H.E. Pennypacker Posted October 31, 2011 There's very little information on the internet (and this forum) regarding the germination (and cultivation) of Pleiospilos seeds, so I thought this thread might come in handy for anyone searching. I've gotten some in the mail from koehres last week and being pretty impatient, I went ahead and tried germinating them right away. The only appropriate soil I had at that time was some simple sowing mix to which I added a tiny bit of vermiculite. Soaked the soil and simply sprinkled them on top (they're light germinators), put some cling film over the pots and put them under fluoro's at a light regime of 24/0 to reduce climatic changes. A couple of days after I did that I searched for some more info and found 1 mention at B&T's of Pleiospilos reacting to butenolides (smoke treatment). 2 days after sowing I poked a hole in the cling film of two of the pots you see below and blew some smoke on them. Day after that they were pretty dried out, so I misted them and placed the tiny pots in a propagator without the cling film. 3 days after the second soaking and I have 7 out of 10 that have sprouted, which is a pretty good ratio if I say so myself. The pot which I didn't treat with smoke only has 1 out of 3 sprouting as of yet, the other two have 3 out of 3 and 3 out of 4. Apparently choosing the little pots wasn't that smart of a move, considering they have a pretty long taproot and don't really like to be repotted all that much, but I'll see how that turns out when they get a little bigger. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
H.E. Pennypacker Posted November 29, 2011 A month later and they've grown quite a bit. Even had 2 more seeds germinate. Couple days ago the first true leaves began showing. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Seldom Posted November 30, 2011 very interesting, cheers for the update Pennypacker Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Khala Posted November 30, 2011 These are so %$ing cool! I love them! Thanks for posting! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
devance Posted November 30, 2011 Nananthus has the long tap root. Pleiospilos has the long leaves. A cross bred isn't easy. Tried it doesn't work. But germination technique work very well. Keeping them alive after germination is a problem. Got my hybred from Wallmart, the roots is the part of the plant of interest.. Looks like bonsai plant. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
H.E. Pennypacker Posted December 1, 2011 I've read that keeping them alive seems to be somewhat of a problem as well, particularly watering problems. So far so good though. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
