Germinating Highland Nep Seed

[Jefforever]

I'll be receiving lotsa N. lowii seed in the mail soon(ish) and wondered if anyone has had experience with these.

I've been told that high temps are the key to germination even in highland species. Is this really the case?

Thanks in advance.

 

[phissionkorps]

Lots of successful growers swear by germinating even HL seed in LL conditions, then switching the temps later.

I find seedlings very tolerant of temps, but not drought, and the reverse to be true for adult plants.

 

[JB_OrchidGuy]

I just have a problem getting them to germinate. Should they be treated with smoke water or something? I have some bical and amp seeds I am trying to germinate and so far no luck.

 

[phissionkorps]

I don't think smoke water will do anything, and neither will GA3. Bical seeds have extremely short shelf life, and amp...idk. I've never had much luck with amp either. I think Maybe I wasn't keeping them wet enough or something.

 

[JB_OrchidGuy]

Thanks PK. I hope to get some of these to germinate. They came straight from Borneo and have location ID.

 

[Capslock]

I think the best thing to do is send some of those seeds to me. I have experience and success in germinating highland nepenthes seed, and provide good highland conditions. The safest thing is to just send a bunch over here. Please. I'm begging! I NEED N. LOWII SEED!

Whoops, did I say all that out loud?

Capslock

 

[JB_OrchidGuy]

Trying to get all the nice plants huh Max? LMAO I hope my lowii turns out to be a female! I would like to get another lowii as well.

 

[phissionkorps]

Are your bical seeds from Sri Aman? Cuz mine are. When did you get them? I got them end of March, and they were already 3 or 4 weeks old by that point (when I sowed them). I have no germination yet.

 

[Jefforever]

I think the best thing to do is send some of those seeds to me. I have experience and success in germinating highland nepenthes seed, and provide good highland conditions. The safest thing is to just send a bunch over here. Please. I'm begging! I NEED N. LOWII SEED!

Whoops, did I say all that out loud?

Lol. I believe I'll be getting around 100 Lowii seeds, so I suppose we could work something out...

But only you. I don't want anymore pms than I already have.

 

[srduggins]

I guess I won't offer to trade my fresh jamban seed then.

I haven't had much luck germinating lowlanders either. I think they must have a shorter shelf life in general. So far, seed freshness seems to be the determining factor.

 

[Jefforever]

Ouch! I think I can make exceptions, if that's the case...

Mind if I pm you?

 

[JB_OrchidGuy]

Are your bical seeds from Sri Aman? Cuz mine are. When did you get them? I got them end of March, and they were already 3 or 4 weeks old by that point (when I sowed them). I have no germination yet.

Yes they are from Sri Amen. I got them from a forum member here who supposedly collected them. How short is the shelf life of these seed?

 

[phissionkorps]

I think germination drops off very considerably at 2 weeks. We might not get very high germination if at all. I got the seed from the same person and they spend about 2 weeks just lingering around in the mail. Oh well, I have the space, so I'll keep the seed for a few months and hope something happens.

 

[srduggins]

Thank you to all the people who recognize my sarcasm and didn't PM me for jamban seeds.

 

[rsivertsen]

I find that bottom heat set to 85F does wonders to accellerate germination of Nepenthes seed. I sow them on shredded sphagnum, and drive them into the stuff with a few strong blasts of my hand mister filled with distilled water until it becomes a slurry of sphagnum. Then I set them in a large glass lasagna pan with an aquarium heater set to 85-90F; the bottom heat also helps evaporate the excess water.

Some seed batches seem to take much longer to germinate than others.

- Rich

 

[Jefforever]

Rich,

Did you sprout many highlands that way? I generally keep mine just barely moist.


@ Steve...

Thank you to all the people who recognize my sarcasm and didn't PM me for jamban seeds.

Lol. Good thing I didn't get around to pming you, eh?

And I actually did work something out with Caps.

 

[rsivertsen]

Oh yeah!! I just got nearly 100% germination of N. fusca and N. lowii recently from Kota Kinabalu, and several others. Once they develop about 6 pitchers, I separate them, and start to give them highland conditions. - Rich