Strelitzia Reginae

[DaveC]

About 6 months ago a friend of mine bought me a pack of 3 rather unusual looking Strelitzia Reginae seeds back from a hot country. The seeds are black with bright orange fluffy tails and the size of small peas.

I would really like to have a go of growing them as the picture on the pack of the flower looks very much like a plant you would expect to see in an alien world.

Unfortunatly the instructions are not very clear and been badly translated in to english so I would really appreciate any advice.

I have a greenhouse and I live in S.Yorks if this helps

Thanks

Dave

[burnie]

difficult to germinate,take a long time and can take up to ten years to flower,but when they do, what a magnificent flower.
p.s. they need to be pot bound in order to flower.

[Two_Sheds]

Better known as Bird of Paradise.

Thompson & Morgan sell the seeds:
Sow any time of year. Remove the orange tuft and soak for up to 24 hours. Press seeds into moist sand and seal inside a plastic bag. Place in the dark at 21-24C (70-75F). Germination can take 1-6 months.

Inspect the seeds regularly and pot up any which have started to grow, into a good seed compost. Any which have produced a root only should also be potted up and kept damp until a shoot appears.

They can take 4 or more years to flower from seed. Place outside all summer and bring in the greenhouse/conservatory before frost. Keep slightly pot bound and feed through spring and summer with Phostrogen. Water with care through the winter. Exotic : Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia reginae) (Seeds)

[pepper]

I have germinated 2 batches of these seeds the first ones the plants are now 6 years old. This is how i did mine I put the seed in damp vermiculite inside a plastic container with a lid and then put this inside a heated propagater the first batch took about 3 months but the batch i did last year were all through in about 4-6 weeks. I have tried them in pots of compost before but nerver got any to sprout. good luck with your seeds

[DaveC]

Some good advice there guys, thankyou all very much. I will keep you posted with my results

Dave