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.

Parodia mammulosa x ? seeds have begun to sprout!

Somehow, my Parodia mammulosa flowers got pollinated. P. mammulosa are not self-fertile so I don't know which of my cactus is the dad (time to call the Maury Povich show.) There were bees all over them so I'm not surprised, but the other cacti flowering at the same time were not a genus I would've thought would cross successfully with Parodia. You learn something new every day I guess.

I sowed these on 7/3/12. They are about 25 in a  4" plastic pot. The media is topsoil and perlite 2:1, microwave sterilized. I put the pot with the seedlings into a gallon plastic bag and sealed it. Watered only with distilled water once to saturate the media. The bag has been keeping them humid enough, it almost always has condensation on it. I then put the whole thing in a west facing window that blocked by the sun for part of the day.

I checked on these today 7/24/12. So far 2 have germinated. Not great, but I'd almost be happier if I didn't have 25 baby cacti to deal with.

Click to enlarge

 Here are the 2 in detail. Cute little balls of green, just starting to make their roots.

#1

#2

#2 appears to be getting more sun, hence the reddish color. I turned the pot so hopefully it doesn't burn. The white stringiness is the beginning of their roots.

According to my photo records, (I take pictures of when things bloom,) the most likely  possible candidates for the pollen donor are either Gymnocalycium baldianum or Rebutia muscula. My money is on the Rebutia, but I'm not sure what cacti can pollinate others out of their genus, so it's just a guess. Around the same time Parodia fusca bloomed, but I'm pretty sure it opened after the P. mammulosa had already closed. I'll have to wait a few years to find out, but these might end up being a pretty cool cross.

I'll update about these when they begin to make their spines and actually start looking like they might be cacti one day, hopefully in a month or two.