FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Sponsored by FlytrapStore.com

Discuss Nepenthes plant care here

Moderator: Matt

User avatar
By Supercazzola
Location: 
Posts:  1499
Joined:  Sun Nov 22, 2020 1:57 am
#416568
Does a female flower make seeds if it wasn’t pollinated ? I’m trying to decide if my pollination failed or if the Nepenthes female I had was really a ventrata, and making seeds that are not viable. I don’t see any embryo in these seeds, or if I do, it’s black and dried.
E5F06740-B3EF-41AC-B3E7-0B7ADD8D2133.jpeg
E5F06740-B3EF-41AC-B3E7-0B7ADD8D2133.jpeg (2.54 MiB) Viewed 3358 times
User avatar
By Nepenthes0260
Location: 
Posts:  1774
Joined:  Mon Apr 30, 2018 1:59 am
#416579
Female neps will still produce rudimentary, sterile seed if not pollinated. It can be tricky to observe the morphological differences between unpollinated and viable seed when harvested, so my recommendation would be to sow them and see if anything pops out!
By za419
Location: 
Posts:  221
Joined:  Thu Jan 27, 2022 4:18 am
#416596
CalCarn does sell a ventrata x alata hybrid - It's not that all ventratas are sterile, it's that the most common clones in cultivation are. It's totally possible to have a female ventrata produce seed, just the one you buy at Lowe's (if you're lucky and your local hardware store sells nepenthes, that is) probably won't.
User avatar
By Camden
Location: 
Posts:  1709
Joined:  Mon May 23, 2022 9:25 pm
#416597
Supercazzola wrote: Tue Jul 12, 2022 10:48 pm C287743A-A104-4445-9F6B-BDACFEC4BB74.jpeg
Those seed pods look great! Usually when nepenthes pollination fails it kinda looks like the seed pods all brown shriveled up, and shrunken. The embryo’s look OK but I’d still plant them anyways. Now the Ventrata’s out from TC are sterile but if you happen to have a seed grown one you could have viable seeds. Something that I’ve always wanted to do is to wrap CP seeds in damp paper towel and put in a bag like you would other seeds to see if they would germinate faster than normal. It’s worth a go if you want a good try at germination. ( I haven’t tried it with CP’s yet but it works with pretty much every seed I’ve tried )
Attachments:
Kinda like this but a bit smaller and shrivel
Kinda like this but a bit smaller and shrivel
E4E87001-B23F-4EE3-A057-81A86F41D3A2.jpeg (83 KiB) Viewed 3255 times
Supercazzola liked this
By plantnerdjules
Location: 
Posts:  192
Joined:  Fri Oct 15, 2021 5:37 am
#416606
Nepenthes0260 wrote: Tue Jul 12, 2022 6:17 pm ... It can be tricky to observe the morphological differences between unpollinated and viable seed when harvested, so my recommendation would be to sow them and see if anything pops out!
I would second that recommendation!

Recently I got a batch of Nepenthes mirabilis seed that - to my inexpert eye - lacked visible embryos. But hey, might as well give them a chance. Instead of conventional sowing (short of space for more pots) I put some of those seeds in a jar of pure water. A couple of weeks later, some of the seeds had a slight swelling in the middle... and this week I spotted a few tiny green shoots :D
By plantnerdjules
Location: 
Posts:  192
Joined:  Fri Oct 15, 2021 5:37 am
#416607
Water germination for Nepenthes mirabilis seeds. After 5 weeks in pure water, some seeds are sprouting now.

I have more of this seed, stored dry since June, don't know how long it will remain viable. Happy to share if someone wants to try them, PM if interested.
Attachments:
20220713cr_nepenthes_mirabilis_seed.jpg
20220713cr_nepenthes_mirabilis_seed.jpg (97.05 KiB) Viewed 3229 times
20220713c_nepenthes_mirabilis_seed_sprouting.jpg
20220713c_nepenthes_mirabilis_seed_sprouting.jpg (57.29 KiB) Viewed 3229 times
User avatar
By ChefDean
Location: 
Posts:  9236
Joined:  Tue Sep 18, 2018 12:44 am
#416611
plantnerdjules wrote: Wed Jul 13, 2022 6:29 amI have more of this seed, stored dry since June, don't know how long it will remain viable. Happy to share if someone wants to try them, PM if interested.
Nep seeds are most viable within three to six months. After three months, the viability slowly decreases. After six months, the decrease in viability accelerates to where, at about a year, they're pretty much done.
Definitely spread the love sooner rather than later if you can.
plantnerdjules liked this
User avatar
By Nepenthes0260
Location: 
Posts:  1774
Joined:  Mon Apr 30, 2018 1:59 am
#416614
This thread is a wild ride, but I'll just leave it here...

https://terraforums.com/forums/threads/ ... ld.142820/

In short, (supposedly) extremely old nep seed was germinated by removing the seed coat. The seed coat was removed by hand, which seems like an unbelievably painstaking process. Unfortunately the grower who experimented with this (Isao Takai) is no longer with us. :(

Otherwise, the viability for "traditional" sowing methods largely varies by species, but some such as N. bicalcarata can go bad in under a month. Others (like the weirdo N. pervillei, which was originally classified in a separate genus) can last considerably longer.

More additions! Thanks Secretariat73! S. leucophy[…]

Drosera germination time

Re: germination time, I got some d. madagascariens[…]

Transaction with Secretariat73

I must concur. Despite the best efforts of our dea[…]

So far, not less than five days apart. Humidity va[…]

Argh! Just 4 days left in the photo contest and we[…]

SASE received. Order is fulfilled. Return envelope[…]

My Sarracenia x moorei 'Red Velvet' is turning out[…]

Hello, New to the forum

And if the deer runs, be sure to track it down. A […]

Support the community - Shop at FlytrapStore.com!