A friend of mine over here in the UK has just given me loads of
Darlingtonia seed harvested from his plant - he only has one,
we self-pollinated it. It seems to have produced good looking seed -
are they usually self fertile?
Next question: I've never succeeded in germinating any purchased
Darlingtonia seed before (despite success with Sarracenia, Dionaea,
Drosera, Pinguicula), so what do I have to do? At least the seed is
definitely fresh this time - maybe that will prove to be the answer.
I've sown it already, on the surface of peat/grit/perlite stood in
water. I've done three separate pots so that I can subject them to
different winter treatment (if they haven't germinated by then).
Do they require a cold period? freezing?
My Darlingtonia plants are finally growing quite fast, with pitchers to
about 4 inches/10 cm now. They were derived from some horrible material
from a garden centre, probably tissue cultured, but at least it wasn't
too expensive. It's taken 3 years, but I now have ten plants of
assorted sizes, so maybe I'll have flowers of my own soon.
Here's hoping that the tuberous Droseras (peltata, planchonii,
whittakeri) get going soon. I've not been growing them for long
enough (seed last year) to be over confident that they will appear.
I sowed more this spring, which may be the wrong time of year, but
they seem to come up, do very little during the summer, and then
accelerate about now.
People maybe remember me asking about Utricularia dusenii from seed
about a year ago. This is my one and only Utric. It has now spread
filaments over and under the soil, and has leaves (still only about
1/8 in, 3mm in size) here and there.
Sorry I don't participate in all the Nepenthes discussion - I don't
have any. If there are any easy going species that would get along
in a normal greenhouse that gets down to 45 F/7 C in winter, then
it would be nice to add one or two. I did germinate N. khasiana seed
once, but they didn't last long.
Clarke