What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Pygmy sundew seeds

  • Thread starter flora
  • Start date
Hello!
Thanks for reading!

I have a couple pygmy sundews that are producing seed pods. I would like to germinate them, but im not sure how. I hand pollinated them, so im confident that there are seeds ripening in those tiny pods. I have tried reading and researching but most articles just say they take a long time and are slow growing. That is ok, i can be patient.

The two plants that I have currently ripening are Omnissa X Pulchella and Mitidula X Pulchella.

My question is have you successfully grown any pygmy sundew from seed and if so how did you do it? Thank you!!
 
Even pollinated very few pygmy Drosera readily produce seeds (in my collection only D. platystigma does so)because they do not rely on seeds primarily to reproduce. Even if you do end up with seeds, they are often notoriously difficult to germinate and require long hot stratification, smoke or fire treatment, or a GA3 soak, and then germination may well be very low after waiting several months.

Edit: additionally, if the plants you pollinated are hybrids themselves you're not going to get seeds; if you attempted those crosses yourself (omissa and nitidula, by the way) then good luck.
 
Last edited:
Thank you. Sorry, my plant name spelling is terrible.

Do crosses generally produce sterile seeds? Could you use a pygmy flower to pollinate a non pygmy flower? i have read a tiny bit about the different number of chromosomal pairs in sundews and which might be compatible, but again, not much info on the pygmy's.

What is GA3? For fire treatment, would you need to do some research on the plants' origin to determine the best method?

I know it will be hard, but some one has got to have done it right? Otherwise are all the hybrids natural? Are there any good sites that go into detail about this subject?
Thanks!!
 
I've heard some pygmy crosses are sterile.
I have no idea if you can cross pollen between a pygmy and a non-pygmy, but I would lean close to no you can't on that subject.
GA3 is Giberellic Acid is a plant growth regulator, and is also used to break seed dormancy. I've never used it but I've heard people use it to skip 95-99% of Sarracenia seed dormancy.
 
I think what he means is that hybrid pygmy sundews are sterile (which is the case for sundews in general) not that pygmy crosses are impossible. It sounds to me like you pollinated D. omissa and D. nitidula with D. pulchella pollen? In that case you may just get some seeds.

GA3 is a plant hormone. Seeds are soaked in a solution of it as an alternative to normal seed stratification methods. It's most commonly used with Byblis, but can be used with any species if you can determine the appropriate concentration to use.
 
Nimbulan is correct on what I was trying to say. And no, you cannot cross a pygmy sundew with anything outside that subgenus; it might even be impossible to cross D. pygmaea with other pygmies because it's typically classed in a different section from the others. It's not just chromosomal numbers that *might" have to match up (you can cross things with very different chromosome numbers and still get hybrids), it's also chromosome size and general compatibility; if they're not genetically close enough, they will not hybridize.
 
This is a message sent to me by Manfred Meisterl, who propagates pygmy drosera:
"they usually germinate in early spring...seems they need a short break of cool temperature and moisture after the hot summer...they germinate easy and rapidly from seed...just sow the seeds at the end of the season, sow them on pure peatmoss, sprinkle the surface with clean water and put the pot protected from hard rain and wind outdoors...it may not dry out and wait until spring..."

I believe Manfred refers to a zone 8 or so climate in Europe when putting the seeds outdoors for germination. This is the only scrap of info I have about germinating pygmy drosera seed from anyone who's succeeded.
 
Last edited:
I believe that pygmy sundews eventually form Gemmae- which are like leaf cuttings but act as seeds. As others have said, these seeds need special treatment, as they're from australia and are subject to all kinds of weird phenomena. Do you have multiple pygmies, or just one? If you have a few, you could separate one and try to trick it into producing gemmae. Good luck!
 
Gemmae don't act as seeds really, as they don't need any sort of treatment and will die if not allowed to set and grow quickly, and are not produced by the flowers; nor do they act as leaf cuttings as they will always root and grow once they hit good soil. A pygmy sundew cannot be separated to grow alone like other sundews either as they have long roots and are sensitive to them breaking, and you need a changing of seasons to induce gemmae, not some special trick.
 
  • #10
You could simulate a changing of seasons to trick the pygmy Sundews to create gemmae, but honestly it is easier to just let the natural seasons do that.
 
  • #11
Yeah, that's what I was trying to say. Most people who do not live in areas with warm winters would have to do a bit more than let the natural seasons work.

PS: I wasn't implying that you would chant rituals over them, sprinkle them with snake oil, then perform a sacrifice so that gemmae will form. :hail::tumbleweed:
 
  • #12
No, warm winters make it harder to induce gemmae; higher latitudes actually make it easier since combo of cooler conditions and shorter days (mostly the latter) will give the triggers that they expect in nature, so long as wherever they are growing isn't completely artificially controlled (and since most people utilize windows to some extent and houses are not dismissed from seasonal changes that's usually not an issue).
And no one was implying you were suggesting some ridiculous trick like that, only that there isn't anything special that has to be done to induce gemmae so long as you let the seasons do as they will.
 
  • #13
I've noticed some produce gemmae (D. nitidula) on 12 hour days, even without seasonal ques. Though I think it might be because the days did not breach the 80°F threshold. After the temperature surpassed 80°F all gemmae production ceased.
 
  • #14
That makes sense considering their native habitat growing season, northern Australia.
"The Top End, which includes Darwin, Katherine, Kakadu and Arnhem Land, has a tropical climate, and has two distinct seasons, the 'Wet' and the 'Dry'. The Wet season spans from November until April and is characterised by increased humidity followed by monsoonal rains and storms. Temperatures typically range from a minimum of 25C (77F) to a maximum of 33C (91F), and humidity levels can reach in excess of 80%."- http://northernterritory.com/en-us/plan/weather-and-seasons
 
  • #15
Some species are also easier to grow and induce into making gemmae and care less about seasonal cues (nitidula, pygmaea etc.) so that's probably going to have an effect.

MPX_78: no. Pygmy sundews do not grow in northern Australia, so that is not the kind of condition to put them in nor what they will expect. They are from the Mediterranean southern/southwest region, with only pygmaea extending beyond that area.
 
Back
Top