linkinpark15

So when i soak the seeds, what temprature is the best to have on the water?
I am going to soak them for 3-5 days. Or if the are soaked longer will it go faster?
I am also going to try scarification on some seeds.
Which way is the fastest and the best? ( Without fertilizer)

EDIT: I have a sort of heatmat that is on maybe 20-30 C.

D_&_T

We used water at room temperature, then potted and set on top of our electric clothes drier. May need to cover with plastic baggie to help hold moisture in.

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linkinpark15

I am thinking of buying one of these:

HYDROPONICS, Hydrofarm HOT HOUSE with 10 x 20 Heat Mat - eBay (item 330209837977 end time Feb-11-08 23:40:33 PST)

It's without a thermostat, so is it ok without a thermostat?
Or do I really need one?

magicgreen

Iam using this for my seeds. I hope it works.

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(Zone 6)

Tropicallvr

If you get a good enough appliance timer then you don't need a thermostat. you'll need a appliance timer anyways, I bought one that has 2 "clips" per hour so it can go off them on within the hour to get a cooler tempature. It seems to work good. I tried to use a thermostat, but it didn't read the actually temps, was about 15F off at all times(expensive one too)

51st state

Hey Magicgreen
loving the electric blanket propagator. I hope you havent left some little old lady shivering somewhere

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D_&_T

Lynn

What kind of tempatures are you getting with your set up?

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linkinpark15

I've ordered one of those "hot houses" with a heat mat. Im still waiting for my 100 seeds to come. But will I get a much better germination rate with a heat mat and stuff?

Lodewijkp

dunno a few years ago i used a 80 litre aquarium and i putted a quite high watt fluorescent lamp in it which gave enough heat.

you need thick glass , a hood with a good lamp in it. Thin glass aquariums won't conserve heat wel.

for some species i need higher temps so i covered the glass in the inside and outside with material of black color and putted it near a window with sun.

A max temp of 30 - 35 C is ok, i like the aquarium because it contains moisture very wel and the plants can grow a while under grow light.

even if you buy a heatmat and hot house they can still not germinate, it wil improve the chances alot yes.
i think you need alot of patience, i had palm seeds of a very complicated hybrid that wouldn't germinate with the best equipment while some other people got sprouts after a year.

you need fresh seeds and seeds that are properly stored at the vendor, you don't need fresh seeds but you need ''viable fresh seeds''
even after a lot of bucks you may still end with seeds and no plants its all about patience a good plan.

the best thing to do is buy alot of seeds and stick with one company , after a while doing business they will give you better seeds.

and by the way stick with the velutina and sikkimensis hybrid species, alot of people say they are the easy to germinate.
and i still recommend you to get some palm seeds, Washingtonia filifera( mature -10 C easy to germinate ), chamerops humilis ( easy and very cold hardy), trachycarpus fortunei, thrithinax, sabal, serenoa species are quite cold hardy, just look around the net for species ( www.scanpalms.no , rarepalmseeds.com - palm seeds, cycad seeds, banana seeds) The Polar Palms of Bulgaria - Home Page

combinating banana's and palm is very rewarding in your garden, palm trees stay evergreen through winter depending on your USDA Zone.

Look for the net for USDA zone and find your microclimate. Europe Hardiness Zone Map

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linkinpark15

My new "Musa acuminata". Bought today. It doesn't look that good on the leaves. It has some white splashes(?) that look like bird poo. The leaves are little broken. But there's a new leaf coming.

Pics

mrbungalow

Välkommen til forumet Hr. Linkinpark!

Germinating vlutinas isn't that hard compared to other musa species, but I would have a steeper temperature regime (12 hrs of 25-35 degrees and 10 hrs of 12-18 degrees C) a golden rule: More cold time than warm time.

Hilsen;
Erlend

BTW, your plants are not "Acuminata" but most likely a dwarf cavendish cultivar.

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Lodewijkp

o yes i have looke at a new updated map for you and it says stockholm is zone 5A, depending if it is a cold winter of course

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linkinpark15

Hi
What's wrong with the leaves?
They have like white stains on them.
And today I found a little pup maybe?
It has roots. It didn't "break thru" the soil, I found it underneath, so I potted it so it has light, you know.
I was looking thru the soil and found this:





And my weird leaves:











Suggestions?

Lodewijkp

white stains probably fungicide or insecticide, do you spray it with tapwater ?
water in your region could contain certain minerals which cause a white stuff when dried up after spraying

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mrbungalow

Don't worry about the white stuff... In a couple of months you will have a load of giant new leaves. As Lodewijkp said it's probably fungicide or insecticide, nothing to be worried about.

Looks like one of your seeds sprouted! Congrats! And you did perfectly right by potting it up individually. Try to expose the little seedling to as strong light as possible, and it will grow reasonably fast.

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linkinpark15

It wasent one of the seeds, it was in the container with the dwarf. Weird? I haven't planted anything there. Or maybe it was a seed becasue I took some soil from some other small container. Becasue my melon seedlings died(my cat killed them, she is crazy). But maybe I took the wrong pot. Becasue they where in the same hot house. Hope it's a velutina seed that sprouted.

linkinpark15

Now I got my hot house with heat mat. Becasue I live in Sweden I must have this transformater thingy. But now it works. But I haven't got my 100 seeds yet but I planted some other seeds like petunia. Maybe the seeds comes this week. I am going to keep you updated.

sandy0225

I think that scarifying the seeds is definitely a bad idea. I've never had even one come up that way for me. Every one of them rotted, they get fungus on them and I think it just eats them up inside.
Watch for fungus gnats too, they are really bad to eat the insides of your seeds too.
I have a sprouted musa ornata, only 99 more to go!
Good luck!

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Sandy Burrell



Northern Tropics Greenhouse
1501 East Fuson Road
Muncie, IN 47302
www.northerntropics.com


specializing in bananas, heirloom tomatoes and water gardening plants~
check out our new online store at our website!

linkinpark15

Ok but I only tried on 4-6 seeds out of 100. As you may have already figured out I got my seeds today. It say'd it was 100 seeds but it was 112(Lucky me). So now I sowed 5-7 seeds without any soaking. I let the seeds be in water for 1 week if that's ok. Now I have a mini hot house with a heat mat and I have desktop lamp. Let the fun begin.

Lodewijkp

The best thing to do is soak them 3 days, i experimented with longer soaks 14 days and it gave me good results but you have a very high risk of fungus attack.

soak em and plant em all.

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