Re: Alan Lowrie's Pricelist

Jan Schlauer (zxmsl01@studserv.zdv.uni-tuebingen.de)
Mon, 14 Nov 1994 16:36:52 +0100

>> I ordered last year from Mr. Lowrie and had a zero percent germination

>is alan lowries's seed stock really as bad as everyone is saying?

I think I should defend Allen Lowrie a bit. I think AU$ 3/packet is not too
much even if the amount of seeds is not huge sometimes. With his
Lentibulariaceae I have experienced at least 30% (of the species)
germination (NB: lentibulariaceous seed sometimes just fails to germinate
without an obvious reason!). Many seedlings did abort shortly after
germination but this is nothing I could blame A.L. for; it seems to be
essentially a problem of growing media (I use sterile in vitro media).
Furthermore, very very few people on this planet do offer as many
Australian endemics for sale as A.L. does! I think in these cases a small
chance of germination is still much better than none at all. Sure, it is
not necessary to buy _Drosera_capensis_, _D.spatulata_, or other cp weeds
from him.

Kind regards
Jan

PS: This message is by no means meant to represent any kind of
advertisement in favour of or against Allen Lowrie, nor do I participate in
any of his commercial enterprises.