Mandrake cultivation discussion

[planthelper]

beautyfull pictures, mutant!

good to know, about your discovery, how escaped roots can be used for probagation.

[mutant]

hey

lol, I just remembered that I saw a dream last night. I remember very few though. I was eating a mandrake fruit and indeed it tasted a bit like a tomato. Then I realised I should not eat the seeds as they're toxic (and valuable) , hehehehe. Thats it. no dream with be flying with broomsticks!

[mutant]

a bit more orange today

when do you think I should eat it?

[mutant]

Well I had heard madragora fruit is a cult item to eat and smell, but I doubted the hype. How special could it be?

yesterday I went to check the fruit and lifted it up to see the colour of side touching the soil. It freely attached itself, so I guess it was ripe (3 days into the yellowing) . I immediately smelled it from the stalk side

and I am like "WOW!!" the essence, aroma is fucking powerful and immediately reminding me of top quality and aroma melon. My father said apricot. My mother was baffled as to how to call it.

Hell, that's why they did a study on the aromatic substances of mandragora! That thing is indeed powerful and pretty interesting smell.

Tasting the flesh (having previously removed the seeds as I remember reading somewhere they're toxic) proved a more complex experience. Its very very tasty with a powerful and long after taste. It starts kind of sweet, but its salty as well. Cannot really say. It tastes a bit like an exotic salty fruit. Definately a strange and interesting experience, especially for an ethnohead.

I shared it with a mate with whom we pick mushrooms and is a gourmet afficionado and he liked it a lot. He proposed a sweet sauce for icecream or yogurt or something could be produced with this.

Seeds are like tomatos, cream, yellowishbrown. some 40-50 of them in the fruit.

Edited March 19, 2014 by mutant

[frozenthunderbolt]

Hey mutant,

Are you willing to share a few seeds by any chance?

If no, that's ok, but i thought i'd try my luck

[doxneed2c-me]

It would be nice to obtain fresh seed because the germination rates of the seeds I have planted has been a dismal 0%...

This thread has been inspiring and I might try some more seeds.

[mutant]

hello yeah I can send a couple frozen (pmed you) , but please people dont ask anymore, as I already promised to 3 persons, and I am a pretty poor guy nowadays. If you pay for it (especially the postage) , now that's another thing....

I can hardly pay for my beers currently, lol.

Anyone knows how fast the germination rate goes down? I could offer a giveaway later in the season if my economics go well.

hey, does anyone know what "cold moist stratification" is?

I intend to wash the seeds before sowing (as they will have some remains of the fruit)

cold most stratifications is putting in a glass and putting, f.e. overnight in the fridge?

Edited April 4, 2014 by mutant

[Berengar]

hey, does anyone know what "cold moist stratification" is?

It's intention is to mimic the spring after a cold winter. It's necessary for most temperate species, especially conifers.

The usual advice is to place the seeds inside a moist paper towel, put it in a plastic bag, and place it the fridge for 2-4 weeks.

Very nice mandrakes BTW!

[mutant]

2-4 weeks huh?

in the habitat I collected the plant(s) theres more rain in late automn and winter, and early spring.... but as I see, the season can be prolonged by watering into spring

Very nice mandrakes BTW!

thanks, just wait until I uproot some to shamelessly show off!

[modern.shaman]

I don't think cold scarification would be needed for fresh seeds and if planted in the right time of the year. I put my seeds in cold water for 1 day than planted in outside during winter since I only have mild winters the temps were perfect. Night temps in the high 40's and day temp in the 60's. I had most of my seeds sprout after 2 weeks.

[mutant]

thanks for info, you taking about automnalis , automn mandrake right?

[mutant]

I undug 2 mandrakes today (the ones finishing off ) to see a surprise:

the one that had given some 6-7 fruits, and been more active above, was smaller below, and with a 'strange' shape, while the one that gave only 2 fruits, had a more below growth and awesome mandrake , almost fulfilloing the man-shapped root

I can sell the photos.. lol ... just kidding ...

but hey, I just decided..

shameless advertisement

I can give out seed packets for 5 euros postage paid worldwide. PM me

[mutant]

the flesh aroma indeed reminds of tomato also, but probably of the tastiest and sweetest tomato you would taste

[mutant]

and about this:

good to know, about your discovery, how escaped roots can be used for probagation.

thanks yo, this was an own idea and project (and to be honest, because I did not have enough big pots and soil, I had some mandrakes rootboundin relatively small pots) , I have seen cuttings taking (root-wise) but not really sprouting, so I haven't found the cycle yet .

[modern.shaman]

thanks for info, you taking about automnalis , automn mandrake right?

officinarum but I'm sure that the the same applies to automnalis.

I'm a bit surprised by the amount of seeds per fruit can't wait till mine flower... I'm likely a few years away still. I wonder what age they bloom.

[mutant]

hmmm not all of them have as many as 40. That was the lucky first!

dont know about officinarium, but judging from your zone, automnalis will like it there.

"I wonder what age they bloom"

I suppose it has to do with root size

[doxneed2c-me]

I am curious if you have any tips for planting these seeds mutant

[mutant]

no not really! I haven't planted yet but I suppose one of the best season to is semptember ~ october when their real season begins (this for northern hemisphere)

[doxneed2c-me]

Just a Ziploc bag humidity chamber type thing with sterile soil should be fine then?

[mutant]

I found this

Sow as soon as possible upon receipt. Sow about 1/4 ich deep in sandy, alkaline mix in a flat or preferably in a gallon pot. Place pot in the shadehouse or in the greenhouse in a relatively cool, shaded area. Lacking the shadehouse or the greenhouse, you might try a sheltered spot outdoors, or even a germination setup with lights. The challenge, of course, is in maintaining reasonable conditions until the seed sprouts. Fresh seed germinates at a high rate of germ in 8 months, while dried seed takes a year, sometimes 2, and gives spotty germination. Oscillating temperatures usually preferred over consistent temperatures. Seeds usually require one full year to sprout.* Seedlings and indeed older plants rot back in summer and resprout from beneath the callus in fall or spring. Keep crowns in perfect drainage. I plant mine in deep sand mulch on the shady side of rocks. Flowers green-white to 16 inches, giving way to green (becoming yellow), apple-like fruits. Fresh (undried) seed not available internationally. International orders will be filled with dried seed from the recent harvest. Mandrake fruits ripen in June and by June 15th we begin to fulfill domestic seed orders with fresh (undried) seed. We continue shipping fresh (refrigerated) seed until it runs out or until it begins to sprout, which is usually in January. Otherwise, mandrake seed orders are fulfilled with dried seeds from the recent harvest. International customers may expect to receive dried seeds. 13 seeds per packet, certified organically grown.

* We ran four concurrent germ tests with the fresh and newly-dried seed from our 2005 harvest. The best germination occurred in seed that was left absolutely fresh and undried, merely washed and cleaned, then planted immediately in fast-draining soil in outdoor conditions in our shadehouse. The germination period was eight months (from 7/10/2005 to appx 3/3/2006). 108 seeds were planted, and 76 sprouts were observed. This is a germ rate of 70.37%.

[doxneed2c-me]

Planted! Now time to wait and cross fingers.

[mutant]

it seems the seeds are not so hard to germinate at their proper season here. cant say about sprout rate, but some sab member told me he had some 60%

these - mandragora seedlings- were thrown in the pot randomly and I forgot about them until I recently saw them in some pots and remembered I had thrown seeds in some pots and all.

and here are some biggy ones

Edited November 28, 2014 by mutant

[doxneed2c-me]

The ones you sold me...

These seeds were dried, they traveled to another part of the world to someone else I know, then were shipped to me and I didn't plant them immediately. They definitely didn't take a year to sprout. Mutant offered them on 8 April 2014 and I only planted them on 18 June 2014.

Planted in damp soil inside jiffy pots and sealed in a Ziploc bag and put them in my germination area. Absolutely none of them sprouted and they started to grow mold! However before tossing them I believe I dried them out then re-watered them then I placed the bags in fridge for at least a month then took them out (2 had started to sprout in the fridge) and after a week or two it was clear I had over a 90% germination rate.

Notice my post above in 18 June 2014 says I planted them and I left them for a while and none sprouted. I thought they were duds. I probably put them in the fridge at the beginning of September probably took them out of the fridge at the beginning of November. I think these seeds like the fridge .'

I am glad I was able to get some seeds and I hope my findings prove to be useful.

Edited November 29, 2014 by doxneed2c-me

[mutant]

Hey thanks for reporting your results!

I am quite sure now that sowing in summer , especially into bags (humidity) is not very good idea, as it is that season the plant actually hibernates. Trying to simply throw some seeds in some pots with nice soil in automn did the thing...

I bet one could have nice results sowing now. I must have thrown the seeds at september, and as automn comes, there is a bit cold in the morning..

So, there's definately something with the cold shock thing...

Good to hear you got some seedlings going dox

Edited November 29, 2014 by mutant

[mutant]