Tog Tan

Brent, so far the E superbum is my No.1 in growth. My 5 mth old E livingstonianum is giving me 1 new leaf every 2 days which is pretty good. All my other musa's put up a new leaf once every 3-3.5 days. So Ensete's rocks!

__________________



____
Tog Tan has sadly suddenly passed away 6/16/09. We will miss you Tog Tan.

island cassie

Tog - Ensete Superbum is my favourite and I think I have to go for some seeds. Heaven knows where I'll plant them!

Tog Tan

Hey Cassie, I am expecting to get at least 300sds in the next 2 months from a seed guy. I can give you a bunch. How many do you want? Can you receive them by mail?

__________________



____
Tog Tan has sadly suddenly passed away 6/16/09. We will miss you Tog Tan.

Egluzhe

Hi,
if anyone try to soak the M. sikkimensis seeds in smoke primer?

__________________

Dalmatiansoap

I believe that Sikkimensis ih hard to germinate anyway.

__________________
https://abnb.me/AXJty518xib

Tog Tan

Musa sikkimensis.........? I have 2 different batches of the 2 varieties for 1 year and more now, sitting pretty and not saying hello! Best of luck!

__________________



____
Tog Tan has sadly suddenly passed away 6/16/09. We will miss you Tog Tan.

Bob

Same with me for sikkimensis, I had 2 Darjeeling giants come up within a month last October from a batch of 3 types(reg, daj giant and red form). E. Glaucum was very easy with a high success rate. Have a few more varieties just started. All were/are on a heat mat I use for tomato seedlings as well.

__________________

Egluzhe

Thank you, Tog!
Well, I'm incurable optimist and I hope that my M.sikkimensis will say Hello to me before it turn one year

__________________

akebono

I've been looking for a guide specific to Musa sikkimensis since I've ordered about 100 seeds. I respect Tropicallvr's efforts, but I prefer having data to support broad statements. There are also a lot of comments indicating "variable" results. I hunted around for individual reports with germination conditions and found some on another website. Here is a tabular summary. Maybe this would be a good format for all to contribute to? I welcome praise and flames!

Attached is the table in .pdf format. Let me know if you want the original Excel file.

akebono

Attached Images

Musa sikkimensis germination results.pdf (64.0 KB, 143 views)

jmoore

Interesting study, and tahnks for all the hard work, it must have taken you ages. I think, though, germination depends a lot on freshness of seeds, which is something that is purely dependant on the supplier of the seed and their honesty about the provenance of that seed. This is something that we cannot measure or control. There are a lot of suppliers of sikkimensis seeds and they all seem to be selling old, unviable seed. If I could find one reliable source I would grab at the chance because I'm desperate for a sikkimensis.

Also hypochlorite and chlorine bleach are the same, just a small thing.

Tog Tan

Agree with you 100% James, you are totally rite, in fact so right if you were to go run for Mayor, I will come and vote for you!

I will probably string all of the few hundred sds into a chain and hang it near my germn table as a warning for all the bloody sds who do not want to sprout.

I am still on the look out for really good newly harvested ones, you will be the first to get them from me. Only that you will have to come here and vote for me in case I decide to run for mayor.....k?

__________________



____
Tog Tan has sadly suddenly passed away 6/16/09. We will miss you Tog Tan.

akebono

Thanks for the constructive comments!

It took just a few hours ... it takes me longer to shop for seeds than it does to produce a "metastudy" like this one. There are a few things wrong with the study and the reporting, one of which you picked up on, hypochlorite/chlorine bleach. I'll blame that on being tired, because I was finishing up near midnight. More fundamental is that these are reports, mostly of only a just a few seeds of unknown source and age. There is a lot of missing information.

Our goal as a community should be to expand on what I've done. Please send in your latest results! If we report the vendor as part of the table maybe we can identify the ones providing fresh or properly handled seed. A little more openness from the vendors would be helpful. The garden seed packets from one of my local discount big-box stores has harvest date printed on the outside of the envelope. (Kudos to Frosthardy Palms for posting their harvest dates!)

-akebono

akebono

I've set up a survey form that could help with collecting the data. I'll put up the results each month or so. The survey is anonymous. Tog, you said that you have a lot of non-germinating seeds. Your input is important too!

Click Here to take survey.

jmoore

Again, good job! I've only had a brief look, but is there a space to put supplier of the seed?

Could it be expanded to include other species? This would be very useful indeed and prevent a lot of wasted money, I'm sure.

jmoore

Found this link, people may find it useful. I'm going to try the concentrated sulphuric acid scarification. Also the warm part of the cycle is a lot shorter than I first thought.

CHAPTER 49. MUSACEAE

have a read

akebono

jmoore,

The supplier is question #3. I used "source" because people might be sharing seed and not know who collected the seed originally. I could also create duplicate surveys for other species. Another service might suit our needs better, so let's see how it goes for this one species first.

-akebono

akebono

Okay, I've started a second survey based on feedback from those on the forum and outside. The original survey will close. Please click on this link to fill out the survey. The survey will close August 14, 2009. I'll incorporate the responses from the old survey into the new one.

Differences:
multiple species
dormancy and freshness
allows further description of germination conditions
see summary of responses from previous users

-akebono

akebono

Its awfully quiet in here ...
"Echo, cho, ho, o ..."

I've printed out the survey as a .pdf so that you can see what you're getting into or want to borrow ideas. The .pdf will last longer than the online survey.

-akebono

Attached Images

Banana Seed Germination survey.pdf (94.0 KB, 70 views)

Dalmatiansoap

Looks like I ll have to get heat mat after all

__________________
https://abnb.me/AXJty518xib

akebono

I don't know that it's necessary. I've seen a couple of reports with germination at 25 C. Most try warmer temperatures with some cycling between low and high. I have a set sitting out at about 23 C just to compare with the ones I have experience swings between 25 and 37.

7 days and counting!

-akebono