Re: Drosophyllum lusitanicum

Brett Lymn (blymn@awadi.com.AU)
Tue, 15 Aug 1995 12:25:43 +0930 (CST)

According to Brian K. Cooley:
>
>> I soak Drosophyllum seeds for 14 hours in 0.5% sulphuric acid (sounds far
>> more dangerous than it is actually, 0.5% really isn't that acidic).
>> Then I put them into a substrate consisting of equal parts of peat,
>> sand, ordinary plant soil and sort of a clay granulate ("Seramis").
>> I fill the lower third of the pot completely with the clay granulate
>> to get good drainage. This way I can put the pot permanently in a saucer
>> with 2 cm water without overwatering the plants.
>>
>Being new to growing CPs I have yet to try sprouting plants from seed. I
>assume though, that you are using the sulphuric acid to crack the seed
>coat.

For drosophyllum seeds the consensus is that you need to do
_something_ to damages the seeds coat. I normally used a knife to do
this, Manfred's idea of acid sounds like a good one to try and yours
about the tea gives me a readily accessible solution to try.

As for Manfred's question about the time the flowers last - from
memory I thought they lasted until pollinated. I think that
drosophyllum flowers may just self-pollinate but the bright yellow
flowers would certainly be very attractive to all sorts of things so I
think they get pollinated very quickly. I never had any trouble
getting heaps of seeds from my plants. You will know when the seeds
are ready because the seed case will go transparent.

-- Brett Lymn, Computer Systems Administrator, AWA Defence Industries
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