CliviaNet___________
     for clivia lovers around the World

I have, over quite a number of years, been germinating a great variety of seeds because I am blessed (or cursed) with 'Seed Disease'. i.e.: that incurable urge to germinate and grow-on every seed I can lay my hands on.

What I mostly concentrate on nowadays is Cycads, Clivias, and to a lesser extent some other indigenous plants. The only germinating medium I now use is 'Vermiculite'. This after trying every conceivable medium on the market as well as some home-grown mixes including sifted garden soil. The amount of seeds I've lost over the years is almost uncountable until I started using vermiculite. As you may know, this is a rock-like mineral which is fired at very, very high temperatures (something like 1200 to 1400 degrees Celsius).

The dictionary describes it as follows: "A hydrous silicate mineral usually resulting from alteration of mica, and expandable into sponge by heating, used as an insulation material."

• It is totally inert and sterile by virtue of the temperature required to produce it.
• It has the ability (as in sponge) to soak up and retain water like nothing else.
• Another plus factor is the fact that it's an insulator, hence being able to retain a pre-set temperature even when the ambient or surrounding temperature fluctuates.

In my germinating room where although the temperature is set at 28°C (ca. 82°F), the air inside can vary between 8°C (ca. 46°F) and 30°C (86°F) in winter and between 18°C (ca. 64°F) and 38°C (ca. 100°F) in summer. Even then, the temperature just below the surface of the vermiculite seldom varies by more than 3 or 4 degrees C from the set 28°C.

I clean and disinfect the seeds in the prescribed manner and place them onto a 12-cm (5-inch) deep bed of vermiculite contained in aluminium trays. I press the seeds into the vermiculite until they are just visible. The particle size of the vermiculite is available in graded sizes. I use 6-8 mm (1/4 to 5/16 inch). The trays have drain holes in the bottom corners to allow excess water to drain out, so that it doesn't create a swamp. About once every 4 days I spray the trays with water straight from the domestic water supply. There is no fear of over-watering because what the vermiculite will not soak up drains out the bottom of the trays.

Although I don't do it, I guess it won't do any harm to give the seeds an occasional application of fungicide to combat any nasty bugs that may be floating around in the air. I never have any problems such as fungus, rot, over or under watering and will recommend this method to anyone growing just about anything from seed.

Provided that the seed is viable I can almost guarantee 100% success. Lastly, I don't see any problem in using the same medium and method but instead of trays in a germinating room, using transparent zip-lok bags.

Happy germinating.

Viv Elliott
Johannesburg
South Africa