Bonatea speciosa - potting out

Finally, after 8 months, I removed my Bonatea speciosa seedlings and potted them up last night. The dry seeds were bought from Lifestyle seeds (Eastern Cape) and were sown on 9 December 2010 on half strength MS with added coconut water and carbon. They began to germinate on 11 January 2011. The odd protocorms first spread out laterally on the surface of the medium before eventually sending a dropper down from which the leaf primordia developed (see images). The seedlings grew relatively quickly and were incubated at 26 Degrees Celsius under fluorescent light (white light) for 16 hours on/ 8 hours off. I did not sow many seeds as I only received very few in the post. Germination was low but those which germinated all survided (4 plants). I have been looking forward to potting these up and will keep them in the incubator for a while to harden off before moving them to the greenhouse in Spring.

1 March 2011

27 April 2011

3 August 2011

Potted up (3 August 2011)

I am also very excited to add that I have ordered many different species seeds from Thailand, Bulgaria, The Netherlands, Australia and the UK. Hopefully within the next few months I can add a bit on what was sown, what may have been successful and what will be on offer in flask in the future.