Germinating Ephedra seed

[Rocketman]

Has anyone had any success in getting Ephedra seeds to germinate? Would Gibberellic acid help?

[ENtiTY]

IME the fresher the seed the better.

I have germinated major, sinica, equisetina and another one that I cannot remember the name of. sinica was the most troublesome. I used a sandy potting mix with another layer of sand about 1cm deep on top of that. Seed was placed on sand then more sand added to cover seeds to a depth of 3-5mm. Water in with a mist sprayer and place in a position that gets mild morning sun then shade but bright light when things start to heat up. Pots used were shallow seedling pots and were on concrete which probably means there was some bottom heat once the concrete warmed in the sun. Warm day time temps and cool night temps seem to be when they germinate best. I had the best results with non treated seeds. GA-3 seemed to make no difference.

What species are you trying to germinate?

Good luck

[Rocketman]

Thanks. Sinica is the species. I won't look around for Gibb then. I will try a very sandy mix and maybe an upside down 3 litre Pepsi bottle with the bottom cut off. Sitting over the top with a few holes punched in for air.

As my pot won't be in full sun all day and I am at work. This should keep it moist and warm.

[ENtiTY]

Sinica is extremely prone to damping off which was why its is the most troublesome to grow. Avoid a humidity dome! Water before you go to work and when you get home. If your serious about growing sinica then your going to have to dedicate some time towards it. Seed could take up to 3 months to germinate as well, forgot to mention that in the original post.

UTFSE and you will find many threads on trouble with ephedra germination and growing, especially in regard to sinica.

[Rocketman]

Ok thanks again I had no idea that it could take that long to germ.

[planthelper]

i agree with all what harry says.

humidety domes are no good.

cold climat ephedras germ well in spring,

sinica germs well over the hottest parts over the year.

day nighttime fluctuations seem to be important.

once they are up, don't water them to much, but never let them go dry too much either.

after like 3-4 month's of growth they get quite tuff.

mature plants are tuff as nails!

fresh seed does help, fresh seed can be recognised by the waxy, oily, shiny surface of the seeds.

bottom heat devices did not work well for me.

i think the reson why i always managed to germ sinicas, even with older seeds, was that day time temps reache often 37 deg C or more.

edit: i never had seedlings emerge with delay (like 3 months)

Edited November 14, 2010 by planthelper

[lofty86]

Ive read some where that pre treating old E.nevadensis seed with cold for a week prior to planting improves germination rates. I believe the artical also stated they were using this method with seed up to 10 years old

[Rocketman]

Ok guys thanks again. I'll put them in the fridge and then try. They are at least two years old. I'll have a go or try SAB again for fresher ones.

[Atlas]

Put cotton wool in a chinese container, wet it (not soak), lay the seeds on top, close the container and put it inside, not in darkness but not in sun, You will get almost 100% germination every time, very fast too, works for all ephedras, try it and I guarentee you will be happy!!!

[Sola]

Good tips, thanks. Now all I have to do is find a naturalised stand to collect seed.

[ENtiTY]

Good luck with that quest Sola Vaguely remember hearing a story about ----edited---- having planted ephedra during ----edited----. Could just be and urban legend but its a plausable possibility. If you know of ----edited---- that would be the place to start I'd say, who knows if they could have survived ----edited---- though.

If you do decide to pursue this line ----edited---- Mind the Urtica

Edited: Edited in the interest of both people and the plants safety.

Edited November 30, 2010 by Harry

[planthelper]

i'm currently working on getting a few ephedra fragilis and ephedra distachya seeds up, hopefully, i'll be lucky. ephedras are living fossils of the gymnosperm family and as such share some characteristics with even ginko biloba. i guess the fruit is not a fruit but an endocarp, and ginko fruits and ephedra fruits look to me very similar, not in shape but in the texture and coat.

ephedras are always the prized posessions of any botanical garden, as they are so unique and attractive.

i think that many of the worlds ephedras are very rare, and there status needs to be improofed.

i can remeber only one single time a plant located in australia was reported to be in flower.

it's aswell one of those plants being either male female or herm.

i give some links to some websites so you can see the beauty of ephedras.

http://www.delange.org/MormonTea/MormonTea.htm

http://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://www.ortobotanico.unina.it/aree_espositive/pinophyta/Ephedra_fragilis001.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.ortobotanico.unina.it/VerInglese/p_aree_espositiveE/PinophytaE.htm&h=640&w=480&sz=110&tbnid=vsy_qAFvgluDUM:&tbnh=259&tbnw=194&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dephedra%2Bfragilis&zoom=1&q=ephedra+fragilis&usg=__UYvd8SQHiCH_-G8PHHdyLmcjD20=&sa=X&ei=SUjwTOybEIeecLiSzf8J&ved=0CBoQ9QEwAQ

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pollen%C3%A7a_-_Ma-10_-_Mirador_de_Mal_Pas_-_Ephedra_fragilis_02_ies.jpg

[lofty86]

I planted out some E.Nevadensis 3 days ago after a week of refridgeration where having unusually cold nights this time of year so my hopes are high i used a sterile mix sand/perlite/verm but havnt bothered with a humidity dome. I believe the seed were relativly fresh as they were still covered in pollen when they arrived. ive heard that the cold treatment although increasing germination rates may prolong sprouting time so how long do i have to wait befor i can expect to see if ive had any success?

