Growing calla lilies from own seeds?
Henry Broekhuyse
yellowing and dying down for their rest period. Some of the flowers, which
are still hanging on the plant, still have solid clusters of large pale
green seeds inside the "petal" (sepal? bract?). Does anyone know if those
seeds can ripen and be planted, or are they not too good for that, as far
as easy propagation is concerned?
Marty Zimmerman
bro...@unixg.ubc.ca (Henry Broekhuyse) wrote:
> I bought some potted plants that have finished flowering and the leaves are
> yellowing and dying down for their rest period. Some of the flowers, which
> are still hanging on the plant, still have solid clusters of large pale
> green seeds inside the "petal" (sepal? bract?).
^^^^^^
thats the seed pod or casing. It contains 1-3 seeds which are shaped like
orange seeds but are softer.
Does anyone know if those
> seeds can ripen and be planted, or are they not too good for that, as far
> as easy propagation is concerned?
Its not trivial, but growing callas from seeds can be done. I did it last
year with some Zantedeschia Elliotana (yellow callas). Put the seeds on the
surface of the starter mix. It will take about 1 month for the seeds to
sprout. I seemed to get the best results from tearing the seed pod open,
but not actually removing it. If you dissect a couple of the pods, you will
see that the seeds are connected to the pod by a little "umbilical cord"
which I try not to break.
I grew 6 seeds into small plants this past winter and planted them out in
June. One yellowed and died (or went dormant) but the other 5 are doing
fine. I'm not sure how many years it takes to get a bloom.
Hope this helps,
Marty
_____________________________________________________________________________
Marty Zimmerman caz...@lims01.lerc.nasa.gov
Analex Corp. - NASA Lewis Research Center
Cleveland, Ohio USA Zone 6
Stewart Kramer
Henry Broekhuyse <bro...@unixg.ubc.ca> wrote:
>I bought some potted plants that have finished flowering and the leaves are
>yellowing and dying down for their rest period. Some of the flowers, which
>are still hanging on the plant, still have solid clusters of large pale
>green seeds inside the "petal" (sepal? bract?).
It's called a "spathe" (a leaf-like bract), enclosing the flower clusters on
the "spadix."
Does anyone know if those
>seeds can ripen and be planted, or are they not too good for that, as far
>as easy propagation is concerned?
Well, I've never had any trouble getting the seeds to sprout, but they've
never survived transplanting or repotting, and when I've planted them
outdoors they've been eaten immediately by snails.
---
Stewart Kramer