Report: germinating byblis
5 May: Received a packet of Byblis liniflora seeds from David of Petpitcher.com
6 May: Put it in the fridge, as how David was keeping it
7 - 16 May: Research like crazy on how to germinate B. liniflora. Still no closer to truth. Wild exaggerations about the ease of germination and how hardy this plant is (some even likened it to *gasp* weeds!). Equally wild accounts of how it takes weeks and months (!) for germination to happen, at very low success rates. Stalling time because deep inside, just know that will mess up and waste all the precious seeds that is given.
17 May: Finally got The Savage Garden book from another petpitcher.com forum member (bless the generosity of CP lovers and gardeners in general). Got a boost of irrational confidence.
17 to 18 May: Brought The Savage Garden everywhere and read up all that is to know about byblis and its cultivation. Discovered that the best place to absorb complicated information is while having a poo in the toilet.
19 May: Decided to face fears. Drank coffee. Smoked 3 cigarettes. Cleaned plastic take-away container. Cut a hole underneath the size of a 50sen coin. Chopped up dried sphagnum moss, mixed them up with perlite, then soaked mixture in distilled water. Put planting medium in container. Took out packet of seeds from fridge. Smoked another cigarette. Carefully tipped about 7 teeny tiny seeds onto palm. Scattered them onto planting medium. Put them under florescent light in tray of distilled water. Peered at them closely and muttered a quick prayer to the Swamp Thing.
20 May: Nothing is happening.
21 May: Nothing is still happening. Starting to lose hope.
22 May: Mukaketupat found multiple posts on germinating b. liniflora in terraforums. Optimism is suddenly returning.
23 May: Decided to try Pinguiculaman’s method. Printed out the forum post. Read carefully with blue highlighter. Boiled water. Waited for water to cool down. Smoked 1 cigarette and swept floor. Cleaned a clear glass bowl. Filled it with warm water (not too hot to touch). Took out packet of seeds from fridge. Carefully tapped out another 7 seeds. Sprinkled on water. Panicked when they floated instead of being submerged under 1″ of water! Re-read highlighted notes. Realised seed must go in first before water. Stupid stupid. C-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y drained water over a piece of paper kitchen towel. Made sure did not lose a single seed. Pushed seeds onto bottom of (now dry) glass bowl. Poured hot water on another clean bowl — too hot. Mixed with cool tap water to the approximate temperature. Poured slowly into bowl. Seeds not floating. Hooray! Covered with clingwrap and put it next to the other (still nothing happening) pot of seeds.
24 May: Patiently waiting for 24 hours. C5 came, distracted by mushroom, one blissful day of non-worry.
25 May: Checked on soaking seeds. One appears to have something white-ish coming out of it! Does this mean it’s going to germinate? Should I try the bleach? I’m a little freaked out, but happy to experiment on a couple of seeds. Mmm…. risky risky….
The bowl of seeds where I’m starting to imagine germinating things happening.
The pot of seeds where imagination is almost futile. But you never know…
