Almost all small seed have to be protected from down pouring waterings, direct sun, and wind

You'll have to forgive my naivete' as I have only sewn my first seeds back in October of 2006. I'm still on the learning curve as likely are many members to GardenWeb.

Gett'n old and can't fly airplanes anymore because my eye sight is failing. So gardening is a new and interesting hobby for me and I'm go'n all out to create a jungle in my life.

The smallest seeds I've worked with are Rhododendron, Senecio, Puya and some of those Cactus. The rock bottom smallest are the spores for Dickonsonia Antarctica, the Tasmanian Tree Fern. Most other seeds have been at at least as big as a chili pepper seed. So yep, I was taken agast at first how easy a single drop of water could vanish my seed investments. And what's worse about Puya is that the seedling seems to cling to life as a tiny little leaflet with barely any root at all for some time, makeing it easy to be washed away, even after germination. And I thought that birds were my worst concern.

The largest seeds I've worked with so far are Cycas Revoluta, the King Sago. The jury is still out on the germination of ten of these guys and I'm waiting for them to come up.

Hopefully other naive beginners lurking here will read of my botched experiences and save themselves the time and trouble.

The amusing thing is that some of my neighbors have become aware of my gardening attempts and we seem to be starting a small club. Don't be surprised if they start turning up here posting their adventures too.

Thanks for your insights.

Air Bear aka BearState aka Bear

;)

Your cycad seeds can take up to a year to sprout. Kepp them evenly moist and in deep shade until you see fronds emerge...I have been raising cycads 20 years...When I take pups from the parent plants..I have seen them in shock for 18 months and poof .. out pops three fronds
You will be good at gardening ..you have patience to raise from seed :)

Thanks for the tip.

Why deep shade? Won't partial shade as provided by a shade cloth do?

I put them on the ground with 90% shade cloth. They seem to like the temp ..shade cloth is 10-11 ft above the seeds

Hi BearState, so do I, I found growing brom from seed is challenging,
but once you knew the trick, it will be a piece of cake (^_Here is my method of raising xeric broms - mostly Dyckia, Hechtia - from seed.

I use transparent plastic food box as sowing container,
holed for drainage at the bottom.

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Stephania, are you planning to give Nong Nooch TBG competition? You must have a HUGE place to grow all those plants! That is a lot of beautiful, healthy seedlings!! Japie

Stephania, I am wondering the same thing as Japie......Happy growing.DO remember me if you have extras...:-))

Stephania, what is the red plant at the top right of your last pic?

LOL... I know that must be a lot of works and times, but I have to because
I don't know how look of new hybrid from those tiny green seedlings will turn up.

If you mean those beside Aechmea 'Bert' on the same bench of seed boxes,
they are young plants from pup of Orthophytum 'Starlights'

Stephania,

Thanks for the photos! They are very definitely encouraging and the food container idea is somewhat stunning to contemplate as it is so hot here that if I were to put broms outside in that way, they'd boil inside one of those. But indoors, that should work fine. Looks like keeping them moist and dew dropped is a good idea.

Well, I'm still nowhere near to doing Broms like Stephania does, but I thought I'd like to post an update to show off my success at getting a few more Puyas going by growing them indoors in seeled containers like Stephania's plastic food containers.

Here ya go ...

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The Puya sp. "Neon Green" seems to produce much hardier and more robust seedlings than the wispy Puya berteroniana which is on the right side of this photo.

I should probably let Stephania answer this, but I am certain that those seedling containers of his are also being grown under protection of shade clothe overhead, and are not actually getting direct sun. If you think the sun can bake things in Bakersfield, it is even more intense in the tropic latitudes of Bangkok, and they also have a fairly long dry season.

The topic of this thread "A Lesson Learned from Cactus Seed" alludes to the fact that direct Sunlight is harmful to new seedlings, particularly the succulants and bromeliads. The lids on Stephania's food containers obviously cut back on the sunlight, but I think there is also a reliance on shade there. The pictures of Stephania's nursery above suggest a kind of shady alcove, but some direct sunlight is evident.

My success with Puya Seedlings seems to have increased due to three factors, (1) indoor temperature control, (2) reduced sunlight due to the indoor environment and (3) increased humidity due to a sealed container.

Now that I've had a bit of success with a few seeds under these controlled conditions, I feel more confident to plant the remainder of the seeds I have been holding in reserve and perhaps to try some other broms besides Puyas.

:)