Dear All-
I seem to remember a thread awhile ago about propagating EE from seed but I can't find it.
My A. gageana has two red/orange berries. It is planted in the garden in part shade, in a mixture of top soil/compost and humus.
Do I just let the seeds fall?
Should I pick the seeds and plant them next to the big plants?
Should I pot up the seeds?
Do the seeds need to be "digested" prior to sowing?
Also, can gageana self-polinate or do I have a paternity suit on my hands? I have several types of EE in the same garden.
Propagating Alocasia from seed
Lucky you, I keep waiting and hoping for seeds. There is a good information thread here somewhere, maybe someone will bring it up.
ere's one of them
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/547968/
Sorry ROX Dummy me forgot you can search by poster and topic.
Ric
Here are my tips on seed propagating. I should add that growing plants from seed is the best way to get new varieations and mutations as well as new hybrids.
I first pick the berries when they are rippened usually they are easy to fall off I dont have to pull on them so when they are ready to drop. Then get a bowl of water and squeeze the seeds out and clean them as best as possible I usually do this with my hands or paper towel. After this they are then planted in a humidity chamber which is basically a plastic container. I use promix and the soil is damp seeds are covered up with about 1 inch of soil.
Picture of the seeds just squeezed
after cleaning the seeds
Seeds potted up in a 2 liter that is cut and sealed. A great way to grow seeds out.
Ric/Brian-
As always, thank you for generously sharing your knowledge with me!
ROX
I might add that Brian's method is a proven winner.
Not only is he getting hundreds of seedlings...I'd tried evrything for two years w/ no sucess.......using his method.....I got my first seedlings .......
Ric
I would love to give that a try, now if I only had some seeds . . . . .
Brian, it looks (in your photo) as if the seeds are not covered?
Yes I covered the seeds after placing them far enough apart in the bottle. I remove them once they are about 4 inches tall into seperate pots or in the ground. This is I hope a hybrid with my hybird Alocasia Brian Williams back to its mother. In back crossing you can get much more unique looking plants from what I am told back crossing will yeld the best hybrids so I look foward to getting something interesting out of this.
Rox, use bottom heat if you can, makes them germinate faster, mine come up in about two weeks or less as a rule. 87F bottom heat. barely cover the seeds too. I grew out about 100 last fall and have half that many started again.the ones from last fall are up to 6 ft tall already in outside beds.. :-)
I didn't realize that they grew so quickly! I do have heat mats, so I'll try the bottom heat. OK to put them in the GH on the heat mat to germinate? The room temp is about 85F high/78F low.
Today I noticed an Illustrus at my exercise center. It had a bloom and I could see where several blooms had dried. I got down and started examining them (got some strange looks myself). The current bloom was beautiful, still very tightly wrapped. All of the previous blooms had no berries, guess they just dried up.
If either of you guys ever have more seeds than you want to start, plmk.
So far only two seeds from one plant. But I (like you LindaSC) am hopeful.
ROX
Linda Colocasias setting seed is very rare. I have done it a few times and I know of only a hand full of other people. I have never seen them self pollinate ever. I have heard that Gigantea can but have yet to see it. In almost all cases of elephant ear seed it is usually Alocasia Macorrhiza self seeding. Other alocasias can produce seeds but are rarely seen doing so and usally will not with out being personally pollinated. I have found that illustrius is sterile or so I believe at least the female section is it may produce viable pollen. Alocasia portdora also seems sterile both female sections and no pollen.
Thanks again Brian, you always come through. I have Alocasia Macrorrhiza so maybe one of my insect friends will help me out if it ever blooms.
My Alocasia odora readily self seeds.
The spathe opens fully so both male and female are open at once.
I got about 20 seeds last year from one pod alone last year.
So far I have a lot of macro pollen but no pollinations w/ others have taken.
That technique I'm still learning....lol
Ric
Its not to hard to figure out and in some odd cases colocasia will cross with Alocasias it has been reported by Joseph Bognor and Tony Avent saw Alocasia macrorrhiza crossed with Colocasia Gigantea in the wild. Something that some would say was impossible.