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Winterizing Seeds

Hello everyone,

I am fairly new to CP's as I've only been doing it for about a year with mostly Nepenthes. I've started switching over to American Sarrs and temperate sundews. Can someone tell me how I go about wintering sundew seeds? I plan to builld an outdoor bog...its just finding the time to start it. I will be getting some temperate sundew seeds but would like to winterize them until after winter whereby I can then seed them in my bog.
 
I sow the seeds on their preferred medium (damp, not wet) in a small seed tray and refrigerate them in the beer fridge for 4 weeks. Easy peasy.

If you have the setup, there's no need to wait to get them going. Stratify them now and give your seedlings a head start indoors.
 
Dry store them in a air/watertight container in the refrigerator. Your fridge should be between 34-40°F. Seeds should be cold stored or they lose their viability, sometimes within a few weeks after ripening - depending on the species. Properly stored seeds can remain viable for decades.

Prior to sowing you'll have to stratify the Sarracenia seeds and most likely the temperate sundew seeds. Stratification takes from 2-8 weeks. It depends on the species and/or location they are from. Four weeks works for 90% or more of the species.

If your bog is protected from rain and flooding you can try stratifying the seeds naturally over the winter on the soil surface of the bog.
 
Which species?
 
Drosera filiformis tracyi
 
Do you want to just store them for the winter our prepare them for germination (cold stratification)?
 
I would like to store them until early spring since I will be moving my minibog into an inground bog I will be making. I plant to make the inground bog next month then leave the bog over winter to settle. Then before spring starts move my plants from my minibog to the inground bog. This is when I would like to start the seeds germinating.
 
Ok, so just store the seeds in the refrigerator until the end of winter. Just put the packet in a resealable plastic bag or other air/watertight container. Stratify them for four weeks before sowing in the early spring and you should be good to go.

You can sow the seeds into your bog, just don't top water the seeds. Or you can sow them into small pots or cups and transplant them later.

Some tips can be found here:
http://www.carnivorousplants.org/seedbank/species/D_filiformis.htm
 
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