My First Cycad's From Seed. UPDATE 3/22/13

[*Barracuda_52*]

Heres some pics of my very first Cycad Dioon edule Angustifolium from seeds.. You need to have alot of time and paitence on your hands for these SUPER SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW growing plants..
These will be 2 months old end of August, the main tap root started/germinated within 4 days of sowing last week of June. Seems like it takes FOREVER for that first leaf/stem to start growing, soon these will be going into bigger deeper pots.. I keep the grow lights as close to them as possible.

Sorry for the crubby pics..
Always click pics for better viewing.





This one is just starting to send out its first stem/leaf.


I have 3 more seeds that are getting ready to send out there main tap root, will get close up pics of those when they do there just my super slooooooooooow starting seeds.. Not bad for only 7 seeds got 4 going good so far.. Will update this as they grow..

[John C]

Awesome job! After seeing this post I ordered myself some Dioon Edule seeds as well. I just got them! Can't wait to try them! I have a plant, but I have never tried them from seed. Thanks for the inspiration!

[daiv]

How are these in terms of speed once germinated? I really think it is great that you are trying all these different types of plants!

[*Barracuda_52*]

Time for a update on some of these babies, these took on a nice blueish powdery cast to them when in full sun durring last summer but lost that durring winter months where there not in such strong sunshine and they should be gearing up to put out another leaf or 2 come middle this summer, they just got a repot with fresh soil mix. There doing great..

[majcka]

That looks promissing. Slow but promissing. I'm glad you posted this so I know what I can look up to in next 12, 13, 14, 15... months. I sow 7 seeds of Cycas revoluta. I wonder how long they will take to show anything.

[*Barracuda_52*]

majcka, how long ago did you sow your seeds and how did you go about doing it? Did you lay the seeds on top the soil mix? Did you clean the seeds befour sowing them? Mine germd pretty quick but once they did it took awhile for that tap root to get down into the soil then it took awhile befour they sent out there first leaf then after that its takes alooooooooooooong time befour they send out there next leaf or 2. Your gona have to be very very paitent.

Im gona try some Zamia furfuracea "Cardboard" Palm Tree seeds within the next month or so i think there neat and intresting wonder how long it takes for those to germ and send up a leaf.

[majcka]

majcka, how long ago did you sow your seeds and how did you go about doing it? Did you lay the seeds on top the soil mix? Did you clean the seeds befour sowing them? Mine germd pretty quick but once they did it took awhile for that tap root to get down into the soil then it took awhile befour they sent out there first leaf then after that its takes alooooooooooooong time befour they send out there next leaf or 2. Your gona have to be very very paitent.

Im gona try some Zamia furfuracea "Cardboard" Palm Tree seeds within the next month or so i think there neat and intresting wonder how long it takes for those to germ and send up a leaf.

I sow them 3 days ago. But after you ask if I cleaned them a went to do some more checking. I didn't cleaned them. So I took them out of pots and soak them in water so I will clean them tomorrow or the day after that. Other things I think I did OK. So I will sow them again maybe monday. Thanks for the tip.

[John C]

Awesome growth! You know, right after you posted your original photo I decided I really wanted to try them as well, so I ordered a bunch of seeds. I need to post a photo of mine now (They are about the same size as yours, but I think their caudex are a little smaller). Sure they grow slowly, but they are really fun to grow from seed I keep wondering about trying some more.

[*Barracuda_52*]

majcka, i just dunked mine in bleacj water mix to help hill any batieria thats on the seed shell, then placed them on the moist soil and coverd the top the pot with suranwrap that way it kept the humidity up around the seed till they sent the tape root into the soil then uncoverd them. Let us know how things go.

John they are neat to grow and sow from seed, theres others i want to get and sow, what all types did you sow and yes please post pics of yours i would love to see them.. Mine sort went into this winter mode for the past several months its been so dark and gloomy all winter even with them being in the bay window they was like HEY LADY this is not normal for us. LOL!! Now there gona be awake and start growing again LOL!! I guess these can take some pretty chilly weather.

[John C]

John they are neat to grow and sow from seed, theres others i want to get and sow, what all types did you sow and yes please post pics of yours i would love to see them.. Mine sort went into this winter mode for the past several months its been so dark and gloomy all winter even with them being in the bay window they was like HEY LADY this is not normal for us. LOL!! Now there gona be awake and start growing again LOL!! I guess these can take some pretty chilly weather.

I sowed Dioon edule "Rio Verde" and Dioon edule v. angustifolium. I got about 50 seeds and ended up with around a dozen plants I believe. Mine have stopped growing for the winter as well, but I bet they will pick up and grow soon. Yeah, they should be fully hardy for me, here. I know of some that a local palm tree grower is growing and they didn't even get any leaf burn during our winter a couple years ago. (One of the coldest) I'll see if I can find an older picture of mine, and eventually take a new one

[John C]

Here is a terrible picture (but a picture none the less) of most of them. This photos is a small part of a larger photo that I cropped to show the Dioons. This was in December 2012.

[majcka]

OK. Another dumb-er question. I have Cycas revoluta. They are red, quite big and seems like something is rattle in. Do I have to peel them or I just brush them before sowing???

[*Barracuda_52*]

John they look awsome you have better growing conditions there then we do here. Great job growing those, how often do you water them? The caudex on mine is pretty big, i try to keep that above grond mostly so that it dont rot from when i water them seems to work good. I had a few seeds that didnt take so its a hit and miss thing with these seeds its always best to get a good amount of these seeds just incase that way you atleast get a few outa the batch. What is the palm tree seedling thats on top left with the frills/hairs and fanish type leafs? I SO WANT THAT!! How hard was that to germ and how long did it take to get those leafs?

Majcka, you have a diffrent type seed than what we had, you need to drop the seeds into a a bowl of water, mature seeds which have a bright orange or red color will sink, while immature or infertile seeds will continue to float. Your hereing the seed inside, the easiest thing to do is scrape the outer coating of the seeds with a knife. The seed coat of the sago palm is very hard scraping it which is known as scarification, slightly weakens this outer coating, enabling moisture to penetrate into the seed. Then sow the seeds pointed end down, barely cover them with soil and keep soil barely moist, it can take up to several months for these to germinate if your seeds are viable or they might germinate befour that it all depends on the seed. Never let the soil get dried out, it takes ALOT of paitence with these seeds and once they do get going its very rewarding.

[majcka]

Thank you Tracy. I soak seeds and all of them were in the water. None were floating. So I guess they are OK. Well we'll see, don't we?

[John C]

John they look awsome you have better growing conditions there then we do here. Great job growing those, how often do you water them? The caudex on mine is pretty big, i try to keep that above grond mostly so that it dont rot from when i water them seems to work good. I had a few seeds that didnt take so its a hit and miss thing with these seeds its always best to get a good amount of these seeds just incase that way you atleast get a few outa the batch. What is the palm tree seedling thats on top left with the frills/hairs and fanish type leafs? I SO WANT THAT!! How hard was that to germ and how long did it take to get those leafs?

I water them when I remember/when I have time, basically. I have hardly watered them this winter. Maybe once every two weeks. During the summer I watered them a couple times per week. Because they are in styrofoam cups and I planted them in well drainging soil, they dry out very quickly. Palm is a Washingtonia filifera. It is 1 year old. They are super easy to germinate here, and they love our heat, so they get their palmate leaves quickly.