Bat Plant

Does anyone have any personal experience starting Bat plant seeds? I just got some seeds and I am anxious to try them, but want to be sure to do it right!!

Deb

here ya go MomCat...

barely cover the seeds with a soil mix that has at least abot 15 % of coarse sand in it. Make sure ya wash the sand, cuz whiel it may nto look like it , it has germs and stuff on it too.

Ya need temps of 80F at all times and ya just want the soil barely damp so that it almost bone dry. Put in baggy and kepep warm so that high humidity builds up.

Ya want to make sure that whatevr ya do when they start germinating is that ya never mist the leaves. Alwyas hand water the pot from aroudn the soil line.

The seeds are funny and can take ya anywhere sfrom one to I have had to wait as much as 6 months before they germinated. I usally fix my tray, put in bagg and put on top of fridge wher e it always nice and warm towards the back of it . and then just check about once a week to make sure ther e water droplets on the top of baggy still. When I do that I open it up uick and let soem frh air in adn reseal it.

I usally put a small calender and note with arrow on my fridge to remind me they up there.

her e two really good sites for ya.

http://www.conklingardens.com/plantpics/tacca_chantrieri_bat_plant.htm

and
http://www.birdfarm.net/MistysPassiflora/tacca.htm

Patience big time is the name of the game with the bats. : )

Thank you so much for the info. I have never tried them before, but was at the nursery looking at seeds today, and they had Tacca seeds, so I thought I just had to try.

Deb

MomCat.. I stil have some of the white and black bat seeds if ya want to give them a try. No sense paying a foirtune for very fussy germinating seeds. if ya want some, send me a dmail.

What is a bat plant?

I have some Tacca chantrieri that only took a month to germinate. They are sloooooow. My T. nivea and T. integrifolia have a month on them, with no sign of germination. Hopefully they won't keep me waiting for 6 months!

cjtgardener, here's a link to T. chantrieri:

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/54257/

Plantaholic, how did you get your Tacca seeds to germinate? Just in regular seed starting mix, or in a baggie? I was going to try a few different ways and see what worked, but since you've had luck with yours, well, I don't want to waste seeds.

Deb

I actually used peat pellets. Three have germinated, but they have slowed down drastically, I'm not sure why. I've potted up one, which is doing fine. I don't know what normal germination rates are for Tacca, but unusual plants that I haven't tried before I sow only 5 seeds or so as a trial run. I wish I could tell you some surefire method, but the best I could say is that it seems T. chantrieri is easier than the rest.
I'll give you a progress report when I have one : )