SOWING ADVICES

Winter growing tuberous Drosera seed MUST be planted in summer or early fall. If you plant them any other time, the plants will get confused and my not be able to form tubers before they go dormant. The seed of some species germinate best if they have experienced a period of warm stratification in damp soil. In the northern hemisphere this means you must plant the seeds by the first week of August (down under that would be February). The soil surface needs to be kept damp during stratification. Cold stratification such as is used for Sarracenia and temperate Drosera is NOT effective with tuberous Drosera. I cover the seed with about 2 mm of pure sand with grains large enough that the sand does not form a hard crust.

Drosera hookeri, Drosera auriculata, and Drosera macrantha do not require the warm stratification and will germinate if planted by the first week of September (March in the southern hemisphere) or if grown inside and kept in a 10°C to 20°C (50°F to 70°F) temperature range until you get germination. The seeds appear to require cycling temperatures or temperatures in the middle of that range to germinate. Expect the seeds to start germinating in October and November (April and May in the southern hemisphere). Seeds planted late may germinate in the spring. Depending on your growing conditions this will likely end in tears as the temperatures could get too warm and the seedlings not live long enough to make tubers.

Some tuberous Drosera species with hard seeds germinate better if the seeds are scarified before planting. These species include Drosera stolonifera and Drosera gigantea. Please see the page on Drosera seed scarification for more information.

Tuberous Drosera require very deep pots and the plants cannot be transplanted when growing because their roots are very long and very fragile. Use 16 cm deep nursery #1 ("gallon") pots to start seeds. A 1:2 mix of peat and sand with some sphagnum moss or weed block cloth in the bottom blocking the drainage holes works well. Let the pots sit in about 2 cm of water. In mild winter areas you may leave the pots outside protected from rain and let nature takes its course. In other areas you may start the seeds in a greenhouse that allows the temperature to get down to a few degrees above freezing at night. The perfect location is in the trays with your Sarracenia plants.

If the seeds don't germinate the first winter, do not throw out the pot! Let it dry out during the summer and try again the next winter. These plants require some patience.