I have been given a small box of assorted Protea seeds from a person who got them in South Africa but then decided propagation is not her thing and just let them there. Until now that is, and guess who should do the propagation?
I know I'll need some smoke seed primer for them (easily available on the Internet) and I think I'll use either pure perlite or mineral cat litter as a propagation medium, but since she doesn't remember when she got these seeds (she has been in SA a lot of times over the past decade) I have no idea if these seeds will still be vital.
Also I'd like to know a few extra things about these seeds, namely how moist I should keep the growing medium, if they need light to germinate, how deep they should go etc. Over the last couple of years it seems my once green thumb has grown sickly brown so I need all the help I can get!

Where do you live? Are you in a moist humid area or somewhere like the desert Southwest?
If you live in a dry non-humid area you will have a lot better luck growing these. New Mexico, Arizona, Montana, some parts of California...

I germinated mine (King, Queen and Prince) about 14-15 years ago by making the smoke water by soaking wood burned in the fireplace in water. I got the seeds through the mail from South Africa.

I germinated the seeds in an empty clear egg container in a mix of sharp sand, fine fir bark and crushed lava rock. The soil composition is important. It has to be as free from Phosphorous as possible. Any fertilizer used on any plants later also needs to be free of Phosphorous. I soaked the seeds in fire water and scarified the seeds before I planted them, watered the cups with firewater, and closed the lid.

I had a very high germination rate. Protea seeds are programmed to lie dormant in the soil for many years after a wildfire, and wait for rains that filter through the char and activate them. So its quite possible your seeds will still be viable.

My plants grew very well on an indoor windowsill set in full sun in the house under air conditioned dry air, also with a fan. But as soon as I put them outside, within 2 weeks or probably less, I recall being freaked out by the short time it took, they all succumbed to fungal attack brought on by the high humidity here in Florida.

Even the plants that grow in Hawaii grow in volcanic scree in area that are not the hot humid areas one usually associates with Hawaii.

Good luck, I hope you succeed where I failed.

Thank you very much for your experience.
This is usually a very dry area: we may get the occasional rainy year or a couple months of frequent thunderstorms but nothing as atrociously damp as Florida.
I plan to try grow these things with no fertilizer (in the wild they are adapted to very poor soils) and with a mineral growing medium, be it mineral (clay-based) cat litter, perlite or something else. Of course this is assuming they'll sprout.

I should get the smoke seed starter in a week or so, then I'll keep you updated once in a while.

I'd love to know your progress. It was always a (pipe) dream of mine to grow Protea. A couple of the Grevillea will grow here, some people have tried the Banksia but not a lot of success

Apparently this is the seed primer or starter you want to use with proteas and other plants of South African origins:



Put it in a container with 50cc of water and let it sit in there for a while stirring from time to time:



Soak your seeds in the resulting solution for at least 24 hours:



(It may be a good idea to cover your container(s) like I did after taking the picture to avoid insects being drawn to the water)

Plant in a container filled with a moist mineral-based, peat-free, nutrient poor growing medium:



Put it on a south-facing windowsill and wait.

Good luck!

Gina1960 said:Good luck!

Knowing my luck and that I don't like tropicals, they'll all not merely sprout but thrive!

You could always send the extras to us,

Good luck from me here too! We have seen them at Cape Point/South Africa, growing in Fynbos vegetation and they do get huge! But what magnificent plants they are!! The little Orchid, Disa cornuta shows the ground a bit closer.

ElPolloDiablo said:

Knowing my luck and that I don't like tropicals, they'll all not merely sprout but thrive!

I hope so!!!!