So, this is going to be a bit longer but I believe there might be a need for some backstory.
Last year in July I ordered some seeds for D. aliciae from the ICPS seed bank. After I received my shipment I found an extra envelope in the order saying "Free, N. ventricosa seeds, 7 months old, sow asap." Knowing a bit about Nepenthes I knew that the viability of their seed steadily decreases as time passes. I looked up a simple soil recipe that used peat, since I didn't have LFS not expecting to get Nepenthes seeds, and sowed them and covered the tray with a lid. After keeping a look out like I'm sure everybody does to see if seeds germinated. Much to my surprise, the Drosera seeds that I bought never germinated but the free Nepenthes seeds did, quite a few in fact, maybe 20 of them.
So my first question is in the attached picture, are the seedlings smaller than they should be for almost being a year old? Thinking about the artificial environment they were in I'm not sure it wasn't ideal.
The second question is what should they be growing in? I don't know if the soil they're in now is any good. What's the photo period they should be getting? Right now I'm at 10 hrs. I turned it down a bit because it seemed like they were getting "bleached out" if that is even a thing. What temps? The lights are kinda close to them. It gets up to about 80 while they're on even though they're LED tubes. I put ice packs around the pots at night for a temp drop. Didn't do this until about 2 months ago though. Didn't know to even do it. Humidity? They were under a clear cover which I would assume would be close to 100 percent. Thinking that they might have been cooking in there I have since removed it and it's about 60 or so where that are. Any other information would be appreciated. These are the first Nepenthes I've ever grown so I have no idea what I'm doing really, lol. I appreciate you reading this long post. If you need any other info, I can certainly give it to you.
Thank You!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Last year in July I ordered some seeds for D. aliciae from the ICPS seed bank. After I received my shipment I found an extra envelope in the order saying "Free, N. ventricosa seeds, 7 months old, sow asap." Knowing a bit about Nepenthes I knew that the viability of their seed steadily decreases as time passes. I looked up a simple soil recipe that used peat, since I didn't have LFS not expecting to get Nepenthes seeds, and sowed them and covered the tray with a lid. After keeping a look out like I'm sure everybody does to see if seeds germinated. Much to my surprise, the Drosera seeds that I bought never germinated but the free Nepenthes seeds did, quite a few in fact, maybe 20 of them.
So my first question is in the attached picture, are the seedlings smaller than they should be for almost being a year old? Thinking about the artificial environment they were in I'm not sure it wasn't ideal.
The second question is what should they be growing in? I don't know if the soil they're in now is any good. What's the photo period they should be getting? Right now I'm at 10 hrs. I turned it down a bit because it seemed like they were getting "bleached out" if that is even a thing. What temps? The lights are kinda close to them. It gets up to about 80 while they're on even though they're LED tubes. I put ice packs around the pots at night for a temp drop. Didn't do this until about 2 months ago though. Didn't know to even do it. Humidity? They were under a clear cover which I would assume would be close to 100 percent. Thinking that they might have been cooking in there I have since removed it and it's about 60 or so where that are. Any other information would be appreciated. These are the first Nepenthes I've ever grown so I have no idea what I'm doing really, lol. I appreciate you reading this long post. If you need any other info, I can certainly give it to you.
Thank You!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk