A few weeks ago you were talking about getting seed from Cephalotus.
I don't remember anybody mentioning that Cephalotus 'fire' their seeds
when the seeds are ripe - much like many cacti do. In order to collect
viable Cephalotus seeds, you need to cover the seed head with muslin or
paper or tissue or whatever, and wait for the seeds to be 'fired'.
Mature seed collected in this manner should be easy to germinate.
Next point, has anybody else out there had experience/problems with
virus in Nepenthes. Ric Maulder/Bruce Salmon/Dean Waters destroyed a
lot of plants last year because of suspected virus. I'm stubborn so I
sent a sample off for analysis before I did anything so radical. The
plant I sent for testing was one we got as N. x ventrata from Phil
Cotter, which Ric renamed N. ventricosa and used as the female parent
for many of the hybrids he has made.
The report I got back from the lab stated that they had found 'rod
shaped virus in the tissue but no infection occured with indicator
plants'. Do Nepenthes carry virus naturally without showing ill effects
until cultural conditions are less than ideal. Are wild collected
plants free from virus? (We only noticed virus symptoms on Neps after
wild collected plants had been introduced to our collections.) Has
anybody else had Neps virus tested? Has anybody else noticed virus
symptoms on Neps?
Cheers
Heather