Tropical seeds are exciting to grow, but need some special care. I am trying to give some helpful tips on how to best germinate them, as it becomes more and more popular in the USA to grow tropical plants from seed, also in colder climates.

Cananga odorata - Cheanel No 5 perfume tree

Wouldn't you love to see yourself surrounded by tropical flowers and plants with intriguing aromas and fragrances that fill the air with their perfumes, giving you the feeling you have been swept away to a tropical paradise?

 
Michelia champaca - Joy perfume tree

Well, it's not impossible to grow tropical plants, even in colder climates. Most of the tropical plants are suitable for containers and as house plants. Why buy expensive palms, succulents or orchids, just to discover, they have been grown in greenhouses under tropical conditions and won't make it, when they get transplanted. Grow your own plants from seed. It is cheaper, a lot of fun to watch them grow and the best of all, they don't have to go through a 'climate change', because they get used to your conditions from the beginning.

Ravenala madagascariensis - Travelers Palm

I am addicted to plants, mainly tropicals, since I can think back. In my earlier years, when I lived in Germany, where the winters are long and cold, I went from nursery to nursery to find the exotic beauties which I wanted to grow in my home. Most of them looked very pretty for only a few weeks, until they either slowly died or didn't even survive the first couple of weeks.

Yucca Filamentosa - Adams needle

"What am I doing wrong" was what I asked myself over and over again. Obviously it wasn't all my fault. I treated them, following the instructions, but never had a great success. Then I thought, it may be, because they are sensitive to climate changes. They are grown in tropical greenhouses and once they arrive in my garden or home, they don't have the same tropical conditions like they had before. They don't have the same constant temperature and humidity, in which they grew up. Discovering this, I finally gave up buying tropical plants and started to buy seeds instead..

Gardenia Jasminoides - Cape jasmine

I sure am not a natural talent, who buys the seeds, grows them and has success with every seed. It was a long process until I learned how to provied the best care for the seeds. The first thing I had to learn was exercising patience. Tropical seeds need sometimes several weeks or even months until they germinate and somebody, who wants to see immediate results, should rather plant indigenous Wildflowers.

Helianthus annuus - Sunflower Autumn Beauty

The second important lesson I had to learn was, ordinary potting soil alone won't do the trick. Humidity and good drainage is a must. Common potting or garden soils have no components with value. I would say it's dead soil since it is so dense that it is similar to clay in it's ability to retain water when wet and disallow oxygen to flow through it. Mostly, if you spend a bit more money to buy fertilized soil, you also find a lot of foam balls in it. They are supposed to make the soil fluffy, but don't do any good, because they cannot keep the moisture and dry out very quickly.

Solanum Mammosam - Titty fruit

I've been always cheap with my soils and made the right mixture myself. What I can highly recommend is to buy a bag of common potting soil, a bag of peat moss, a bag of sand, a bag of gravel and a root stimulating powder. You can get all these ingredients in every garden center. First fill the pots/containers 1/4 with gravel. This garants that the water will not sit on the bottom of the pot and make the fresh developing seedling rot. Now you can mix your soil with half and half potting soil and peat moss by just adding a handful sand into it. The peat moss makes your soil fluffy and is a great moisture keeper, while the sand helps for good drainage.

Cestrum nocturnum - Night Jessamine

If you have tiny seeds like Solanum fruits, Night Jessamine, Gardenia or Aztec tobacco, plant them surface and just push them with your hand a little bit, that they get into good contact with the soil. Add a bit root powder, water well, and cover the pot with a plastic sheet. Some seeds need light for germination, others don't. So either place the pots behind a window or under a growing light or just let them somwhere on  a warm place, if they don't require light for germination. You don't need to water too often, just control from time to time, if there are still water drops hanging on the plastic sheet or not. If it looks dry, water again, and cover again. You shouldn't have to water more than every 3-4 days.

Bauhinia Tomentosa - Yellow Bell Orchid Tree

If you got some good sized seeds like Palm seeds, Banana seeds or Orchid tree seeds, don't use a pot for germination, but a plastic baggie. Put the seeds together with the moist soil mixture into it, seal it and place the baggie on a warm place like on top of the refridgerator. Constant warm temperature is very important for germination of tropical seeds.

You can control your baggie from time to time, but don't expect to see early results. If one day you see the first seeds germinating, immediately expose them to bright light. You can now get them out of the plastic baggie. Grab them carefully and push them a little bit into the pot, which you have prepared for them. Again, a plastic cover will  help to maintain the needed humidity. But now you need to use a plastic dome rather than a sheet. You want the seedlings grow, don't you? The best way to do this very inexpensive is to just put a glass over them.When they got a few inches tall, you can remove the glass. To keep the humidity around them high, spray them from time to time with a mister, at least once a day.

And now enjoy your tropical Beauties!

Visit my eBay store

Turtlegaby's Tropical Oasis

where you can find a variety of Tropical and Exotic seeds that blow you away.

Come on in and visit me there, I bet you find something of interest, if you like starting plants from seed.

posted by Turtlegaby