My Desert Rose has a seed pod..how do i plant the seeds when they are ready?

Question

It's a very old desert rose....how old do they have to be before they grow seed pods....and how do i plant them when they are ready?

Will i need to soak them overnight or just put them in the dirt?

Any special care instructions would be helpful....i have several desert roses but only one produced seeds.

The pod is still green..and very long about banana size but skinnier.

Answer 1

Wrap seed pods with wire or ties to keep seeds from dispersing when pods mature and open.  

Let pods mature on plant.  Remove them from the plant when they begin to open and let them dry further before removing the seeds.



Seeds are equipped to fly away with the wind...

That's the reason for the wire or tie wrap.  That is, to prevent the seeds from being "gone with the wind..."

There are lots of seeds in a pod...

Vermiculite is used as the planting medium.  Planting is done indoors as the wind will easily carry the seeds away.  Seeds are evenly scattered over the planting medium and then covered...

Lots and lots of seedlings will appear after about a week or so...

Watch out for pests!  Although this plant is considered to be poisonous, caterpillars love to feed on these plants.

If you would like to see pictures that demonstrate every one of the steps above, go to:

http://www.k12.hi.us/~rkubota/digiphoto/...