Germinating Iboga Seed in Townsville

[endorfinder]

Ladies 'n' Gents -

I have an Iboga seed pod on the way from SAB to be shared between a friend and I. Both of us are in North Queensland, give or take a couple of hundred km from Townsville.

Currently ~30-35° weather has been pretty consistent, although I haven't measured soil temps which according to Torsten tend to be 5-10° lower...

What chance do we have of germinating the things in a shade cloth greenhouse or otherwise outdoors-ish?

I will do at least some seeds with external heating... should I just suck it up and find a way to heat them all reliably for a fairly long period of time? I have some peltier devices on the way from dx, maybe they could do the trick - anyone tried DIYing it with those?

I know iboga seed germination has been covered ad nauseum but reports seem to indicate that results vary WIDELY in different parts of the country. Any advice?

cheers! -ef

[planthelper]

should be fine, without additional heat.

they take about 3 and more months to germinate, so by than it, ought to be still very warm at your location.

i think, like many seeds, they benefit from teperature fluctuations, so outdoors, would be better than a constant heat source.

but sure one can set a heatmat onto a timer aswell.

[endorfinder]

I just got home and the pod's arrived, I haven't opened it yet - busting to know how many seeds we scored!

Sounds good planthelper, thanks... I'll put a few aside to germinate on a heat source too. I have a thermostat power switch - but I've read of so many people failing by using a constant heat level, so what you say sounds in line with experiences I've read. If we get a decent number, would planting one directly into the ground be worth a shot?

Is there any advantage to GA3 or other pretreatment other than cleaning with dilute peroxide?

In three months... it will still be around mid-20s with unpredictable variation overnight. I suppose that's not *too* cold, especially since any seed planted in the ground will act as a pretty strong heatsink for even light daily sun.

[endorfinder]

We checked out the pod, there were 18, so 9 each. I'd like to get these going while it's still warm - another member advised me by pm to keep them on top of a hot water system for a couple of months, any thoughts?

[goneski]

I use reptile heat mats + thermostats for my snakes without an issue.. can get a nice constant temp, or even have the thermostat on a timer so it switches on/off for temp fluctuations.

I'd recommend a tile between the heat mat and whatever you're planning on keeping warm, so as to help disperse and even out the heat a little..

Edited February 9, 2013 by SYNeR

[gtarman]

I was thinking about doing this a while back, but then I noticed SAB were selling iboga plants and just bought one of those haha.

I'd say maybe just use the ambient outside temps while it's still warm, then if it starts getting below mid 20's maybe put them on a heat mat...But I'm really not sure tbh

Good luck

Edited February 10, 2013 by gtarman

[endorfinder]

Heh I have 80cm and 30cm plants (about to gift my 8cm baby), but germinating this guy from seed is of personal importance to me

I found a reptile heat mat on ebay for $8 delivered... my thoughts now, based on your suggestions, are to place the a near-sealed plastic container with the seeds in sphagnum on a tile on the mat, and use a thermostat so that when ambient temps are above 30° summer 25° winter I'll trigger the mat on, letting the seeds cool relatively overnight for temperature fluctuations. Keep it moist, wait a few months, cross fingers?

[planthelper]

sounds good endo, i remeber, t realy solicitated to apply very high temperatures, don't remeber the nummbers, but i would go hotter than what you say.

if temps are too low, germination will take longer, and the longer it takes to germ them, the more they will wear themselves out.

i guess soil temperature, of +35 deg C, by day would be not too much, use a thermometer to check soil temp.

i'm a bit manic, so maybe i try to find the thread, i'm refering to.

[endorfinder]

If I remember correctly torsten recommends soil temp 35-40°C... this is what I'd aim to get the heat mat to. The idea is to set the threshold on the thermostat such that it only triggers on during the day, at night it gets to cool down a bit. Temps only drop below 10°C at night here even in the middle of winter, I'd hope to have them germ'ed well before then.

I'm still tempted just to stick one in soil in a hot sunny spot and see what happens. I wonder whether a large black plastic pot or straight in the ground would be a better option, I'm assuming the ground will have less (but still significant) temperature variation? I guess it's a $3 seed for a 3 month experiment, that's not bad value for time ;)

Ride that mania !

[gtarman]

With these badboys I'd be wary of just putting them in an open pot or the ground. From what I remember Townsville wouldn't be humid enough for either of those options (this stuff comes from an extremely hot and humid place after all). Will you be putting a DIY plastic bottle cover over the pot? Or perhaps a mini greenhouse? Shortly suggested a takeaway tek to me when I was thinking about it, so that might be an option too

[endorfinder]

If I put a seed directly in soil, I'll keep a humidity dome over the top, yes. Really it would be as an experiment... surely there must be a way to get the thing to grow without such difficulty outside of its' native habitat.

A couple of members have thrown in advice by PM, I think I might hedge my bets

[goneski]

I'd avoid cheap and nasty reptile heat mats.. They

Do have quite a higher probability of becoming a fire hazard.

Also on that topic, make sure you allow for some air flow above

And below the mat. Don't entirely sandwich it between two surfaces.

[endorfinder]

I'll be using a thermostat switch also... perhaps if i can mount the thermostat itself inside the chamber i could make a thermal cutout? Or is this overkill?

Thanks for the air flow tip, hadn't considered that.