Brian, There are several books on tissue culture that give more details on zygotic embryo culture than the In Vitro Plant Breeding book that I referenced. I mentioned it first because it is introductory, and I happen to have a copy of it. I think "zygotic embryo culture" is the technical term for the subject of your inquiry. Many of the books in this subject area are relatively expensive, so you will benefit from learning to use Amazon's Search Inside! feature. You can find more detail in the book, Introduction to Plant Tissue Culture by M. K. Razdan, in Chapter 11 (beginning on page 128) titled "Zygotic Embryo Culture". Apparently you can't link directly to specific pages within a book. At least, I don't know how to do it. But this link, Search Inside! Introduction to Plant Tissue Culture should get you inside where you can enter the search string "129" in the Search box and press the red Go button to get a list of hits for that string. At the top of the list is hit 1. "on page 129" and clicking on that will link you to page 129, which is the second page in Chapter 11. Just use the left arrow in the margin of page 129 to go to the beginning of Chapter 11 on what would be page 128 if it had a page number, which it doesn't. At $49.50, that book is fairly affordable, but it is temporarily out of stock at Amazon. Another good book, Plant Tissue Culture: Theory and Practice by Bhojwani and Razdan costs $370, so there is motivation to use Amazon's Read Inside on it. Once you get into the Read Inside your target is Chapter 11, titled Zygotic Embryo Culture, beginning on page 297. Entering "297" in the Search box is the quickest way to find a link to that page, because it does have a page number. There are a bunch of good books on tissue culture, and tissue culture techniques can be used to culture embryos that otherwise wouldn't develop into viable seeds. That makes it possible to grow interspecific and even intergeneric hybrids that wouldn't grow without using zygotic embryo culture techniques. You might be interested in the Kitchen Culture Kits, Inc. website. Dr. Carol M. Stiff is the proprietor, and she might be able to put together a kit specifically adapted to your zygotic embryo culture needs. MM

When they say irrigate, they mean flood don't they? - I was under the impression that they need loads and loads of water to be productive. I read a statistic on how much water a day they can suck up and whilst I can't remember the actual figure, it was incredibly high. They grow wild at Dalhousie Springs, in the far north of SA, where they have become quite a problem in the Artesian Springs. They were spread by the 'Afghan' camaleers, who interestingly were also responsible for spreading the red hopbush through the outback - the seeds of that plant were used as a stuffing in the saddlebags of the cameleers, now the plant dominates most of the riparian zones between the Flinders Ranges and Alice Springs. I ate wild dates off a tree at Coward Springs on the Oodnadatta Track, of all the weedy plants they are my favourites, nothing like a sugar hit after a long day wandering 'round the desert, though the tree was kinda spiney, and I had to 'shimmy' up a ways to get at the fruit...ouch. cheers, mudlark

I am looking for someone who can find date palm seeds from Crete. Though I would like to know about others also, the one I am particularly interested in is Phoenix theophrastii. I am told that these grow in other places in Greece also.I would like to buy/exchange these.

Cucumber seeds need warm temperatures to germinate well. It sounds like you have tried to provide that and still not gotten good growth. Sometimes it is hard to know if it is warm enough or actually too warm inside closed mini greenhouses, especially when they are under lights or in direct sunlight. Might be best to try new seeds. High Mowing Organic Seeds has Little Leaf Cucumber seed available and has free shipping on orders over $10....also 10% off right now. They have many varieties of veggies that are not available on the typical store seed rack. Many varieties have good disease resistance detailed in the descriptions. I like Little Leaf cukes, but I don't see bacterial wilt resistance listed for it. The parthenocarpic characteristic is what I like....early season cukes even if bees are not around or the weather is unsettled. If you want Little Leaf cucumbers, you could try ordering from them....maybe next year if this year doesn't work for you. I've been very happy with their seeds.