Just had to show you my baby bat flower. :o) so excited!
bat flower
Well, I'd be proud, too! Congrats!!!
Thanks! I know it isn't much but I didn't think they would grow from what everyone kept saying. lol.
That looks great. But now, do you have a Robin plant to go with it? ;O)
yep, I need one, lol. Every plant needs a side kick. lol.
Can you run thru the harvesting of seed and the sowing/germination conditions? I would love to grow some and I have a couple of plants that always seed.....
Thanks in advance...
I used hydrogen peroxide and water and soaked the seed for 24 hours. I made a box using a rough tote I cut down, then soil rope heater (one you put into soil), used BX Pro-mix soil. the temp stays around 85 degrees. I put saran wrap over the top of the box to keep humidity in. Once a week I take off the plastic to let it dry out some. The biggest thing I noticed is that the seed only grows or pops up during the plastic on and most humidity. So far I have 3 plants and hopefully more coming up. Germination is anywhere from 3 months to 9 months.
I am getting ready to transplant mine today!
How cool!!!! Thanks for that!!!
okay anyone have a bat flower? What soil do you use? I made a vermiculite, perlite and peat soil and it isn't doing well. As an emergency soil, I put it in a professional growers mix so it could get some water. These are just seedlings so .... help!
I would use a really re4ally REALLY loose mix...not planting mix: fine orchid bark, perlite. Keep moist. They are going to like being neutral pH or leaning towards acid...
Mine are planted in the ground, in plain sand. Drains fast, nutrient poor so I have to fertilize lots they are heavy feeders
How is it doing now? :)
tishrh, how long from sowing to germination?
goth - when you say in the ground, is that in the ground in your greenhouse or outside? if out side do you pot it up and bring it back in for the winter?
Unfortunately it died :o( But I know what I did wrong. One the soil and two humidity. I couldn't find the correct soil even when I followed a few websites instructions. I should of left it in the promix. And it needed more humidity I think.
It took the black bat - 3 months from time of sowing. And I noticed it loves high humidity which you have to be careful of rotting the seeds. The ones I has the plastic on came up, the ones that didn't (even though I watered) didn't. Plus I would do a thing where I would take the plastic off for a day so not to get mold on the soil and they only sprouted when the plastic was on. It likes the steady temps of 89 degrees. Not sure if this has value but this is what I observed. I am going to try again once I can get some more seeds. :o) I will get it evenually.
so I'm thinking if I did these in the greenhouse and used a "dome" of sorts over the seed pot's I'd be able to maintain the heat/humidity.
I sowed Mandevilla laxa,( Chilean jasmine) and they sprouted in 4 day's.( I had read these were kinda hard but I don't think so now)
Yes it you can maintain the heat for 3 months at least with the black bat, you should be fine. Some people say it takes up to 9 months to germinate. I also soaked the seek in water for two days before planting.
mjsponies, they are straight in the ground, planted in the plain old Myakka fine sand we Floridians know and love so well, LOL. One is planted in the coldest part of my yard, out in a strip bed under a tree by the road, and the other is planted in a very warm spot, right next to the greenhouse wall. I trialed them out I guess its been 3 years ago now, and they have come back from being frosted to the ground every year now, even after this LAST, most horrible winter when I am positive we had 18F here one night, perhaps lower. They have bloomed every year as well.
I also have bats planted inground in the greenhouse, I have black, white, Green Isle and the unusual one that starts with "L" (Leo--something). But I only have the WHITE ones returning yearly in the yard. I tried a black one and it did not exhibit the same level of hardiness. Which is too bad, because I frequently get black bat seeds that fall to the ground in the greenhouse unnoticed germinating on top of the sand (I didn't bother to modify or enrich the soil inside the greenhouse in 2002 when we built it so its all plain old FL sand too) and turning into clumps of new plants. I don't do anything special to them, in truth I rarely notice them until they have grown into plants large enough to distinguish them from an invasive Dorstenia I have in there.
well ! very interesting, I don't think I even ever bothered to look at the hardiness, just assumed "NOT" haha...I just may have to try some. I'm just getting kinda tired of lugging pots in and out and what little space I'm going to have in the greenhouse is probably going to be eaten by the Red Jade vine which is getting HUGH already , and some of my passionflowers. sigh..........I need a bigger greenhouse ..........
Goth,
Glad you mentioned that the Dortsenia is invasive. I noticed one in the Selby greenhouse and thought...hmmm, kind cool looking, maybe I should get one. After your post and reading a bit maybe not. Last thing I need is to introduce another invasive exotic.
Scott
Gothqueen, your "leo tacca" is probably Tacca leontopetaloides.
LOL Tropicbreeze yes that's it I never can remember how to spell the name so I call it the Leo tacca. I think the Dorstenia I have is turnerifolia. It came as a hitch hiker in some plants a friend gave me and spread like wildfire through the greenhouse. As an aside, LOL, it too is hardy here. I have planted them out in flowerbeds and they do frost back in winter, then come back out, but stay more in check than in the more perfect environment of the greenhouse.
