Thank you, hoovb. I had seen that and read March & April, but somehow my brain didn't see the Southern Hemisphere part.

I'll get them started this weekend.

Tyler

I planted (very shallowly, per sellers instructions) last Friday, October 7. Can anyone give me a ballpark on germination? Just an average based on your personal experience is all I'm looking for.

Thanks,

Tyler

I planted some a year and a half ago and another pot 6 months ago and both germinated about two weeks after planting the 6 month pot so... I dunno? ;) also, one pot was almost on the surface and the other pot a couple cm deep, didn't seem to make a difference, although the shallower ones I can see the caudex already which is cool. just keep caring for them and they'll reward you! I'll post some pics of mine later

thechinski, do I understand you to mean that the first seeds you planted took a year to germinate? ...and the second set of seeds took 6 months? Thanks for the info. That does give me some idea. Without this, I probably would've given up and tossed them after a few months. I'll just be patient. Thanks in advance for the pix.

A question - I have some Adenium seeds that require a bit of bottom heat to generate. On top of my old plugged in VCR is sufficient. Do Dioscorea Elephantipes seeds also need heat to germinate? The seller didn't say so, thought I'd ask.

Thanks again,

Tyler

Pardon me for the hijack of this thread:

I planted a few seeds 3 weeks ago (early spring, Melbourne Australia) and I'm seeing a slender inch-long brown vine with 1 leaf at the end sticking out. It's still in a baggy with full humidity.

What do I do now? Do I remove it and plant it out? Will it OK to leave it in there in that humidity?

Hi Eric. No problem. I am learning too so the more questions the more I learn. What did you plant your seeds in, please? Did you provide any bottom heat to help them germinate? I'd be interested in any information you are willing to share about the process you used.

Thank you,

Tyler

Happy to share Tyler but I'm no expert, just reading and making it up as I go. I make a mix of sand and perlite for most of the substrate. The top 2cm is pure sand. Rough sand. All within a yoghurt pot. I soaked the whole thing for a while, laid the seed and covered it lightly with sprinkling of sand and then I bagged it up.

This is now, in the pot with other seeds (which I regretted). Not sure if I should try to move it to its own pot. Anyone?

Almost, my first set took a year and my second 2 weeks, but they came up almost exactly the same date bizarrely.

Here's mine right now, sorry they don't look too flattering, they aren't my neatest pot of seedlings! They are all at varying stages of dormancy, it's incredibly tempting to repot them and have a good look at the little caudexs (?) but I'm resisting for now! First pic is of the most exposed caudex of all my seedlings, and I think that new leaf in the second pic is a freshly germinated seed, quite unpredictable ;)

My only concern with them all being out of sync is that watering the growing ones may promote rot in the dormant ones? I'm just hoping my very gritty mix and fairly conservative watering is keeping them going :/

Update. Now I have 3 babies! Great joy. The one to the right has two vines too. Is that normal?

Tyler, did you already sow your seeds? Mine were a failure, I tried to germinate them the same way as the adenium seeds, but that didn't work.

Hi Conny. Yes I sowed them. Probably 3-4 weeks ago at this point. Still nothing. I got 5 seeds altogether. 3 I planted per the sellers instructions. The other 2 like I've sown the Adenium. Zero both ways. I haven't given up all hope just yet. One forum member said his took a while year so I'm waiting patiently. Another member said that dioscorea elephantipes plants were a dime a dozen in California. I've been here all my 53 years and don't recall ever seeing any.

Tyler

Good luck Tyler, do keep us posted on any progress!

I wouldn't have the patience to try for a year... luckily I can get the plant fairly easy here.

Yeah. I know. I'll look at them once and awhile and maybe one day I'll be surprised and rewarded. I will still keep my eyes open when I go to the nursery though.

Tyler

Hello

Can you please guide me where i can buy Dioscorea elephantipes seeds from a credile source online ? There are so many fake people on ebay and amazon plus there is a shipping issue . I dont know , where to purchase the seeds ... Please guide me to a good economical source where i can buy fresh seeds...i shall be very thankful.

Hi Hassan, I wish I could help you, but none of the seeds I purchased germinated. Whether due to my methods, old seeds, duds, irradiation, irreputable (eBay) seller, I have no idea. Because of that, I can't comfortably recommend anyone.

I gave up and purchased a plant from Arid Lands. I'll post a link. It had some leaves when I got it that have since dried up. In the part of the world the originate from, I believe this is their winter. They go dormant here in the Summer, so I'm hoping that's what's going on and I'll see some activity when it's their time.

http://aridlandswholesale.com/oscommerce/index.php?cPath=48_23

Hopefully someone else can help who has had a better outcome.

