Howdy all,

Been a while since I posted or even read much or gave a pretty thought towards this intriguing topic. Then .. I went to the Solar Eclipse Festival near Cairns in mid-November and, well, let's just say it took a cosmic alignment and some good (old) mates to give me a nudge back on track!

After my first attempt at growing P. aquatica failed miserably at the beginning of the year, I lost heart and got distracted. I'd been sitting on a couple packets of M. hostilis seeds from shaman-australis since then also and until now I haven't plucked up the courage to bring these little beauties into the world of life. But, here goes.

It is my ardent hope that, through many months and several years of patient and loving attendance, I can give these little wonders the chance they deserve at reaching towards the same sun I saw eclipsed in all it's beautiful totality less than a couple weeks ago. That and the eventual reward .. somewhere down the track

Let it be known that I have absolutely not a green thumb at all!! and that your help and suggestions are most welcome!! I hope noone minds me sharing this grow log but I'd like to keep a visual diary of it for myself at the very least..




Firstly, I've nicked the 14 seeds in various ways with a sharp stanley knife (box cutting knife). Some I have sliced an edge off, some have been sliced down the middle (just enough to get through the darker/harder shell). I don't know which is more effective so I experimented.

I then put them into a mug and tipped some freshly boiled water in with them where they sat for 2 hours.

After 2 hours, they were pulled out (and observed to have already swollen with some wet green stuff already bulging!) and they were placed into the following medium/conditions:

4 in Perlite with filtered tap water, in a seedling tray with a lid. 1cm under the surface.
4 in Perlite with half-strength Blood & Bone fertiliser water, in a seedling tray with a lid. 1cm under the surface.
6 in between some paper towel in a plastic container (with lid), wettened with filtered tap water

As you can see and despite a few hours of googling/searching/reading this forum and others, there hasn't been alot of specific information. Remember I'm a complete n00b at this sort of thing

OK, so after a few little kind words and well wishes. I left them indoors after watering them enough for the water to drip through all the Perlite. In SE Queensland, it is currently only getting as low as about 22C at night in my garage. So I left the lids on the seedling tray and plastic container and in the morning, I put them outside to get the morning sun. As it reached about 30C here today (and 60% humidity), I asked my wife to bring them inside where the ambient temp is about 25C as I feared they would cook a bit in their little homes.

Now I gave them another light watering in the morning (6:30am) and since coming home from work I've given them another light watering. I'm guestimating the dampness of the Perlite by sticking a fingertip into the mixture and seeing how sticky the white stuff is, as this stuff does not change/darken in colour at all to indicate wetness like soil would. Am I over/under-watering as I understand they need to be in a damp environment until they germinate; which is when I will put them into a potting mixture..

I'm leaving them in the westward-facing spare room for now (out of the way of my rampant 3-year old) where they will only get a couple hours (at most) of direct sunlight. The room however will heat to about 25-30C during the day and drop to about 20C at night. Will this be enough warmth/humidity for now? As you can see in the last picture, the ventilation holes in the seedling tray are shut so as to maximise humidity. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if this is the right thing to do as I tried something similar with the P. aquatica and they didn't germinate at all!!

Gods and machine elves willing, I will have some germinated seeds to care for soon! Oh dear, this is all a bit exciting - I really hope it works out! It will be a growing PB for me!

Peace,
FF.

Looking nice, brother. I really like to see more people starting them!

I did not germinate mine in perlite (I have used both jiffy peat pellets and soil mix with good results) but they should be fine like that and peek soon. I'd recommend to move them to soil once they have germinated, as you say.

Germinating seeds do not require to be in a damp medium, rather thoroughly moist, but there is little chance of overwatering with 100% perlite substrate. It drains easily and keeps air flow, so I wouldn't worry much about that. Unless the air inside of the germinating box is too dry, as long as they are sheltered they should be fine with one daily watering.

About nicking, I like to use little nail clippers, and as long as the embryo is not damaged by removing too much, it will be fine. Keep us posted once they show up!

5 days on and they still look much the same as when I first put them in