Posted by Mark
on 3/11/2008, 12:52 am, in reply to "Re: Encephalartos Gratus seeds"
207.200.116.199
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: I recently acquired a batch of
: gratus
: seeds, and have found a fair number
: of them have a problem. The seeds
: have been cleaned, sowing time is in
: may, however, the "hatch"
: where the radicle should emerge has
: a black fungus on them.
: With the 'enemy' rot at the 'gate'
: so to speak, would it be advisable
: to treat the seeds with a
: fungicide?, and if so, what kind?.
: I do have a few 'strong' kinds
: available.. By the time the seeds
: are sown, the rot likely will spread
: if untreated.
:
: There are a few batches around right
: now, but if you got some of those $1
: seeds being offered a few weeks ago,
: I know your problem very well. I got
: some of those and was sent some
: extras because they were not 100%
: good. I cut some open and they were
: already black inside and half dried
: up, and can't be saved. Some are
: just going bad now. What I did was
: soak the seeds in a bleach solution
: (usually about 10% clorox) That will
: clean up anything on the surface in
: a matter of minutes. It wouldn't
: hurt as well to soak the seeds in a
: fungicide (I like Daconil
: personally)or instead of making a
: water solution with that, you can
: make a paste by mixing it thicker
: and it sort of sticks to the seeds
: better for a longer time.
: This may be an advanced method for
: germination and I don't want anyone
: trying this unless they have some
: experience, but if a seed like this
: batch that has full sized embryos
: already (I checked, they did)you can
: carefully remove the hatch and the
: seed will sprout within 2 to 3 days.
: This works on Enceph seeds that are
: still good that have been sitting
: around for up to 2 years. When I
: first experimented, I did this, and
: ferox seeds that had been in the
: medium for close to 2 years, all the
: ones that were still good all
: sprouted in 2 days. With this recent
: batch, I did this, and got 80%
: germination of the good looking
: seeds within 4 days. I potted the
: bad looking ones seperately and a
: few of those came up as well.
:I think both our seeds are probably from the same area. I'll try your suggestion: and carefully remove the 'hatch'. Just for experimenting, I may remove the entire sclerotesta from a few, and see what happens. It sounds as like what your saying is, provided embryo maturity is sufficient, removing the 'hatch' stimulates radicle growth. I'll post a reply in a few days, or weeks, and let you know the results. Thanks.
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