Beautiful seedlings Kim!!
Good to know info, Thanks!
Free Candletree Seeds
You're most welcome. Enjoy.
Kim
Got my seeds a few days ago. Thanks Debnes! They're hanging on the bathroom window in baggies. :)
debnes_dfw_tx, I received my seeds yesterday. Thanks again and as they say, HAPPY PLANTING.
Mary D.
deb, i got mine as well. sowed 'em and sending the rest on to a friend. i am so optimistic. thank you.
Are there any seeds still available? A friend of mine is a butterfly nut, but not much of a gardener, I would love to sart one of these to give to her. I can have my envelope in the mail tomorrow! You can see some of her butterflies on her little page http://pumpkinsandpets.com/butterflies.htm
LOL I helped her set this page up and let me tell you it was pretty fun going through all those photos of cats spinning ! Anyway I think this would be an awesome tree for her yard!
jojo! I still have plenty!! Send me an envelope and I'll get them right out to you! Very kind of you to think of your friend.. she is blessed to have you thinking of her.
She has a wonderful site!! This year she can add Sulphurs to her list!!
debnes
Boy I sure don't want to be a name dropper. As some of you know I visited Braveheartsmom on Maui last week. She posts on the Tropical Zone Gardening. The candletree is a tropical and grows wild all over the island. Since it is 100% lava, lava soil/sand, thought maybe adding some lava sand to your beds might help. Also Jenny puts just a little hydrogen peroxide (drug store type) in water and soaks overnight to give seed a boost. Really surprised to find so many of our precious plants are indigenous to Hawai`i. Gives a litte hint at how to grow them. Haven't been home long enough to start the seeds I brought back. It was beautiful but I am glad to be home in Texas.
LouC
Lou, Seeds from Hawaii can have insect eggs inside them. Back when I carried film 'cause there were no digital cameras, I used the empty canisters to store seeds I collected. A few months later when I remembered the seeds, I found several canisters had small dead insects inside. They weren't there when I packed the seed. Try germinating the seed in ziplock bags. That way if the seed did have insects, they will get trapped in the baggie.
Thanks for the warning, Betty. Will do as you suggest.
LouC
Lucky you Christi!!
Getting to go to Hawaii!! I sure hope you can get your seeds to take off and grow!!
Thx for the tip Betty!
Oh thats great! Sadly I didn't get home in time to get an envelope in the mail today, but will do first thing in the morning.
Thanks so much!
I tried to germinated Cassia alata seeds with the coffee filter methods, in a mere 3 days, I've signs of sprouting. Wooohooo!!! I just simply saturate the coffee-filter. Place the seed in there fold the filter in half. Place the folded filter in a ziplock bag. Keep the back flat 4-6 inches from the light source. I've several sprouting today. I'm getting ready to pot them. Thanks again Deb.
Kim
Deb,
New batch of seeds arrived today, thanks. I decided to soak these for a while in a combination of water and hydrogen peroxide. After a couple of hours, most of the seeds had swollen a bit, and several of them were showing little tails. Wow, that's fast!
I've planted them, and we'll see if this batch germinates faster or more fully than the first batch. I've still only got three seedlings from the first attempt. All the others are either dead or sleeping still.
Great Kim and Jeffery!
I finally put some in soil on Monday....
I scraped across them a few time between my thumb and an emery board. I have these little seed flats with 12 cells and they go inside of a reservoir for bottom watering. I poured a cap full of Hydrogen Peroxide over each one after saturating them. I have had a reptile heater under the flats. I put foil underneath the flat so the plastic is not in direct contact with the heat mat. Today I have a couple popping up.
:-)
I thought I would show you all the cycles of Cloudless Giant Sulphur Butterflies. I will post several pictures here:
Here is the female flying around on the Candletree ovipositing (laying eggs)...
I forgot to mention that I took toenail clipper and snipped off a minute piece where the tail would emerge, soaked overnight and then did the seed mat thing. Mine were up in a few days. Looking good!
Annie
That's good Annie, a careful nick works great too!
I cut off the portions of leaves the eggs were laid on and placed them in a safe container. This is a gladware container with saturated wet floral foam and a paper towel laid over it. The lid was cut out leaving the rim so that sheer fabric could be laid across and clamped on to keep predators out.
When cutting off the leaf portions in this way it keeps the tree looking great. Afterward the leaves can be selected from areas where it isn't noticeable. The hatchlings prefer new growth, and removing small sprigs can only encourage blooming.
The eggs:
If the eggs are not removed there is a big chance that they will be found by ants, an assassin bug or a lurking stinkbug.
Here is a closer-up pic of the tiny eggs
Here the cats are hatching out.... It took about 2 days and they turn yellow just before they hatch.
