on a heating pad and kept it all watered using my little finger well in a corner of the tray. I think I even used the same mix of Canadian Sphagnum and rinsed sand. I have a better germination rate with Drosera than I do with Sarracenia is about all I can say as the Drosera seed had to be over 90%. My seed germinated but then I received the seed from people I knew and didn't harvest it myself.

There is a new person I just saw posting who is definitely into CPs and he/she might be able to help you. He/She spells his/her user name Isphan or maybe it was Ispahan. Look for somebody with a name like that starting with an i and send him/her a D-Mail and see what happens.

Sorry honey, I don't grow these.

Hey, no problem! I just bought this at a nursery, and they said it's hardy here. They had some growing in a pot of mixed CPs. There were several pots on the table, so maybe the flowers were pollinated. I have never grown drosera, just thought I'd give it a try.

Actually, the seed I failed with was Sarracenia and also Darlingtonia. I just put them in the fridge, then forgot about them. The germination rate: 0. Oh NOOOO!
I'll look for the new person and see if they know anything. I could always look it up, but it's more fun asking people! :)

Te he he, I hear ya. I much prefer to see if somebody can help me first before I go and launch an all out search. Besides which, first hand information is better than a book usually. Books are guides, I love them but they can't replace a human heartbeat that's been there/done that.

Interestingly enough, after I have had to go and look for something, I save a folder with the info in it. Makes it so easy to be able to go back to a file folder and find everything right at my fingertips. Pixy, do you have any books on CPs?

By the way, what nursery in WA were you at that was selling those.

I have no books, but I have bookmarks in my gardening file on the computer. There are a few websites that are quite informative.
I bought the plant at Jungle Fever Exotics in Tacoma. It's not a specializer in CP, but they had a few.

http://www.carnivorousplants.org/

http://www.thecarnivorousplantsociety.org/

Good solid information at these sites

Thanks, these are great sites!

It is way cool to wake up seeds of pitcher plants...I have only been successful in starting S. leucophylla. They initially look like tiny grass blades, then with time you start seeing the pitcher open up in miniature fashion.

It would be very useful to have a matrix table showing species along the left side and then germination data across the rest of the table, such as days to germination, days for stratification (or if stratification is even necessary), and the like. There is a great seed germination table for non-CP species that was originally distributed by Thompson & Morgan, but now is available on at least one or perhaps two web sites.

Joseph

Sort of a difficult request with many of these species. Let's take a look at Sarracenia purpurea for example. I have S. purpurea that is originally from Canada and S. purpurea from Georgia. I have it from a few other places too. The Canadian S. purpurea seems to require a 90 day cold stratification while the S. purpurea from Georgia seems to require only a 30 day cold stratification. Both are S. purpurea ssp. purpurea. What's interesting is that if you cold stratify the S. purpurea from Georgia for longer than 30 days, say 90, your germination rate goes down. And, if you cold stratify the S. purpurea from Canada for only 30 days... your germination rate seems to go down. Original location of species appears to be an important part of the equation. That's why I chose to ride the fence with Hellobebe when I stated 60 days. 60 days, given we won't ever know the location data on her/his seed, is optimal to better ensure he/she gets the highest rate of germination possible. This person is from NY. S. purpurea is native there but the Plants of Distinction I am familiar with is located in the UK and the Brits are collectors so who knows where their seed came from other than somewhere here on North America. They could have gotten their seed from CA or from Wisconsin. Now here's another kicker. Place a heating pad underneath your seed tray and keep those soil temps at 80F and you can get some seed that will germinate in as little as 3 weeks. Other than that, seed germination can be all over the board and I have S. purpurea from Ohio that I started germinating back last February that is beginning to germinate now in the same tray where other seed germinated in March. There are always stragglers it seems and incredibly, I could even get seed to germinate next spring from the same tray. Age of seed will also play into the equation. Without the location data of some species, creating a matrix might become a logistical nightmare. Gives me a headache thinking about it. I'm not saying it isn't a great idea... I'm just glad I won't be the person compiling the data ;) No sense losing my hair before my prime.

So there are regional differences, cool! Have tables of data for various regions?

It appears there may exist regional differences but there are those who might argue this. One such species that inarguably has vastly differing cultural requirements based on location of origin would be that D. anglica. If you get seed from Hawaii, I am relatively confident it will germinate with no stratification what so ever. Get it from Anchorage AK and you will get squat if you don't cold stratify for darn near 4 months if not a 6 month cold stratification.

Tables of data for various regions is an interesting proposal however just because one is attempting to germinate seed in a particular region doesn't mean the seed's origin is from the region. Location data is often times very difficult to come by unless you are willing to pay through the nose to get it and even then you better have confidence in the person you are purchasing the plant from. Location data plants command a premium.