Haworthia germination

[Phil Hocking]

I fancy my Haworthia seeds are being a bit slow germinating. I sowed the seed 23 February and up to 2 days ago had zero germination in 4 pots. Now I have just one H truncata and one H maughanii. Someone said they will germinate at lower temperatures but does that mean they have to have lower temperatures, and if so how low? I have mine on the floor of the propagator, i.e. not sitting above the heating element like the other pots. The temperature is about 85F. Another trick suggested was to soak the pots in boiling water but I don't want to do that now in case some seeds are already well advanced towards germinating. Should I just wait?

Somerset Phil

[iann]

85F is too warm. Is it that warm at night too?

[Phil Hocking]

No Ian, the heating goes off at night. Would it be better if I just had them at room temperature, which is just about OK for shirt sleeves but not noticeably warm?

Somerset Phil

[Bill]

Hi Phil

Mine are 70-75 day and 60-65 at night, 80 is about the extreme for Haworthia germination. Many people leave them in a unheated greenhouse to germinate, so room temperature should be OK.

[Phil Hocking]

Thanks Bill, I'll probably put them on a lower shelf under my Envirolite. It is slightly warmer than room temperature there. By the way I have had no further problems with mould since watering with Chinosol. Any news on those other seeds from Mesa?

Somerset Phil

[Bill]

Not yet, the first ones were slow to arrive though, I'll chase it up next week.

[Tom J]

Hi Phil,

When I was still in haworthia, I placed the pots under the bench on the floor. The greenhouse was and still is kept at a minimum of 6°C in winter. So when I used to sow the seeds, they were exposed to 10-20°C for the first couple of weeks. I never had problems with slow germination.

Tom

[Herts Mike]

Tom, what about Aloe polyphylla?

Mike.

[iann]

My Mesa seeds took over a month, but I did do it all by snail mail.

[Tom J]

Hi Mike,

Sorry, never tried Aloe from seeds, or even as plants: they are too big

Tom