Tiny 1st instar cats:
Here into the 2nd instar having shed their first skin:
Here it was time to put anew sprig of fresh growth for them... 3rd instar, (3rd skin)
4-5th Instar here... At a little over about a week and a half's time
In the 5th instar the cats find a place to pupate and spin a cremaster from which to hang upside down. The chrysalis starts forming around them and they kick until they are fully enclosed. I hung them in another emergence cage by the silk cremasters with unflavored dental tape/floss.
Here are 4 of them that formed their leaf-like chrysalids.
Here are a couple more forming their chrysalids...
After about 8 days they began eclosing... Here is one of the first 4... The other 3 flew away quickly, and this one stayed to hangout on the mother plant a while. They all came back regularly to nectar on flowers in my garden.
They really like Salvias of all kind...particularly the Black and Blue. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/183822/
I found that they like to drink from most of the same flowers that hummers like also.
That's all the cycle pics...
I want to add that it is up to the individual gardener of whether to collect and cage the sulphurs. You will still get lots of sulphurs visiting the garden. I choose to do it for conservation purposes to ensure more survivors. I realize that everyone doesn't have the time to dedicate to the above measures. I only demonstrate this to show how it can be done successfully for anyone who decides to do it.
:-)
You guys are going to love your Candletrees either way!!!
debnes
I'm definately going to raise some Sulpher's cats. this year. I'm eagerly waiting for signs of spring. Thanks Deb. for sharing those wonderful, helpful informations on the butterfly's cycle and the candle's seeds.
Debnes, thanks for posting those photos. I can't wait for the second batch of seeds. I do have one lonely seedling, I received on a trade, that overwintered in the greenhouse because it was too small. I hope to plant it out this week-end. If we get another freeze, I'll have to run out and cover it with a blanket.
Progress report:
First batch, still only three seedlings. Second batch, planted three days ago, NINE seedlings. I think the hydrogen peroxide/water soak made a huge difference. I don't want to disturb the soil to check, but there are a half-dozen other tiny mounds that I suspect are more seedlings. Other than the presoak with H2O2, I'm raising this batch the same as the first.
Deb, my plan is to wait for the first or second set of true leaves, thin if needed, and then start hardening off. Sound okay?
This is a good day for seedlings all around. Not only did my candletrees poke out, but my first bamboo sprout showed up. I've been nursing the bamboo in carefully-controlled conditions for over a month. Coral vine seeds, invisible yesterday, are springing out of the ground like popcorn. AND my very first forget-me-nots are germinating.
Congratulations DD, wooohoooo, spring is near! Spring is near!
Kim
My goodness, DEb..............you sent me two envelopes of seeds and I haven't started yet, but will. Thanks for all the seeds..........really appreciate them.........................
gail
Oops! Gail.. :-).
Great word Jeffery! Glad you shared the progress! I will be starting a new thread in a day or so. The new thread will have two purposes, 1, to continue giving seeds until all of them are given away, and 2, to post progress or the lack of progress and get support.
I would like to see everyone who gets the seeds HAVE at least one good tree THIS YEAR. Once you all do, you will have your own seeds for the years to come. This should help most of you skip the many struggles I have encountered before in the past trying to grow such a special plant.
Hey, Deb, quick question for you: I've noticed that the seedlings seem to have a hard time getting their seed pods off. Of the first batch, only one managed to do it by itself. It's the largest and strongest of the seedlings. The second one, I helped by moistening and pulling gently. It may not recover from my "help." The third one is small, kind of thin looking, and still has its pod firmly attached.
In the second batch (now up to 14 sprouts!) all of them have the seed pod clamped tightly over the cotyledons. The seedlings are anywhere from just poking out to 1.5 inches tall.
Should I wait them out, or do something?
Debnes, I mailed you a second envelope toward the end of Feb. Did you ever get it? Please let me know if you still have extra seed. I can send another SASE.
DallasDad, if you form a mini-greenhouse over the pot with the seeds, the extra humidity will make it easier for the seedling to escape the seed coat.
Deb, thank you. I received the seed yesterday. Wow, I'll have enough to experiment with several ways to germinate. :-)
I got my seeds today! I'm so excited! And thanks for the return of the stamp Deb LOL. I'm going to read the back posts and see which methods had the best germination rates. My friend is going to be so excited if I can get these going. I'm sending some on to another butterfly junky in South Louisiana. These trees are going to end up all along the Gulf Coast LOL.
Thank you so much Deb!
Joey
Deb,
I now have 25 seedlings in individual 2.5" pots. They're on the patio, hardening off, seeming quite happy. I have 6 more still inside, as a reserve against disaster.
What next?
Great Jeffrey!
Glad you managed through the seed clasping thing. Sometimes they do that and a spray of water helps a lot. You're right when we attempt to "help" we can injure the cotyledons. It's best they shed the seed on their own steam.
:-)