Re: [aroid-l] A. kiusianus germination

From: "Randy Story" story at caltech.edu> on 2002.09.26 at 00:22:03(9457) Petra, Any idea of what you do that might be different? Freshness, soaking, temperature (are they outdoors?). Perhaps germination inhibitor(s) leach out by soaking?? I ask because everything else I've found seems to suggest a long germination time for this species, including two posts on this list that I found in the archive. I just noticed that both of them are from Alan Galloway, in 1997 and 2001, reporting germination times of 21 months and 29 months respectively. There was apparently simultaneous germination of a batch of seeds in each case. Any idea what's up? I'm happy to hear that it shouldn't take 2 years! Thanks, Randy +More ---------- >From: "Petra Schmidt" >To: >Subject: Re: [aroid-l] A. kiusianus germination >Date: Wed, Sep 25, 2002, 9:15 AM > > Hey Randy...collect the berries as soon as they ripen and soak them in water > overnight, clean them off, and sow them...expect germination within a few > weeks...easy as pie. > Petra > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Randy Story" > To: "AROID-L" > Sent: Tuesday, September 24, 2002 11:23 PM > Subject: [aroid-l] A. kiusianus germination > > >> Hi, >> >> I just received some of Harry Witmore's Amorphophallus kiusianus seeds >> (thanks Harry!) and am curious about their germination. The article on >> Amorphophallus cultivation (Hetterscheid and Ittenbach, Aroideana issue 19 >> or online at http://www.aroid.org/genera/amorphophallus/amcult.html) > states >> that fresh Amorphophallus seed usually germinates in 1-3 weeks except for > A. >> henryi and A. kiusianus. I also checked in the archives where a couple >> people reported 2 year germination times for A. kiusianus. >> >> This is slow. Has anyone ever tried speeding up germination in any way, >> such as by using Giberellic acid (a plant hormone, for those who might be >> curious)? Or do I just need to learn patience, somehow...? >> >> If anyone knows of anything, even unsuccessful attempts, I would be > curious. >> It sounds that for most other Amorphophallus species there is little > reason >> to try to speed things up. Are there methods used with any other aroids? >> >> I do have giberellic acid and I will do the experiment unless someone can >> suggest something better. >> >> Randy > >

Note: this is a very old post, so no reply function is available.