Last year I was able to hand pollinate some of my caladiums and actually got seeds! I potted them up and they germinated. You can see the thread about them here:

The thread "Caladium Seeds!" in Tropicals forum

Over the Winter months they started withering away one by one until all I had left was one lone seedling. It finally succumbed in July.

So once again I hand pollinated some Caladium flowers and got seeds. I consider the first time around as a dress rehearsal of sorts and am doing things differently - first starting them in fine vermiculite. I'll be separating them in about two months and potting them up in a finer potting mix that what I used last time.

Hopefully I'll be able to keep at least some of these guys going to maturity.

Congratulations on all those lovely babies! I'm impressed by the neat, orderliness too!

Lol, thanks Lin. I started out with 1 seed to a cell but after the 10th one I realized it was way too time consuming and just broke open the berries and pushed out the seeds into the dimple I made in the vermiculite. I'm thinking when I transplant that I'll separate some into singles and also just plant in the clumps and let them fight for dominance themselves.

Cute babies!
I was curious about something. Since Caladiums have a required dormancy period, I wondered at what age the seedlings would start going dormant.

I was curious about that too and found out that soil temperature trigger dormancy - around 65°. Apparently since the seedlings don't have bulbs yet, soil temperature doesn't trigger dormancy.

Interesting! Thanks!

!!Update!!

They are all doing splendidly! Looking healthy and happy! Still debating whether or not to keep them in the house or in the greenhouse - both places have their advantages/disadvantages.

The group on the left are planted individually though many to a cell (after learning that plants change the chemistry of the soil around them, I've discovered that seedlings do way better with their feet in familiar soil that says 'home' than by themselves in foreign soil ... I usually wait until seedlings have a minimum of 3 sets of true leaves before I'll transplant somewhere else). Once they start producing bulbs I'll separate them a bit more - on the right are in clumps ... these guys can 'duke it out' for dominance.

Congrats, Anne!

I was also going to suggest dormancy might've been a factor in your previous set(s) of seeds, but it sounds like since they didn't have bulbs, that couldn't be the case? Ah well, you atleast gave the seeds a chance and it was just a practice round for this one. I have a feeling you'll be quite successful.

Thanks! We're already getting nights into the mid to low 60's. I have a seed starting thermometer that will turn on and off a regular heating pad and keep the soil at whatever temperature you want .. I may use that later on when they start developing the bulbs.

**UPDATE** 11/05/15

Well this is definitely the way to go when growing Caladiums from seed. They are thriving and more than a few are starting to get patterns on them!

They are so cute!

They really are! Can't wait til they start showing some color!

I'm thrilled to report that more than a few babies made it through the winter and are putting on leaves .. they are teeny tiny though! I put a popsicle stick next to one so you can see just how tiny. There are lots of bulbs too that aren't leafing out yet and I'm debating whether or not to pick out all the bulbs and replant in fresh soil or just leave them as is until they get a bit bigger. I'm sure more will come online as they warm up.