Growing Hippeastrum from Seeds

052511 ~

A few changes today....another root from the seeds in soil.

Roots are getting long in the seeds in water.  If you double-click on the picture then you can see the seed in the middle has a root that is getting longer.....its too light colored to see in this smaller picture.

052311 ~  the seeds in water are from a Lemon Lime pod that aborted early....i was able to dig out a few seeds. 

The floating seeds are finally starting to show some promise!  I have 2 that have teeny tiny roots poking out.  There was a third, but i had to throw it out...it seemed to have mold or something on it.  You will probably have to double click the picture to actually see the sprout...it is very tiny!

052011 ~  the seeds in soil are a lot of mixed amaryllis seeds that i purchased on ebay.

What a wonderful surprise to wake up to this morning.....one root has started sprouting in the seeds sown in soil.  I was really expecting a couple more weeks before I saw any changes.  Still no change on the floaters....

051111 ~

This will be our first experiment with planting Hippeastrum seeds....wish us luck :)

After your Hippeastrum blooms, your flower will wither away and die and a seed pod will begin to form behind drying up flower...... if the flower was pollinated.   Let the bloom fall off naturally. 

Over a period of time the seed pod will grow larger and begin looking something like this:

(Double-click on the picture to enlarge)

 

The seed pod will start turning a brownish yellow color and get thinner and eventually start to open.  This particular seed pod had a broken stalk and aborted.  We decided to go ahead and open it up to see if there were any formed seeds.  Luckily, there were a few brown paper thin seeds in the pod.

The brown layer is a protective layer for the actual seed inside (if you look close you can see a small lump in the middle).   The brown shell is a protective layer for the seed and it also helps carry the seed in the wind if the pod is left alone.



Before you try to germinate the seed you will need to let the seeds dry out for at least a few days and up to one year.  The longer you wait to germinate the seeds the less viable they are.  The seeds pictured above have already been dried out.  These seeds are very light and will be picked up by the wind easily....so we handled them indoors.  Tweezers will also help out while handling the seeds.  

There are two ways that you can try to make the seed grow.  One is in soil and the other is to float the seed in water.   

We decided to float these in water.  We partially filled the container up with lukewarm water and carefully placed the seeds on the top of the water.



At this point....we are going to change the water daily.  We found that if you place a paper towel over the bowl and turn it over in the sink the water will  drain and the seeds will stick to the paper towel.  After refilling the bowl with lukewarm water, you can use tweezers to place the seeds back into the water.

051311~  Seeds still floating...look the same, added water one time.

to be continued.........

051311 ~

Growing Hippeastrum seeds in soil is another method commonly used.  The seeds we are using now were purchased from Ebay as a mixed variety Amaryllis.  We are using seed starting soil and a small plastic container.  We put some holes in the bottom of the plastic container and placed the seed starting soil inside.  The seeds were carefully placed onto the top of the soil.  I am keeping the soil moist by misting water regularly on the seeds.  I have heard that seeds are easily rotted by keeping them too wet....so i just check them periodically to make sure they are not too dried out.  I keep a lid on the container and keep them outside in a small greenhouse.

Both seed containers were started a couple days apart.   Hopefully, soon we will see some sprouts...this may take a couple of weeks. 

 

~052911  

The largest Charisma seems to be getting ready.....the other two pods have withered away....

~051311   More seeds possible .....Below are a few pods that we have starting now...

Charisma:

 Charisma:

Liberty: