Nepenthes ventricosa from seed: 1 Year Update!

Happy Birthday, Nepthenthes ventricosa! This is the strongest seedling of the bunch, and one of the few I plan to keep.

N. ventricosa, Sewn November 5th 2012, Germinated last week of November 2012

What a little cutie, can't wait to see what they look like next year. Click for link to previous updates (with links back to the beginning):Nepenthes ventricosa from seed

Coming up: Nepenthes albomarginata red seedlings. Or at least that's what I hope they are. I got these from a less reputable source than the ventricosa, but they are coloring up red, just too early to tell if they are indeed albomarginata and not a hybrid.

N. albomarginata red, Sewn April 30th 2013, Germinated 1st week of June 2013

Still quite small, but germination was...oh I don't know, 90+%? I won't count them. I didn't expect such good germination, otherwise I would've gotten less and stratified better.

Cacti & Wallmart...

A few months ago I was half way through repotting a few things when I realized I was not going to have enough peat to complete the project. Crap! Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a bag of pure Canadian Sphagnum Peat at 8pm at night?* Desperation and panic set in.

Then I realize.....seed starting plugs. They're usually peat. Sure enough, Ferry-Morse sells boxes of their peat plugs for refills for their tray kits. In the seed starting section are of course all those little packets of seeds too. Vegetables, fruits, flowers, and.....cactus? Well, this is an interesting development. Of all the years I've bought tags, shears, wire in this section of various garden centers I've never seen a packet of cactus seeds until just now.

Side note: Ferry-Morse also carries Moon & Stars Watermelon. I've wanted to grow those FOREVER! The absolute second I know I have a yard to grow these in, I'm starting these. They must be grown. Heirloom watermelon!

There were a good 50 seeds in the packet. The packet reads (my additions in ellipses): Saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea), Hedgehog (which apparently can refer to species of Pediocactus, Echinocereus, or Echinopsis, and people wonder why I hate common or nicknames for plants), Fishhook Barrel (Ferocactus wislizeni), Dollar Prickly Pear Desert (Opuntia robusta ?), Prickly Pear (really can refer to almost any Opuntia species), Christmas Cholla (Opuntia leptocaulis), Cane Cholla (Cylindropuntia imbricata), Santa Rita Prickly Pear (an Opuntia cultivar O. 'Santa Rita'), and Cardo'n ("Cardón", Pachycereus pringlei).**

Yikes, that's a lot of glochids. Normally I wouldn't be thrilled with anything to do with Opuntia, but the O. 'Santa Rita' cultivar is a really nice one. I may put up with the glochids to have one. Opuntia are notoriously difficult to germinate, so no loss if I don't end up with any either. It would be nice if some of the Saguaro, "Hedgehog", Cane Cholla, and the Cardón germinated though. All of those are really nice too.

Then, because Wallmart...two boxes of Jiffy refill seed starting plugs, cactus seeds, car jack stands, and 2 sodas later, we were on our way home. Wallmart, usually the worst place ever.

Here they are today. Anyone want to hazard a guess as to what some of these are now that they've started to differentiate? Looks like a decent mix of everything but Opuntias.

The whole group

Two different columnar types, one with five sides and a few rounded

Another columnar with four sides

*And yes, I am aware Home Depot sells Canadian Sphagnum Peat, however it is only in bales. The husband said no way are we dealing with getting that much peat home and then figuring out how to store it. Thus the desperate dash to Wallmart hoping they'd have a smaller bag.
**Is it odd to anyone else for any company to have that much seed of those particular species? I realize these have come from Holland where plant production is pretty bangin', but where are all these mature Cardón even flowering?

Nepenthes ventricosa from seed: Update #2

Now you can really see that these are indeed Nepenthes. These started germinating around December 1st, 2012 so they are about 4 months old now.

The ones that were growing in the Sphagnum moss had a pretty bad germination rate and I was wasting a lot of space that I needed on that container so I moved the smaller ones into the peat/perlite container and repotted the 4 largest into a 2" pot. The ventricosa growing in sphagnum moss were almost all as large as the largest in the peat container though, (which is interesting though not necessarily telling as to which one ended up best for germination.) I wanted to leave them in sphag as they were doing well. All repotted seedlings are back to growing already so no worries if you run into a situation and need to repot sooner than you'd like with these guys. I always said Nepenthes are not as sensitive and difficult as people are led to believe.

I'll update these again around the 1 year mark unless otherwise requested. So what did I need that room so much for that I risked repotting seedlings too early? More Nepenthes seeds! There was a situation that caused a delay as far as the time between harvesting and the seeds actually getting to me, so they aren't fresh, (about a month or two old.) We'll see what comes of those, but I doubt I'll get good germination. May not get any at all, but I need to try.