[planthelper]

i recently germed some nevadensis, i can't remeber how long it took, maybe 10days or so.

i managed to get 3 out of 5 up, the hard one to germ is the sinica (wait for the scorcher day's to germ, as mentioned above).

[Rocketman]

thanks for the links to the pics. I've been so busy at work tomorrow I will knock up a sandy mix and give it a go.

[mint]

what is the difference between female and male plants with ephedras

[planthelper]

what is the difference between female and male plants with ephedras

 

you obviously have not clicked at the first link, and looked at the pic which say's, female cone's and male cone's.

come on people let's google a bit more before asking questions,

i just googled male female ephedra and bang, everything you need to know about the difference between the sexes...

http://www.ephedra.nu/botanical_2.html

two of my ephedra fragilis came up this morning, always nice to see a seedling germing, which wasn't there yet last night.

edit:

found this pic of an ephedra growing up a tree!!

very inspirational.

http://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://jardin-mundani.info/ephedraceae/ephedra-trenc2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.blass.com.au/definitions/ephedraceae&usg=__7B_BeVE67pOkz-6C_A3QhdjZTDU=&h=800&w=600&sz=113&hl=en&start=285&zoom=1&tbnid=h7bfOl9JoTOn9M:&tbnh=124&tbnw=94&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dephedra%2Bdistachya%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-au%26biw%3D963%26bih%3D559%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=669&vpy=202&dur=2484&hovh=259&hovw=194&tx=105&ty=177&ei=MUj0TPi1FIS2vQPnwuHzDQ&oei=jkb0TOfqA4XsuAPA8rXGAg&esq=19&page=19&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:8,s:285

Edited November 30, 2010 by planthelper

[Sola]

Awesome information and photos, cheers planthelper. There are a couple old mines near here but as we

regularly climbed through as kids I think I know where most of the shafts are. Always careful though.

Thanks for the tips.

Really interesting plant all round I think but I like all the ancient looking plants so maybe I'm biased.

[ENtiTY]

Be careful

[planthelper]

harry, larconic answeres create anxiety, i think you should have given us some detail why you give this warning. now i have to do it, well, well.

when experimenting with ephedra, never ever go silly and do it like you do it with most herbs....

DON'T EVER DOSE HIGH WITH EPHEDRA!!!

if you use a tea, don't make it to strong.

don't think, the more the better, otherwise your heart will try to jump out of your chest.

i think chewing fresh material, is the best and safest methode of absorbtion.

[ENtiTY]

I challenge that laconic statements provoke thinking upon a subject.

At any rate the answer/warning was not laconic at all if taken in context. It was aimed directly at Sola, to which the meaning of, should be crystal clear. It has nothing to do with ephedra dosage, but rather to the contents of a previous post within this thread that I have since edited, the reason why being stated in the post. Sola responded in a way that indicated he/she intended on acting upon the information I provided, potentially putting him/her at risk.

Edited December 2, 2010 by Harry

[planthelper]

thx 4 clearing that up, i would have helped to be more specific than.

i think a few people would have misunderstood your post, and might have got scared off from learning more about this plant....

[planthelper]

http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2048&view=&hl=ephedra&fromsearch=1

i re post the pic of waterdragon again here, as i'm soooooo jealous!

[tripsis]

The first Ephedra seeds I tried to germinate I got one out of 5 seeds up, which grew into a nice, healthy plant, but died from dehydration while I was at EGA last year. I believe it may have been E. major... All my subsequent tries failed for a while, sowing them in a sandy mix on the windowsill without the addition of humidity to help them along. Everytime any germinated they would be instantly killed in the summer heat, before they managed to get their roots into the soil, which was drying out far too rapidly anyway. After a while, I decided to try germinating them with humidity in a richer mix. I gave E. sinica, E. minima, E. distachya and E. equisetina a go during last autumn. All of them had at least one germination, including the E. sinica. Shortly after they germinated, I removed the lid to the container and left them to be. I can't remember how many seeds of each I sowed, but it wasn't many, as I wanted to try with more when I was going to be around to care for them. I've not seen how they have fared over the winter yet.

[planthelper]

i agree with you statment that they are prone to drying out specialy in there seedling and early development stages.

i think that ephedras are very sensitive to those day's when the flower pots get to hot, so planting them out avoids that problem.

mature ephedra plants make good landscape plants, they have unusal appearance, and don't allowe much competition around the spot where they are growing. they need no care whats o ever, but look like they get pruned by edward sissorhand personaly.

i have seen ephedra minima used as small border plant, in luxury gardens.....