I think that many people do not realize that the white tacca anyway may be hardier then they think. It would never have occurred to me to plant one out even as a trial if I had not realized that they do have a dormancy period if their conditions are not exactly to their liking. I thought maybe I could get that dormancy period to coincide with winter here, and it seems to have worked for the white ones, but not for the black ones.
Tacca leontopetaloides is native here, I have hundreds of them on my place, they seed prolifically. They're quite variable, broad/fine leaf, tall/short. They always die back in the dry (winter) season. My Black Tacca has never died back in the 4 - 5 years I've had it but it's never flowered. Not sure what's wrong with it.
I would like one of those Tacca Leo's ") lol They're not as showy, but they're great for the collection!
I'm sorry your bat seedling died :( I know the feeling, all the hard work to get them to germinate and they go kaput :( I've soaked some seedlings in a GA3 mix and it has helped with germination. I really need some FRESH seed as my plants haven't flowered yet :( I just don't know where I can get ACTUAL fresh seed, I feel like I'm always wasting my money buying on ebay when you have no clue what you're getting!
ok, you guys are NOT helping any with my thoughts on trying the bat flower, I'm farther south than goth, so I could put it in the ground......and that makes life easier..........
mj
The only reason it's so difficult is they need the exact right conditions until they germinate IF they germinate. It could take 9 months and it's difficult to keep the conditions EXACTLY right for that long considering most of us have distinguishing seasons. :(
well, I am not trying to make light of anyone's hardships in getting them going at all. But maybe they are not as picky as you think? Maybe the problem is you are babying them too much instead of the other way around. Like I said, the seeds of my black bats just fall on the ground and germinate. And they apparently do it quite quickly, doesn;t seem to take months at all. All I know is, they flower, then, not to long after, there are clumps of baby plants poking up.
The temp in the greenhouse is pretty regular, in summer of course its really hot, but the bats flower mainly in spring the first time, and nighttime temps then vary between 55-70. Its a wide swing in Spring. They flower later in summer too when its really warm.
May be the problem you had was damping off from fungus. You said that there was mold on the soil. I'd think that pretty much points to some fungal problem going on.
Try just scattering seed on some sandy soil and keeping them moist. Might work, that's all mine get.
I'd offer you seeds, but I never really watch for them and don;t collect them. I've never really seen the seeds, just the baby plants.
Josh, Tacca leontopetaloides is well worth growing, just the plant itself is far more attractive than the others, but the flowers are only "very interesting" rather than spectacular like some of the others. I put up a lot of photos of it on Plantfiles:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/55974/
JoshY46013 - if you find a place that does fresh seed let me know! Always frustrating to get seed for this plants. Seems to be scarce or old seed.
Everyone- it does make sense that I babied it too much because when i just left it alone and it grew besides the watering. But when I transplanted it and tried to find the right soil it died. So I babied it too much, unfortunately I do not have the same conditions here in ohio though. and somehow I do not think I can move to Florida in order to grow them outside --i don't think my kids would like it. Lol. So eventually I will find the way to get an adaptation of what you all have in the warmer areas. :o)
Well, hopefully.
if anyone knows or has batflower plants or seed. Please let me know. I would appreciate it. thanks!
The seed are often advertised on Ebay here, although you never know how old they are. Plants I've seen sold in nurseries (when they're available) seem a bit expensive to me.
I would love to grow Tacca Leo, I think I will find a plant to purchase asap :)
I planted some of the tacca seeds at the base of a tacca plant I have and lets see how those turn out! I'm going to just forget about them and see what happens, considering I wont have to pay attention to watering pots that have nothing in them I think they might sprout away :)
There are White Bat Flower PLANTS on Ebay now....Buy it now for 7.95.
same person also has them auction style for $6.00 starting bid...and if your into tropicals looks like he has some things at pretty decent prices.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Exotic-White-Bat-Flower-TACCA-INTEGRIFOLIA-Live-Plants-/270599223400?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f00f87868
Not a bad price...and ok feedback.
Eldon's tropicals in Ocala has the white for 15.50 plus $7.00-$9.00 shipping, he has the black for $25.00.......
thanks I may just have to buy a plant. :o)
I know I'm thinking about it also, but I've just gotten a Passiflora trifasciata, and a St. Vincent's Lilac and a few weeks ago we bought a Sweetheart Hoya, Nooh Noch vine and several Japanese Sages, Spicy justica and several other plants, gotta let the wallet catch up
I take back what I said about Black Tacca being less hardy, just found one out in the yard. Surprise surprise
Today I saw in one of the nurseries they had quite small Black Taccas for $20.
Goth,
How was your winter this year?
I'm excited for you :)
Our winter this year was a record cold winter. The 2nd coldest winter in recorded weather history for here. There were 13-14 straight days and nights of cold weather records broken, and some other days not in a straight line as well. Not just here but all over the FLorida peninsula. Not only was winter the worst, Spring was 'delayed' and was colder than usual. So to find these plants coming back after that sort of winter, which was pretty abnormal as winter here is usually so mild, is a pretty great thing
I caved in and bought one white and one black tacca.