Date: Fri, 6 Oct 2000 00:50:58 +0200 From: strega@split.it (Tassara) To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg2936$foo@default> Subject: Re: D. uniflora Flowering
Hi Ivan,
congratulations for your almost flowering D. uniflora!
This is a very interesting result!
>My taxonomy studying friends tell me the species is probably most closely
>related to D. stenopetala in New Zealand
They are really very similar, and D. stenopetala is definitely not easier to
grow than D. uniflora!
>Sadly, the plants did not flower then but only grew for awhile and then
went >dormant.
...which is not so bad with such a plant!
>I once again bagged the pot
>and put it in the refrigerator on July 3. After two months I took it out
>and placed the pot under my flourescent light setup on Sept 3. After
>about a week the plants began to grow again. I just noticed last Friday
>September 22, that one of the three plants is forming a flower. This
>plant is tiny, only 17 mm in diameter now.
Interestingly, it seems they require absolutely a resting period (else they
can die), but this period doesn't need to be as long as in the wild.
At which temperature do you keep them in the fridge?
If it is too high they wake up soon inside it.
>If all goes well, I will have a friend photograph the flower. And if
>fortunate, I will give seed to a friend who does tissue culture. I feel
>that invitro propagation is the only way to make this species more widely
>available. Can anyone having experience tell me anything about sowing,
>stratification duration and germination? I will write again on this to
>let you all know how it goes. Wish me luck.
Good luck!
About germination, I had very good results (almost 100% success in some
pots) last year.
I sowed the seeds in small pots without drainage, on pure, very wet peat.
A few living Sphagnum pieces were sparsely placed on the surface in order to
increase humidity.
I then sealed the pots with plastic film and put them in the fridge.
After about 8 months they started germinating there inside, in the cold and
in the dark.
Seeds kept in another, colder fridge (2-4 deg. C.) did not germinate until I
put them in the first one.
I think they need a long stratification and, after that, they require a cool
(Patagonia's spring-like) temperature to germinate: about 8-12 deg.C. They
remained dormant when kept at warm temperatures.
On the other hand, I'm not so successful in growing the small plants,
although they live in a cooled terrarium.
I feel the substrate is very important: what kind of soil do you use?
Best wishes!
Filippo Tassara
Genoa, Italy
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