I've long had a hankering to grow Roridula - it's just such a weird plant,
even if it has lost its CP status - so I ordered a pack of R.gorgonias seed
from Allen Lowrie a few months ago, along with some tubers etc. Well, the
packet arrived with 5 seeds in it and I thought I'd plant 3 and keep 2 for
TC experiments. I didn't have a lot of hope (hell, I've never actually
found anyone who's managed to germinate this one from Allen's seed,) but I
sowed the seeds in 2:1 peat:sand, and stuck it in a propagator about 4" from
a 23W fluorescent lamp along with some pots of Drosera.
This was about 6 weeks ago, and I'd not been paying much attention to
the tray until today. Yes, you guessed it - I now have a R.gorgonias sprout
with a small tuft of leaves on a 1" stalk! from only 3 seeds sown!!
Needless to say, I'm over the moon - it's great to recapture that thrill of
something really new, like your first VFT when you're a kid, after growing
so many CPs for years! So now the missus is fed up because I've been
wandering around the house all day with a great big grin on my face, talking
about nothing but Roridula :)
But this raises a slight problem - I now realize that I have no real idea
what conditions these things like. Does anyone have any information about
this one? There's nothing in any of my books about it. I seem to recall
hearing that they want a completely arid dormancy, when they look completely
dead, and I sort of guess it should be growing in a sandier mix, but beyond
that I have no idea of temp/humidity/light/water/other requirements. It
looks happy enough - pale green with visible glands on the tiny leaflets,
but I couldn't bear to lose my baby now.
TIA for any advice, and if anyone else out there has managed to germinate
Allen's Roridula seed, I'd love to hear about it (it would make a change from
the flames too.)
Happy growing,
Peter
ps: I'm away for the weekend from Friday, so replies may be delayed till
Tuesday.
snail:Peter Cole,17 Wimmerfield Cr. :mailto:carnivor@bunyip.demon.co.uk
Killay, SWANSEA SA2 7BU, WALES :http://www.angel.co.uk/flytrap/index.htm
vox:+44 1792 205214 :ftp://www.angel.co.uk/pub/flytrap