Subject: Re: germinating African seeds
From: [email-masked] (Bruce M. Marshall)
Date: 22 Jun 1994 13:03:32 -0400
Newsgroups: bionet.plants

Todd A Wallace ([email-masked]) wrote:
: I am having trouble germinating the seeds from two African plants,
: Leonotis leonurus and Leonurus Sibiricus. (Got them from From The Jungle
: seed distributors.)

: I tried my normal technique of putting the seeds on top of layers of
: damp paper toweling inside small jars. So far, only one seed of either
: batch has germinated.

: Do African plant seeds need special abuse before they will germinate?
: Soaking? Crushing?

: Thanks for any help or suggestions.

Both these plants are pan-tropical members of the family which
includes basil, among others. They are both common in the carribean as
'weeds'. They shouldn't be difficult to get to germinate. I have grown
lots of tropicals from seed over the years and always use largely the
same procedure. I have a box about 2x3x4 feet that I can control the
light and temperature in, but at this time of year this shouldn't be
necessary. I mix potting soil annd some sand and cover the seed with
sand to the same depth as the diameter of the seed. Add water from the
bottom and then keep the seed mixture moist by spraying with a spray
bottle.Occasionallyy I get something that just doesn't germinate. Ther
couldd be all kinds of reasons for this. Rarely do all seeds germinate
and many things germinate at very low percentage. Keep trying.

Bruce

PS. I would appreciate the name and address of your seed supplier and
any other supplier of tropical seed that anyone knows of.
-- 
Bruce M. Marshall  [email-masked]  voice 615 481 0990  fax 615 481 8039