Links to the last 2 posts on the Nepenthes ventricosa seeds if you want to see the progression:

Nepenthes ventricosa seedlings: Update #1
The beginning: Growing Nepenthes from Seed: This Year's Winter Project

Cacti Happenings

Matucana madisoniorum is blooming again already. It's working on another 2 buds behind this one too.

I still think despite all the great qualities of this cactus, the fact that it grows this long red flower is the most interesting part.

 

The Parodia mammulosa x (?) seeds planted late last year have begun to look not only like actual cacti, but a ton more of them sprouted. If anyone would like a few of these, email me, it'll be a fun surprise to see which cactus they were pollinated with, quite a few years from now...

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.

Growing Nepenthes from Seed: This Year's Winter Project

I usually have some kind of project going on inside once it gets so cold outside you can't really do much. Luckily, I don't have to spend another year in the cold and gray misery that is a NY winter, but this project had already begun so we might as well continue. I wouldn't have started this at all had I known I wouldn't still be in NY, but whatever, things happen. Nepenthes are notoriously difficult to germinate from seed and grow through seedling stages, even without a cross country trip in there and a change in conditions.

This year's project wasn't so much planned, as gifted. I was sent a generous amount of Nepenthes ventricosa seed from a someone on one of the carnivorous plant forums. Back in November, I decided to try an experiment, using both of the generally accepted ways to grow Nepenthes from seed. I have one container that I sowed most of the seeds in using a 50/50 mix of Sphagnum peat moss/Perlite, (which I'm far more comfortable germinating carnivorous plant seed in.) The second container I decided to try germinating with pure (dead) long fiber Sphagnum moss. We'll see if either works better as both containers will be getting the same amount of light and heat, next to each other in my lowland terrarium. The advice I got as far as temperature goes, is better germination comes with warmth, regardless of the species normal preference for temperature range. So although N. ventricosa is an intermediate growing Nepenthes, (1000-2000 m above sea level, 75-85°F/24-29° C day, 55-65°F/ 13-18° C night,) we're going to germinate the seeds without that much of a temperature drop at night.

Container #1: 50/50 Peat/Perlite. It's one of those clear plastic pastry containers from the grocery store. I could've just put a plastic bag over a pot to achieve the same level of humidity, but this seemed easier and there were raspberry turnovers involved in the purchase of this container. An excuse to eat junkfood I never would otherwise have an excuse to eat seemed like a good plan.

Container #2: 100% Chopped, Rehydrated LFS. Clear plastic container again, although I didn't have to eat pastry to clean out this container, it's probably better that way.

I microwave sterilized the media for both containers, and pre-leached the Perlite for a few days.

Each seed is only about 5-10 mm long.

I carefully stratified the seeds with a tweezers on top of the media, then sprayed them down with distilled water one last time to ensure good contact with the media. Closed the container tops to get a high humidity level. I punched a few holes for drainage, and a few smaller one's for a little air flow in the containers as well.

Now to wait a few weeks to a few months to see if anything germinates. Nepenthes seed has a short shelf life and are best sown right after harvesting. I'm not sure how old these seeds are, but hopefully no older than a month or two would be best.

Container #1, 200 N. ventricosa seeds on 11/5/12

Container #2, 110 N. ventricosa seeds on 11/5/12

Wish me luck, because as of today we have 50+ that have germinated so far, with more popping up every few days. Although they won't all germinate, and every one that germinated will not make it to maturity, still way too many to keep if this rate keeps up. So aside from my promise to the person I received these seeds from to pay this generosity forward on the forum, I'd of course like to share them with my readers as well when they're old enough to be shipped. My only request is if any turn out to be female, you owe me a cutting, just kidding.......wait........no, I'm serious. It'll be many years before these reach maturity and a flower is the only way to sex Nepenthes. Could you imagine the space I'd need for all those adult ventricosas to wait for each one to grow out so I could have at least one female? Exactly, so I can't keep them all that long.

Germination started around the end of November, about 3 weeks after being sewn. The majority of germination so far is in Container #1, the peat/perlite mix. Along with a lot more algae. I ended up removing the tops for both containers inside the terrarium because I got mold and fungus on the seedlings after about a week. I sprayed them down with water and without the tops it didn't grow back much. I think even though the humidity in the terrarium is not at 100% these seedlings need a little airflow more than they need ultra high humidity.

After the move these are in a 10 gallon terrarium that gets a combination of artificial and natural lighting, which keeps it warm enough in there too, never below 70 F/ 21 C. In the pictures below, look for 2 tiny leaves, that's all they are when they 1st germinate. Sorry no macro photos for the germinating seedlings, once I get my camera back I'll make up for this.

Bottom right, 2 tiny green leaves.

There are more than 1 in this picture, but one at the top center you can see easiest.

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.