S, S, S - Part One

[AnTTun]

I couldn't make up my mind, should I call this 'Seed, Sellers, Sowing' or 'Sellers, Seed, Sowing' or...so I used abbreviation Anyway, I'll try to describe my sowing experience with seeds that came from various sellers, and I hope other members will add their comments as well. I'd appreciate if we could stick to the subject, i.e. to comment only seller and/or seeds mentioned in certain topic. I plan to cover as many sellers as I can so please be patient, yours will come up too

I usually sow in winter, January and February, late arriving seed gets sown in March, but all of them get the same treatment / conditions. I sow under artificial white (LED) light, with bottom heaters (adjustable temperature), pots with seeds are in closed see-thru plastic containers. I spray soil surface with fungicide mix and check them on daily basis for two reasons: to let some fresh air in and extra humidity out, and to spray with fungicide in case some stubborn fungus appears.

Lights are on during night (cheaper electricity) for 10 hours, heathers are set to 25 C during night and I lower temperature to 22-23 C while the lights are off.
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OK, lets get started, first seller is probably less known because they are in South Africa, their name is Seeds and All and they sell at RSA's BidOrBuy website. Btw, you have to have a mobile phone if you want to register there, they send SMS to finish registration They had some not so common seeds, prices seemed OK to me, so I decided to give it a try. Of course I've ordered some additional seed to lower shipping costs, in this case it wasn't too good idea, but later about that.

Ordering and payment went pretty much 'eBay like'... buy, wait for total, pay by PayPal... and seed was shipped fast too (shipping was around 6 pounds). RSA has one of worst postal services.. worldwide, but I got lucky and seed arrived to Europe in about 3 weeks. And was stopped at Frankfurt, Germany for few days, waiting for someone they call 'customs comissioner'. Probably some phyto guy, tho I don't know why, Germany wasn't the final destination, maybe they don't trust Croats It took them 5 days to let the seed go, so I've received it in about a month.

Here is what I've ordered:

Adenia fruticosa
Aloe grandidentata
Aloe hahnii
Aloe vogtsii
Cactus MIX
Coccinia palmata
Corallocarpus bainesii
Dioscorea rupicola
Euphorbia monteiroi
Kalanchoe orgyalis
Kalanchoe paniculata
Pyrenacantha kaurabassana
Talinum caffrum
Tylecodon cacalioides
Uncarina grandidieri

I also got 5(wow!) bonus seed packs. Sounds nice, but only one of them was kinda interesting (cactus mix), other 4 were various kinds of grass or something marginally succulent, nothing I was really interested in. I admit I'm not fond of such gifts, you know what I'm after, don't give me something that I'm not interested in. Oh and, seed came in ziploc bags. I don't like ziplocks Seed sticks to it's surface, partially because of static electricity so I always have a feeling I'll electrocute something. Plus, its a pain in the a$$ to pull out some small seed.

Seller has emailed sowing & growing instructions (BIG +), some of them genus specific, some general. I've went thru them, payed attention to some specifics and I was good to go. Seed was sown on 17.01.2018. and I called it over (finished) on 28.02.2018. With quite shameful results.

Cactus mix - 30%
Coccinia palmata - 40%
Corallocarpus bainesii - 20%

The rest - 0%

So, unless I really need some coccinia or corallocarpus, I'll hardly buy from this seller again. Unless, of course, some forum members have better experience. I'll give ungerminated seeds another run, as I usually do, in May or June, outside, at natural light and warmth, but I doubt any of them will do any 'better'. Maybe adenia but I won't hold my breath.

Looking forward to thoughts, opinions, comments, suggestions, tips & tricks...

P.S. Of course, one(?) bad thing never comes alone, one coccinia died inside propagator. Stem fell down, soil wasn't dry so I assumed it was too wet and I took the pot out. Few days later the remaining one dried & died.

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[BryanW]

The seedling in the picture looks like it was in need of a good light source, it's too leggy (etiolated) and pale looking (poor photosynthesis/ lack of chlorophyl?).

[AnTTun]

Bryan, that one is dead. Brown(ish) dead It was coccinia palmata, caudiciform plants tend to grow long(er) stem above the ground.

[BryanW]

Bryan, that one is dead. Brown(ish) dead

Thats why it looks sick then

[Astro]

Did the seeds at least look genuine? I've read plenty of stories about succulent seed bought on auction sites from mostly Chinese sellers (but not always at low prices) that turn out to be water cress or the likes. If you know what the seed is supposed to look like, it can be a sanity check.

[AnTTun]

Astro - the seed, at least of species I knew before seemed genuine. My guess is that it was simply old. And you are right about seed from 'chinese websites'. I tried it once but had doubts so I've ordered seed that has quite distinctive looks. I got something completely different, took pics of 'original' seed and got my money back.

But lets stick to the subject Anyone has any experience growing coccinias from seed? I'm trying to figure out what I've done wrong so they died. I have quite a few pots that ended up the same way but will write more about that in next posts from this series.

[Nick_G]

Astro - the seed, at least of species I knew before seemed genuine. My guess is that it was simply old. And you are right about seed from 'chinese websites'. I tried it once but had doubts so I've ordered seed that has quite distinctive looks. I got something completely different, took pics of 'original' seed and got my money back.

But lets stick to the subject Anyone has any experience growing coccinias from seed? I'm trying to figure out what I've done wrong so they died. I have quite a few pots that ended up the same way but will write more about that in next posts from this series.

I grew quite a few species some years ago, seed from Silverhill, and as far as I can remember they were as easy as Kedrostis, that is very easy. Your looks very etiolated to me. More light, more heat, not too wet maybe would help.

[AnTTun]

Yeah, I'm affraid that finding 'perfect' balance between heat, light and moisture will be quite pricey school. After one (out of two) coccinias died inside the propagator, I took pot out. I still have no clue why the second one died, I've been checking moisture on regular basis, even sprayed it every day or two, just in case. Maybe I should buy a hundred seeds and try to treat them different ways

Thanks Nick_G.

[Tina]

Succulents don't like it that humid I never use a bag, I tend to grow them using a propagator with no lid on them, they might like damp roots but not tops.
Cactus can live in a bag for years it doesn't make sense.

[BryanW]

I sow under artificial white (LED) light, with bottom heaters (adjustable temperature), pots with seeds are in closed see-thru plastic containers.

Q1 What distance are the seed pots from the lights? 10cm, 15cm?
Q2 Are the LEDs 'Full Spectrum'?