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Post by walterg on Jul 12, 2009 12:45:42 GMT -10
Not too much to see IN the trays yet, but ... Here are some of this year's efforts, sown in plastic food-service containers, soaking up the pitiful Pennsylvania sunshine. About 40 different accessions so far, although some of the seed were probably too old. I have a bunch more on the way from some enterprising folks in Thailand and Indonesia.  These are some newborn wavy-leaf N. Maxima from Tentena, central Sulawesi.  |
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Post by shawnintland on Jul 12, 2009 17:30:44 GMT -10
Looks great! Nice production line there. Your media looks like pure peat or peat/perlite, correct? Do you ever use chopped sphagnum? Just interested in your experience as I only use peat for my fern spores and platyceriums. My neps are always germinated on finely chopped sphagnum. When I switched the platys to peat the huge spurt of growth and vigor really surprised me. But since my neps have always been fine I have never risked trying them on peat. I like the well ordered look of your rack...mine are always a bit cluttered!    ~Shawn |
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Post by walterg on Jul 13, 2009 4:44:09 GMT -10
About half of mine are sown on chopped sphagnum. I did the last few batches on peat just because running sphag through the food processor is so labor-intensive. I had to spray the peat trays with Captan (hence the poison bottle on the lower shelf.), to control the deadly white fuzz.
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Post by shawnintland on Jul 13, 2009 14:12:27 GMT -10
Yep, I've gone through 3 blenders...so far! Is the fungus 'in' the peat to begin with or just spreads there with the high humidity? I ask because I seem to see more fungus in the sphag than in my peat boxes.
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Post by walterg on Jul 13, 2009 15:02:59 GMT -10
I don't know, Shawn. I guess I have had more trouble with it on peat than on sphagnum, but I just treat it when I see it.
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Post by walterg on Aug 26, 2009 6:06:40 GMT -10
As of 8-25-2009:
I have positive germination in 26 of 50 sowings done between 6-22 and 7-30, with 5 sowings germinating in less than 30 days.
So far, 0 germination in 49 additional sowings done since 8-01. No surprise there.
The positive results include strong germination in N. sanguinea seed that was over a year old at the time of sowing, taking just 5 weeks to sprout.
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Post by walterg on Sept 7, 2009 10:32:01 GMT -10
Good news for all who received my wavy-leaf N. maxima seeds. They are viable. As of today, 9-7, I have good germination in two trays sown on 7-28. (This is a totally different accession from the seedlings pictured at the beginning of this thread.)
The more remarkable news is I have good germination in fusca and reinwardtiana from Sabah sown on 8-12, just 26 days ago, and they look as if they've been up for 4 or 5 days!
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