New and Unread Tree-Mails
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Trimble, MO 64492  HillsGardening Aug 30, 2020 5:08 PM CST |
I have been growing elephant ears for several years and have quite a few with huge bulbs and they have now been producing Seed pods. I would like to know how I can plant the seed pods    |
Name: Gina Florida (Zone 9a) Tropical plant collector 35 years     Gina1960 Aug 30, 2020 7:39 PM CST |
| Well you can;t because that is not what you have. Those are the dead spadices that did not get pollinated. If they had been pollinated, they would have produced bright red berries that look like pomegranate seeds. But what you think is a seed pod is just the dead flowers on the spadix. Alocasia grown in cultivation rarely get pollinated unless you get lucky enough to have a bug crawl on it at just the right time. The spadix is hooded, meaning that the part that would make the berries is hidden under a thick band of encircling tissue. You can try your hand at pollinating one your self...but the timing has to be just right. The pollen is viable as soon as the plant blooms, but is generally only viable for about 24 hours. You have to kind of make an incision in that tissue and open it up to expose the flowers at the base and brush the pollen down onto the flowers with a paintbrush Award winning beaded art at ceinwin.deviantart.com! |
Name: Gina Florida (Zone 9a) Tropical plant collector 35 years Gina1960 Aug 31, 2020 6:14 AM CST |
| If you had gotten one of those spadices pollinated, it would look like this This is a spadix from an ALocasia cuprea that I hand pollinated. See the fat little ripening green berries? They will turn red when ripe and ready to be planted. The important thing to remember is that the spadix of an alocasia, colocasia or xanthosoma is divided into 3 sections. The top roughly 1/3 is where the pollen is produced. The middle 1/3 is barren, kind of a no man's land. The bottom 1/3 is where the true flowers are produced. In order to pollinate it you have to open up the fleshy sleeve and get the pollen all the way down to the bottom 1/3 to the flowers Award winning beaded art at ceinwin.deviantart.com! |
Trimble, MO 64492 HillsGardening Aug 31, 2020 5:13 PM CST |
Thank you so much for your knowledge and help Gina! |
Name: Gina Florida (Zone 9a) Tropical plant collector 35 years Gina1960 Aug 31, 2020 6:43 PM CST |
sure. Here are a few more photos. I pollinated my Regal Shields today to see if I can get berries. The bloom With part of the enclosing spathe removed  brushing pollen downward  naked spadix...you can see the three zones clearly  hopefully I will get berries! Award winning beaded art at ceinwin.deviantart.com! |
Trimble, MO 64492 HillsGardening Oct 5, 2020 9:46 PM CST |
| Did you get berries? I just planted my berries. I cleaned them off by hand in water and then left them on the counter to dry off overnight and then planted them. I'm thinking I probably should have just planted them wet because they turned from white to whitish brown. We will see. I got around 35-40 seeds out of the berries. |
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