First time for a successful cross and seed harvest.

[Louis]

Hi,

I have never done any crossing with hibiscus, but have been bitten by the bug like many others.

i crossed moonstruck with black dream, ms being the pod parent. the cross was on 11/10 and i harvested seeds from a walnut size pod on 12/26, just about 6 weeks of pod maturing.

i harvested 13 nice plump black seeds and have planted most of them today. i nicked the seeds carefully and planted them in peat pots in a tray over a heating pad. the tray has a clear plastic cover. my questions are: how long does it normally take to sprout and when do you take the plastic cover off as not to rot the seedlings. the temp in the tray is around 75, last checked

it should be interesting to see how many will germinate, if any at all.

photos will be posted when they sprout and tiny cigars will be passed out, cyberlly

louis

[davidwood]

Louis, I hope to be sat in my garden enjoying one of them cigars with a cold beer very soon [ha ha wont be cyberlly either]. Good luck.

[Doll]

Louis, that's great news. I only got 3 seeds from my Cindy's Heart seedpod. I planted them immediately and didn't nick them. Ten days have passed and nothing yet. I think it takes 10-14 days for germination. Good luck.

[Charlie]

We are getting internet connectivity about 2 hours a day right now but expect a new service to be installed later today. Meanwhile, good job Louis! Assuming you did not nick the seeds they should germinate in the next 5-10 days after planting. Temperature is good but once they germinate you will want to place the cover off center so some fresh air gets inside the dome. Once they are all germinated you can take it off altogether to prevent damping off disease from killing them.

If you can keep them warm and sunny all the time (sun more important as they get older) you might get first blooms next summer.

Doll, germination depends a lot on temperature. Any gentle heat source under the tray will help speed it up. Seeds can germinate from days to weeks after planting if they do not rot first.



Charlie

[ewa]

WELCOME or how to gather seeds they must be dried if you can sow immediately after harvest, and now I sow?

[Louis]

WELCOME or how to gather seeds they must be dried if you can sow immediately after harvest, and now I sow?

hello ewa, welcome to you also,

read charlie's posts and he describes in detail how to sow the seeds.

louis

[Doll]

Louis, did any of your seeds sprout yet? Here is a pic of my lone seedling at 2 weeks.

[Louis]

hi doll,

yes they did, i am going to post some photos tonight. they are doing good.

louis

[davidwood]

Louis, did any of your seeds sprout yet? Here is a pic of my lone seedling at 2 weeks.

I have never seen a plant pot like that, it looks like its made of Weetabix. You must be so exited to grow your first creation, maybe update the photo now and then.

[Doll]

David, it is a coir pot. Coir is the outer husk of a coconut.

[davidwood]

David, it is a coir pot. Coir is the outer husk of a coconut.

Wow!!!, I wonder why know one has thought of that here, there is certainly enough coconuts. In fact I have just come back from my morning swim and there are hundreds of coconuts just rotting on the beach.

[Louis]

Hi all,

here is a update on my attempt to cross pollinate and grow the seeds.

i have planted a bunch of seeds from various crosses, staggering the planting times. most all are coming up, in stages. my first batch was a cross between moonstruck and black dream, ms being the pod parent.

out of 12 seeds planted, 10 have sprouted so far. i planted the seeds two days after harvesting the pod. i nicked the seeds carefully and most all have come up, in various times. i think where you nick the seeds determines how fast it will sprout. is there a proper place on the seed to nick the outer covering??

reading through the forums and various sites on raising seeds, damping off is a major problem. charlie mentioned that sphagnum moss will prevent damping off. i had a brick of moss and with the trusty old cheese grater, i grated about 2 cups of dried moss to the consistency of sawdust. after planting the seeds in peat pots, i placed about 1/4 inch of moss dust on top. hopefully this will prevent damping off, so far, so good.

a strange occurrence is happening, the moss is turning green and starting to grow. you can see it on the bottom right of the single seedling,

the crosses that i have are:

moonstruck and black dream, ms being the pod parent.
wild grape and purple magic, crossed both ways.

tigerama and moonstruck, ms being the pod parent.



louis

[Charlie]

John, getting 1 out of 3 from a particular cross can be great results or poor results, it's hard to know with any given cross how the seeds will do. Some sprout at close to 100 percent and others closer to zero. Getting 1 of 3 means the conditions are good enough for germination to happen and growth to take off. It's still possible the other 2 may do something. There are plenty of stories around about seeds sprouting months  later. Odds are they have rotted by now but you never know unless you can find the seed.

Lou, those seedlings are looking great so far. I always had good luck with the sphagnum moss but have to admit I never saw it turn green and start to grow! For those who don't know about sphagnum moss, it grows in the cold and wet areas of the world and is abundant is places like Canada and Ireland. When it is collected fresh and dried it is called sphagnum moss, but when it is collected from bogs and swamps after it dies and partially decays it is called peat moss, the most commonly used potting mix ingredient. Lou must have got hold of some moss that was not totally dead and was revived by water. As sphagnum turns into peat it does not completely decay due to some interesting properties that the moss has, including its highly acidic nature. When used in potting soil it is amended with limestone or other ingredients that bring the pH up closer to neutral.

Lou, you have some excellent crosses there. I can't wait to see what comes from them.

Charlie

[ewa]

WHERE TO BUY SEEDS LOUIS
EWA

[Louis]

WHERE TO BUY SEEDS LOUIS
EWA

Hello Ewa,

i dont know of any place in particular to buy seeds. i would do a search on the internet.

louis