Nepenthes ventricosa seedlings: Update #1

These seeds were sewn on November 5th, 2012, and had begin to sprout around the end of the month. Traveling at the time, I can't say exactly when, but around 3-4 weeks until germination. I took these pictures around January 8th, so they are about a month old. Nepenthes start with the typical 2 embryonic1st leaves that most plants start with, then they grow what's called "proto-pitchers," those are the spiky immature looking pitchers you see below. Some are a little behind, but most at this point have made their 1st proto-ptchers so far

To read more about what I'm in for and how long we'll be waiting for some mature pitchers, Growing Nepenthes. It'll be a few years, so don't hold your breath for anything exciting yet.

I also didn't get great germination. I think I've got about 50 Nepenthes seedlings right now. As far as I know, they passed through a few hands before they got to me so they may have not been as fresh as they could've been. Or maybe shipping them late fall had an effect, maybe it was the move, but either way that's a fairly low  germination rate, (17%?) The seeds sewn in the peat/perlite had a much higher germination rate than the ones sewn in sphagnum moss, but the sphag got shifted at some point while moving so they may have gotten buried.

Not that I really mind that I don't have 300 tiny Nepenthes, as they were free and I still have too many at 50. Sensitivity is high right now and if I lose a few more on the way that's to be expected. One thing I do know is I'll be buying fresh seeds and trying this again at some point in the future. It's been fun watching them grow up so far.