Marric: I've had several Clivia seeds sprout inside the seed pod. It's not that unusual when the berries are on the plant for six months or more. Some of mine sprout even before the berry changes color. I also soak the ones that haven't sprouted yet in a 3-1 mix of water and hydrogen peroxide because they can take weeks to sprout and are at risk of succumbing to fungal diseases during that time. They usually sprout in the water well. If I cover Clivia seeds when I plant them on top of the mix instead of in water, I use plastic wrap and not something like foil that would block light. They should not be buried. I highly recommend the link from Shields Garden.

Hi everybody, all my seeds survived and are thriving. Since I was quite undecided as to what soil to use for them, I went back to Huong for advice. I followed his instructions and put all of the sprouted seeds in a single pot or communal until they get a bit bigger. So far, all have leaves, some taller than others. The biggest being about 2 1/2 ". I keep them indoors in my bay window facing south-west. There, they get lots of light and no sun because the big maple in the yard filters the sun completely in summer. I did not want to put them outside because I have very bad experiences with squirrels. One of my neighbours delights in feeding them waldnuts and they have become a real problem; so, after many heartaches losing young plants to the critters I didn't want to take any chances. I'm really playing by ear with the seedlings, I have no experience with clivias whatsoever, so I observe them very closely. Joe, I believe that even if your plants get some sun in the morning, they should be Ok so long as it doesn't get too hot behind a glass or something like that. The seedlings being so tender are more prone to burn. As far as letting them outside in the balcony when you go away... see if you can find another alternative. It might be hard for you to believe that there can be dry spells in Montreal judging by the month of June and July that we are having so far, but they do occur and if they happen to fall while you are away, your seedlings will dry out quickly and perhaps die. What I do when I go away and have nobody to care for my indoor plants, I water them thoroughly before leaving, I put them in the bathtub and cover them with a clear plastic to let the light through and to conserve humidity. when I come back in two weeks, the plants are perhaps a bit leggier but healthy. I never lost any following that method. Maybe that would be a solution you could use to preserve your young clivias. What do you think? Bunti, I'm sorry you are having this bad experience with your seedlings. Are you sure you are not overwatering them? Do they have good drainage? Huong, what are your thoughts? Consentida

ssk: take the seed and look at where the root used to be, if theres a hole into the seed now...its over, you cant get a radical from that again. If theres still some bit of root on the seed theres a couple things you can try (but as Gail said its not looking to great for you) 1: Rooting hormone paste: You can make a paste from pretty much any rooting hormone and smear it onto what is left of the root. Make sure to water with fungicide. 2: Super thrive and fungicide water: Sometimes when we have a seed that just wont take and its something special I will make a mix of superthrive and some fungicide and give it a 2 day soak in that mix. Superthrive is Vit. B and rooting Hormones. This is akin to bringing the seed to a witch doctor to bless it most likely but it cant hurt!! I have seen old seeds really push once I have done this, but its been far from scientifically proven to work. 1 drop per gallon on the superthrive. Captan for the fungicide. I cannot stress enough how important it is to water with a fungicide like Captan when growing these. It will cut your losses down by a very large %.

Hopefully the seeds were fully ripe (meaning the fruit was dark red and beginning to soften) before you removed them. I usually leave mine on the plant until they either drop off on their own or are beginning to germinate in situ(usually a root will begin to emerge from the seed when it's ready to plant, making the fruit look as if it has a dental abscess). Carefully remove the fleshy covering from the seed(s) and wash the seeds, then plant immediately. They should not be allowed to dry out. Use regular potting soil, maybe with a little added sand or perlite for drainage, and plant the seed about a half inch deep. I just moisten the soil, then put the whole pot in a ziplock bag under fluorescent lights until germination occurs. The seedlings are usually similar to the mother plant, especially if the flowers were self-pollinated, but there will be genetic variation. If you don't know where the pollen came from, all bets are off. As long as it's a yellow plant and was pollinated by same, there's a pretty good chance the seedlings will produce blooms in some shade of yellow. The problem is finding space to grow them out for several years until they bloom...