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Aeroponic Drosera germination via AeroGrow?

jonnyq

Supporter
Hi everyone,

Just wondering if anyone else here has tried germination CP seeds (in my case, D. capensis) using an AeroGrow hydroponic system... (My sister just got one for me for Christmas...)

I did find this thread regarding Dionaea plants:
http://www.terraforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=115096

...but no mention of attempts to germinate CP seeds.

If anyone on here has tried this and has any wisdom that they'd like to part with, I'd be grateful for the guidance...

I've got three "pods" (sponges) to use. My initial thoughts are to sprinkle a few springs of either LFS or peat moss on the top of the sponges to provide a bit of acidity, and then drop a few D. capensis seeds on top... Maybe sprinkle a bit of sulfur dust atop that as well...

Does that sound reasonable?
 
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Sounds like a good plan, you will learn something from it at least...please keep us updated!
 
Well, I've just emptied out three Aerogarden seed pods of their herb seeds (or at least emptied out as many of the deeply and annoyingly embedded seeds as I could). Thanks to the generosity of SDCPs and Reaper, I've sprinkled in seeds of D. capensis typical, alba and red...

If anything actually germinates in this contraption, I'll post pics. :D
 
(I do wish I could change the title of the thread to "Aeroponic"... Sorry about that; I only learned the differences between aeroponics and hydroponics about a week so ago...)

Well, there's some good news... As of yesterday, I was able to see a bit of germination in the all three pods... So, that's a step in the right direction.

Anyhow, this is certainly progress; many thanks again to SDCPs and Reaper for their kindness...
 
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I apologize for my poor photography... I have a pretty simple digital camera, and few photography skills.

This is the basic setup I've got:
Aerogrow%20setup.jpg


The "Dill" pod has D. capensis typical seeds, the "Basil" has D. capensis 'albino' seeds, and the "Thyme" has D. capensis 'all red' seeds...

View of the "typical" seedlings
Aerogrow%20Drosera%20capensis%20typical%20T+18days.jpg

Yeah, these are gonna clump... :D


View of the "albino" seedlings
Aerogrow%20Drosera%20capensis%20alba%20T+18days.jpg


Couldn't even get a blurry shot of the "all red" seedlings... Perhaps when everything's larger...
 
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Does your digital camera have a macro setting? It is usually indicated by this icon ->
macro-icon_sml.jpg


The macro setting allows for focusing very close to objects. When using a macro setting often supplemental lighting is necessary because the flash won't reach the subject appropriately.
 
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Congrats on the germination! I'll be interested to see your results.
 
Thanks for the encouragement!

Does your digital camera have a macro setting? It is usually indicated by this icon ->
macro-icon_sml.jpg


The macro setting allows for focusing very close to objects. When using a macro setting often supplemental lighting is necessary because the flash won't reach the subject appropriately.

Indeed, that actually was on the macro setting... Part of the problem is that I can't seem to figure out how to do manual focus on the camera... It defaults to automatic focus, and it seems to aim for the illustrated paper ring on the top of the pod, rather than on the seedlings below...

Will keep trying, but I do appreciate the advice!
 
jonny what i had to do for my camera is take the pic at the closest distance powerful without it being blurry, Then when i went to view the image i was able to zoom in on it and crop the image zoomed, this allowed me to get a close up but not blurry. If i went to close with the camera it was nothing but a blur. maybe your camera doesnt crop but it might in the program you use to upload them to the comp will. Just a thought, i like this idea for the thread showing progress from the begining, im doing the same thing with dews.
 
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  • #10
I'm glad the seeds are growing for you! You are very welcome to them.
 
  • #12
Trying to take macro shots with a non-DSLR, non-manual focus camera is very difficult. Mostly you have to shot and shot until you capture the shot you want. Fortunately there are little if any cost to "develop" your shots unlike film.

Some tips: If the camera has a spot metering mode set it to that. Many cameras will lock the focus and exposure when you press the shutter button down halfway. The focus hot spot is usually in the center unless you have a camera which selects the focus hotspot either automatically or manually. So try to compose your shot so the center is on the part you want to focus on is in dead center then press the shutter halfway to lock the focus and exposure. Then recompose your shot while holding the button down halfway. Then take your picture.

Getting the focus spot where you want it is difficult in non-DSLR cameras because the peephole viewfinder doesn't look through the lens and in macro/closeup mode the center spot in the finder can be way off from the center spot of the lens (parallax). The LCD screen may be too small or dim in bright light for you to make out the details you're trying to focus on. And the lag time to update the screen image makes it difficult to lock the focus at the place in time when it is centered where you want it.

So again the solution is to just shoot pictures until you get what you want. The rest can be deleted.
 
  • #13
Hi everyone, thanks for all of the camera advice... A lot of it was a bit beyond me, but that's why there's wikipedia. :D Still learning, but I think you'll find these to be a marginal improvement, at least...

I think part of the difficulty was that these guys were still under humidity domes, so trying to take pictures through them was an added challenge... That being said, now that I'm hardening them off, I thought I'd share a few more pictures...

This is now T+50 days.


D. capensis typical
Aerogrow%20Drosera%20capensis%20typical%20T+50days%20small.jpg


Interestingly, and unexpectedly (at least to me), the albinos are actually flourishing, far more so than the typicals...

D. capensis 'albino'
Aerogrow%20Drosera%20capensis%20alba%20T+50days%20small.jpg


They're really something... SDCPs, not sure what kind of monster plants yielded such vibrant seeds, but thanks!

And lastly...

D. capensis 'red'...??
Aerogrow%20Drosera%20capensis%20red%20T+50days%20small.jpg


My apologies to Reaper, it appears that I may have contaminated the red seeds with typical seeds... Either that, or

1) red pigmentation (anthocyanin?) in the leaves comes later in development?
2) my conditions aren't right for red pigmentation?
3) not all of the seeds will produce all-red progeny?

In either case, so far so good...

I've used some fine tweezers to deposit some very small dried bloodworm scraps on some of the leaves to give them a bit of a kick... No doubt competition will kick in shortly...
 
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  • #14
I often use a dissecting needle to gently separate the young seedlings. It seems that if they are too close to each other, they can adversely affect each other as they compete for space, light, and nutrients to grow. Spacing them apart as far as space permits will usually help all of them to grow larger, faster.
 
  • #15
Sorry, Mr. Clemens, I just realized that I never responded to your post...

So, after reading the advice above, I did try to nudge the seedlings apart with a specimen needle, but the problem is that the substrate is a dark-brown sponge rather than peat moss, so the roots have begun establishing themselves into the sponge... I was afraid to use too much force and run the risk of damaging (tearing) the seedlings...?
 
  • #16
this is what i have been looking for for some time now. iam trying to do this same setup! i hav the aerogarden 7 an i would like to no what kind of medium did you use on top of your aerogarden sponge. and do you think i could just sprinkle the seeds on the top of the sponge without any extra soils, do you think it will grow?

---------- Post added at 03:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:09 PM ----------

i would like to no if anyone else has tried using an aerogarden to grow sundews?

any info would be great

thanks
 
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