Gloriosa superba from seeds ?

Hi all,

I´ve now tried 3 times (two different suppliers) to grow this nice plant from seeds without any success.

I soaked the seeds 2 days and planted them then lightly covered in sandy substrate and had the pods at about 22-25°C at a shaded place in the greenhouse. Covered with glass to avoid drying out.

Or do the seeds need a stratification, although the plant is subtropical ?

Please help

Peter

Peter,
Maybe some of the Peroxide Water would help. ~ Suzi :)

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/504110/

Yes, Suzi

Maybe that helps if the seeds are not very old.
But I don´t know if the seeds require light for germination.

After 2 days I will put some of the seeds in the fridge to see if a stratification will help.

By the way I have excellent results with hydrogen peroxide in germination of Strelitzias, Ravenalas and Passifloras.

Thank you

Peter

Peter, that is good to know. My P Incarnata seeds didn't germinate. Thankfully a very sweet DGer sent me a PI plant! ~ Suzi :)

"Propagate this plant from seed sown in September-October and be patient because the seed might take up to four month to germinate."

http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantefg/gloriosasuperba.htm
http://flamelilywebsolutions.com/flamelily.htm

dstartz,

September-October in South Africa - this is spring in northern hemisphere

I´m looking for someone who can report own success - These instrucions in the web are not very helpful.
Supposed these seeds take 4 months, it is very important to know more details as there are:

soil, moistness, temperatures, light - if the publishers of these websites cannot provide such data it´s quite sure they never ever have grown Gloriosa from seeds.

Thanks for pointing out that it is a southern hemisphere website, but 4 months is still four months.

Aren't this grown from tubers??? I have one that I bought and it is coming up great, however it was from a tuber that was about 4" long. I know that they are supposed to multiply underneath the soil. I believe that I got mine from Roberta's Exotic Gardens.

I bought some off ebay beginning of the year. I planted them on Feb. 10th and kept them under my grow lights until today. Here is a picture of what the tuber already looks like from seeds. I think it only took about 2 weeks for them to sprout. The instructions said to plant 1/2 inch deep. Keep moist and I had them on a heating mat.
:) Donna

You give me hope, Donna!

Maybe the seeds you got aren't fresh enough?
:) Donna

Tubers is very easy and mine now have the first flower buds. But tubers are expensive and the doble only in one year.

But... I´m sorry, I was asking for propagation from seeds.

For sure there are thousands of seeds sold every year and there should be people here who can report if they had success or not.

Donna, seed merchants do not sell old seeds, they are always fresh. (kidding)

Peter

Excellent News !!!

Germination setup

07/18/2005

100 seeds Gloriosa superba
in twist-off-glass with 30ml water + 3ml 3% hydrogenperoxide

This mixture changed every 4th day

Today 08/01/2005 !! less then 2 (two) weeks !!

7 seeds germinated - others show a white tip inside the seedcote.

So thanks again Suzi