How do you sow cycad seeds? I'll teach you the correct sowing method
As the saying goes: a cycad blooming is a rare event in a thousand years. It is clear that getting a cycad to bloom is a very difficult thing, but if you really do encounter a cycad in bloom, it not only means our cultivation methods are very good, but a blooming cycad also carries an auspicious meaning. However, if we want to propagate young cycad plants by sowing seeds, then the mother plant must bloom before we can harvest seeds.
Cycads generally bloom in late spring and early summer, and by autumn the mature seeds can be harvested. Moreover, cycad seeds are suitable for sowing in the same year, with a very high germination rate, usually reaching more than 95%; but if they have been stored for more than a year, their germination rate is very low, even less than 20%. And if you propagate by sowing, many conditions need to be met, mainly temperature, light, water and fertilizer conditions all have to be satisfied. So, how do you sow cycad seeds?
There are usually two ways to sow cycads: one is to sow as soon as the seeds are harvested, and this method has a very high germination rate; the other is to harvest the seeds in autumn, store them in sand, and sow them in the following spring, and as long as they are handled properly, the germination rate can also be increased. But no matter which sowing method is used, the seeds often need to be pre-treated to promote germination, which can better improve the propagation efficiency of the seeds.
1. Sow as soon as harvested
For sowing cycads, sowing as soon as the seeds are harvested is a sowing method with a very high germination rate and very high propagation efficiency. If we do not need to wait until the next spring to sow, then we might as well use the method of sowing as soon as the seeds are harvested in the same year to propagate young cycad plants!
1. Seed treatment
To improve the success rate of sowing and propagation, before sowing it is recommended to soak the selected mature seeds in warm water at 50°C for half a day, then take them out and air-dry them for 1 hour. After that, replace the water with warm water at the same temperature, but add a little ferrous sulfate and potassium dihydrogen phosphate, put them in a thermos bottle and soak them for another half a day, and then they can be taken out for sowing.
2. Sowing method
After the seed soaking process, we can sow the seeds in a pot by dibbling, and at the same time cover them with 2 cm of soil. Then place them in a high-temperature environment between 30°C and 33°C, and generally after 2 weeks the seeds can germinate. Generally, after the seedlings have grown in the pot for 2-4 years, they can be divided into pots for transplanting and final planting.
2. Sand storage and dibble sowing
Sand storage and dibble sowing means collecting the mature cycad seeds harvested that year and subjecting them to seed soaking and sand storage treatment, then waiting until the following spring to carry out sowing and propagation.
1. Seed treatment
Soak healthy seeds harvested within 2 years in warm water at 5°C for 1 day, then soak them in dilute hydrochloric acid or dilute sulfuric acid for another 10-15 minutes. After that, take the seeds out, rinse them clean with water and soak them again. The soaking time is usually relatively long, and generally the water needs to be changed once every other day. Wait until the seeds have fully absorbed water, swollen and softened, then remove the outer skin of the seeds and dry and store the seeds.
2. Sowing method
Around December in winter, we can subject these seeds to sand storage treatment. The thickness of the covering sand should preferably be about 3 cm, and generally 4-6 months of sand storage is enough. During this period, keep the temperature between 18°C and 25°C, maintain the relative humidity at 80%-90%, and at the same time take good winter warmth and cold protection measures, with the lowest temperature also kept above 12°C. Generally, by May-June of the following year, the cycad seeds can germinate, and by July-August true leaves can grow, at which point we can choose the right time to transplant and finally plant them in pots.