Where are you located, may I ask?

Tyler

These are far from dime a dozen. Very small ones are pricey and that hasn't gone down in the last 15 years when other rare plants have become much more affordable. A.polyphylla for one.

I had one I ordered many years ago and could not believe that within 48 hours mice had found it and ate it out.

I once saw a beauty (6 or 7" across turtle base) growing in a doctors office- I tried to talk them into selling it to me. Nah,they wouldn't. A doctor who has them as house plants knows his plants!

I purchased some seeds from Mesa Gardens. It took well over a month for them to germinate, maybe even 2 - I had actually pretty much given up but I decided to just hold out for a while more and to my great surprise 3 out of my 10 seeds have germinated finally!

I couldn't find any detailed info online so don't know if this is "right" but based on other seeds I've sown I planted them in shallow soil and kept them moist. When any seeds dry out before germinating they stall. I just kept the soil moist & on a sunny windowsill and finally they popped up when I least expected it.

7 out of 10 isn't that great but maybe more will sprout, maybe not. It's hard to find any good instructions out there so it could be me, it could be the seeds. I'm happy to even have the 3 when I thought I was going to get nothing!

There's a nursery here in Austin that got a batch of some of these in last year - I bought 2 with approx golf ball sized caudex and they were about $16 each - from there they went up in price considerably and one with approx baseball size caudex was about $150.

Maybe Someday! This won the Peoples Choice Award And Best Grown From Seed!! Don't know how long this took.

This is really enormous. I was told that he also showed this in Winter show when it was leafed out. Must have been a sight to see.

If anyone here knows the trick to keeping them alive, please share. I've tried numerous times and they seem to do great. I start worrying that I'll rot them and so back off on the water. The vines die back and then never return. I've successfully kept another less spectacular sp. alive for about 5 years. It rarely has more than a couple leaves in the growing season. I won't pot it up for fear of losing it as well. This is one of those must have plants that I just can't figure out.

In talking to Al of Botanic Wonders he says he never completely stops watering in the Summer when they are dormant. He gives a little water (not sure how often or how much) to keep the feeder roots alive. He's very nice and I'll bet if you call or email him, he'd be more than willing to give you some advice. I've been to his nursery a couple of times. He's a very nice man and very generous with information.

http://www.botanicwonders.com/

Tyler

I really like growing these from seed .i have gave up on them before on sprouting ,empty the mix back into the bend,repot another plant with some of the mix .and see them sprout later on lol.got well over 30 plants from seed D elephantipes, D. hemicrypta ,D sylvactia ,some pushing tennis ball size.most quarter, half dollar size .I do give water some during rest, but not much.D hemicrypta are more sensitive to water .I find warm temperatures and wet mix will have good germination result.

Volunteer

Nice surprise! Is it growing with a Bursera or a Commiphora?

Congrats, tan. I long since gave up.

Tyler

Hello Aloebot its Cyphoshtemma macrocarpum it is in leave but just took pic to show the D elphantipes that decided to come up.luckily its not deep to the bulb,should be a easy transplant Eric

Some seedlings of dioscorea slyvatica in their 3rd week.

The left tray is of dioscorea elephantipes, it been less then 2 weeks no success yet...

But I am hopeful from the germination of dioscorea slyvatica. Both covered and uncovered trays have grown.

I am using leaf mould, organic compost, large quantities of pumice.

I got my seeds from silverhills seeds, they have vast verities of unusual seeds.

Looking good don't give up on the elephantipes they can be lazy about sprouting ,I have had them come up months later

I have had many failures with my seeds collected from my own two plants. Over the last two years, I have had only two germinate and only one survived. I tried putting them in the fridge before planting as had been advised by another grower but to no avail. I had kept the pots of ungerminated seeds for many months in case they were slow to germinate. No luck.

As a last measure, I planted the rest of the seeds and left them in a sealed plastic bag to see what would happen. It is spring in this part of the world. Last week, I looked inside the bag again months after planting them. Some had started to germinate. I took the bag off and over the next week or so, I have had over 30 germinate. I don't know what has caused this sudden success but next time, I will replicate the time and method of planting.

I don't get seeds every year as my two plants are out of synch when flowering and often do not overlap to allow me to pollinate (they are male and female plants). I am growing another 3 plants to try to get some to overlap flowering but they take a long time to flower for the first time. The oldest plants are over 20 years old and the 3 young ones are over 5 years but have not flowered yet.

I had the same thing happen tanp, I reused some soil that I planted d. elephantipes seeds in, for a Hoya and they sprouted months later and are now growing with the hoya.