Tropicals & Tender Perennials: Alocasia Sowing tips?, 0 by bwilliams

bwilliams wrote:
OK here we go. Alocasia seeds and other similar aroid seeds like to be fresh. What happens in nature is beetles flies and other insect get pollen on the female portion of the plant. Some plants self pollinate others do not. Mac odora and a few others will. In most cases if the pollen falls the female area is no longer fertile. But in Macrorrhiza and a few others the female section is still active for a bit longer thus the self pollination. Now to the good part. In nature the berries are usually eaten by birds bats or other animals. They usually swallow them whole and in the stomach it removes the sweet sugary berry part and leaves the seed in the stool miles from were the mother plant was growing. Now the berry part is just to lure animals to the seed. If kept on the seed it will cause rot or fungus. I wait till the berries are about to fall off and squeeze the seeds out into a warm bowl of water. Your seeds in the pic look about ready. When they are bright orange or red usually and can easily fall off. Now wash the seeds off drain the water. Take your seeds and place them in a plastic container with no holes. Feel the bottom with a nice nice soil miracle grow or pro mix is what I use. Wet it down not soaking wet but damp. Place the container in a warm bright area not full sun and not to hot or they will cool. But some place were the greenhouse effect will take place in the container. After a few weeks you should see life sprout out. I use to use pots with dirt and saran wrap on top to start seeds. After they start remove them and repot.