> What is the new Cheek book? Should this be Cheers?
I meant the Cheers book. At least the name matches until the end.
> 1) Are Nepenthes seeds really that hard? They are so thin and
> whispy, I though that they would soak through pretty quickly.
The seed coat is more water-resistant than hard. If you put them in a
cup of water, it takes 3 days before the seeds sink.
> 2) I live in upper new york state. Sunlight and humidity are
> at a premium here. I had orginally planned to cover the seeds and place
> them under artificial light
That would probably work ok. The hours of sunlight is more in the north in
summer, so I just use sunlight. Direct sunlight raises the temperature of
the soil and that is benificial to germination too.
> 3) What kind of success rate have you had with this technique?
It depends on the freshness of the seeds, how they were stored, the species,
and a lot of things. Germination may take 2 to 18 months. If you get a
10% germination, that is high for Nepenthes. As soon as the seeds germinate,
I pot them into 2" pots of peat moss and perlite and put them under lights
to prevent bugs eating them and to keep them in high humidity. Some people
microwave the soil before sowing to prevent fungus and it may kill moss
spores to prevent the seeds being covered with moss before the seeds have a
chance to germinate. If you microwave the soil, be sure the soil is very,
very wet. After the oven, take the soil outside immediately because it will
smell bad.
> I was very surprised of your news about the Danser's monography of
> Nepenthes. I am interested in growing Nepenthes and I have never heard
> about this book. What is it? Is it possible to obtain this book (or
> xerocopy) anywhere?
This is in "Bulletin Jard. Bot. Buitenzorg", Serie III, Vol IX, Livr. 3-4,
The article is in engish, "The Nepenthaceae of the Netherlands Indies" by
B.H. Danser, about 180 pages, from 1928. An older one written by
Macfarlaine was in Das Pflanzenreich. There's a new Nepenthes monograph
that may be published soon too. Jan Schlauer is researching Nepenthes of
Sumatra for this I understand.
PS:
This site is operating a gopher. If anyone is interested in the Louisville
area, try "gopher gopher.iglou.com".
-- Don Burden New Albany, Indiana, USA donb@iglou.com