Arisaema Sikokianum

[Eric Locke]

Hi all

I have for the first time, seed heads on this lovely Arisema.
Having turned red these are now starting to drop.
Can anyone please pass on any information as to how to raise these from seed.
Many thanks.

  Eric
 

[Lesley Cox]

Hello Eric - First, wash the seeds. I find the best way is to put them in a kitchen sieve and gently rub them until all the red coating is detached then dry them between paper towels.

Sow the seeds on a moisture-retentive seed raising mix then cover them with either a thin layer of the mix, or (I prefer) a .5cm layer of washed grit. Fresh seeds as yours are, should germinate quite quickly, maybe within weeks. Keep the pot cool and moist and perhaps under cover for this coming winter.

Are you in the UK? It seems to me that if they are ripe now, it is quite late. I would have expected the seeds to be ready around June/July. But sow them now anyway. They germinate best while fresh.

[Eric Locke]

Hello Lesley

Yes.I am in the UK.
Many thanks for your advise which I shall follow and hopefully will have many plants to pass on to others.

Eric

[Paul T]

Eric,

Lesley is spot on for what I'd be doing as well.  Interestingly, while you're harvesting seed, I have one of them in flower here in Australia!! 

[Lesley Cox]

Mine are through but not opening out yet. Won't be long. I saw hundreds in a Blue Mountains garden at Mt. Tomah, all just about out. Magnificent!

[Paul T]

Lesley,

The idea of hundreds of them!!    I'm just happy to get a single flower some years. 

[Gerdk]

Are you in the UK? It seems to me that if they are ripe now, it is quite late. I would have expected the seeds to be ready around June/July. But sow them now anyway. They germinate best while fresh.

Lesley,
The seeds of my Sikokianums were never ripe before the middle or the end of December.
This was normal to me. Germination was easy, as you told.
The problem is to receive some seeds. You have to spot female and male plants and  pollinate them. It seems there are no insects here which do the job.

Gerd

[ellen&dan]

I know what you mean Gerdk. We have had lots of Arisaemas flowering this year but only 2 have set seed.

[Folypeelarks]

Well, I don't know about the seeds but I just wanna say - the plant is really spectacular! 
 
I hope that You'll grow It!Wish You luck! 

[Eric Locke]

Seeds all harvested , washed, dryed and ready for sowing.
I could not believe the large numbers of seeds !!
Each small pod contained six or seven seeds and from the two complete seed heads I have a minimum count of one thousand. Is this usuall ? 
These plants grew much larger this year and all flowered too which was nice.

Eric

[Maggi Young]

Fantastic harvest, Eric!  You'll be cornering the market!! 

[Lesley Cox]

I've not had seed on my sikokianums so I can't say it that number per berry is usual but with other species I generally get 1, 2 or 3 per berry, very rarely 4.

[Johan Nilson]

Reading this thread made me look through some pictures from last year and I found this Arisaema fruit with berries containing 8-10 seeds

each. It was sown in regular sowing soil (for the Swedish market, a peat based medium with some perlit in it) exactly one year ago and

stored quite cold (but not under freezing point) till the frost risk was over. It germinated fantastically and now I have a lot of small

bulbs. 

The last picture is from this July when it was in full growth.

[ellen&dan]

Hi Johan
 Thats one hell of a pot full. Which Arisaema is it?

I was wondering if anyone new of any suppliers of the more unusal Arisaemas from China and Japan.

[Johan Nilson]

ellen&dan,

Guess I got lucky! Other Arisaema seed boxes did not move at all!

I don't know wich species it is yet. I collected the seeds myself last year, when I was travelling in Sikkim/India. A friend, very much dedicated to Arisaemas has suggested A. wallichianum, but I guess I have to wait and see...