Posted by mark
on 6/13/2008, 12:59 am, in reply to "Re: Microcycas Calocoma"
207.200.116.199
:
: The good seeds germinate fairly
: easily without any problems, its the
: bad ones that get fungus on them and
: ruin others, if they are in the
: baggie and you don't check it every
: day. The baggie with perlite sounds
: pretty good. I had 100 seeds one
: time and I just did them like I
: always do, like in my germination
: article, where I put them half way
: in sand that I kept just slightly
: moist. Another possible thing is the
: tray you mention. With one that big,
: they would have decent space between
: them so a bad one doesn't foul out a
: good one. You could also put them
: half way down in the coarse sphagnum
: moss with a big baggie around the
: pot. You might need to use more than
: one pot though. They key really is
: what you do AFTER they germinate
: because that is where you will kill
: more than you will do in the
: germination process. The main thing
: on germination is to not keep them
: real wet and as soon as they sprout,
: take them and out and plant them in
: what you will keep them in for a
: while. Good luck, but I see you
: already have good luck, because just
: getting the lot on this auction was
: amazing. If I remember right only 2
: or 3 user name people even got
: those, and I suspect that two of the
: user name people were one in the
: same.
:
Actually, I was really really lucky. I was bidding on four lots, then at the last minute, 'snipers' got me.(and I had the same feeling there were multies out there too) I wanted more, but my 50 will do. I figure i'll learn a good deal, then next year, probably play the 'game' again.
I remember it was said the spagnum proffers some level of antifungal effect. I am going to divide the seeds into different groups and see what works best. And as you said, 'damping-off' seems to be a real killer. I am going to experiement with my low humidity and plant a couple into the open ground. They will be protected in a special 'shade tent' made of 2 X 4's and 75% shade cloth. When the radicle is abount 2 inches i'll plant some down in perlite. The shade tent is built on a raised bed with about 8 inches of perlite on top of 2 feet of sand. My hope is to get the plant established in about as sterile an environment in an outdoor setting. My hope is my low humidity in Las Vegas, (almost always under 10%) will keep the dampening off rot at bay.
( I used this metthod on panzhihuensis, and my mortality at one year is one plant per a 700 batch)
Probably look at a watering regimen incorporating a cocktail of 3 fungicides.
We'll see. I'll keep you posted if anything is particularly successful.
Thanks again for your advice.
I'll try one group with spagnum, maybe with a little perlite or pumice, to keep them from getting too wet.
Mark
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