I'm not sure that they need darkness as mine are not in the dark. I suspect that too much warmth may be a bigger issue.

Well, a couple of site I looked at mention that they need darkness (and covering them with soil or vermiculite is probably adequate), so I tucked mine out of direct light. And I think you may be right about too much warmth. I just put a thermometer next to my little tub to see how warm that spot gets. I may move it upstairs to a cooler room.

Here's a photo update..........


I'll pot them up next week.

Nothing thus far...I'll start some more, too. Thanks for the info, longk.

Nothing so far for me either except they started to grow mold .. luckily I caught it early and was able to wash off the seeds before they rotted - now I'm keeping them a dryer.

Overall I had five of the nine germinate. The other four seeds were on their way to squishy heaven when I potted thegerminated seeds up.
Interestingly I discovered that the seed is poly-embryonic - three of the germinators had more than one shoot emerging from the cotylodon.

Well, this is weird. I just checked mine and they don't look any different from when I planted them. They haven't rotted, they don't feel soft at all. They look essentially the same as when I stuck them in the pot. Just moved them onto the heat mat. What the heck, they don't take up much room.

Grrrr - all mine rotted .. guess I'll have to figure out a plan b

How many people are nicking and/or soaking the seed and getting seed rot?

Me .. though I haven't nicked them all - some I left intact.

I didn't nick mine, just rolled them between 2 pieces of sandpaper, then soaked them. Of course, they haven't rotted...yet.

Please PLEASE someone tell me this is what the cotyledons look like! I had checked some of the cells in the tray I had sown something like 26 seeds in a few weeks ago and it looked like they were all rotting so I just put it by and forgot about it. When I was checking my other trays today I noticed this little guy, looked at the label and couldn't believe my eyes!

This was the batch that got soaked in GA3.

Xeramtheum said:Please PLEASE someone tell me this is what the cotyledons look like!

Sorry. Here's one of mine.............

Anne none of the images I can find for tropaeolum peregrinum or just tropaeolum look like that, they all seem to look like the mature leaves they get. I am thinking yours could be an ipomoea seedling, maybe a tricolor

Sigh ... we'll know for sure what it is once some true leaves start showing up.

The first blooms opened today..............

Such beautiful color.

That's great longk a wonderful color!

Thanks!
I have to admit that I've made a bit of a cock-up with its position. I thought that it would look good growing through the Eccremocarpus scaber but instead it is being throttled by it!
Hey ho. Next year I'll plant it somewhere else.

Still, nothing ---- NOT one germinated