Pride before a fall!

Morning All,

hope you all had a restful Christmas!

I'm hoping to tap into your knowledge of house plants.

I'm rather proud that I've have managed to keep alive the cyclamen which my aunty gave me for my birthday back in September (I'm really bad with house plants!)

Sydney (any house plant who lives longer than 2 months in this house deserves a name!) is obviously happy and healthy, he's still got new leaves and flowers coming up. he's managed a seed pod from one of the spent flowers I missed on my Saturday morning inspections which I've nicked off this morning,

My question is if I dry this out could I grow new plants from the seeds or is it really tricky. I've no greenhouse.... yet, but this is on the WILL get list this coming spring, garden is the big housey project this coming year. However we do have a very cold conservatory which is doubling up for the waifs and strays which need a bit of TLC over the winter for now!

Thanks in advance for any help!

Becks

Hi Becks

Well done with Sydney. I have grown outdoor cyclamen from seed but not indoor cyclamen, although I have kept indoor ones. I would think that the same regime would do for both -

Soak seeds in slightly soapy water for a while - they are sticky and it removs this. Put in a pot of very well draained compost - I use seed witha lot of grit. Stck in a poly bag, place in a deeply shady area, not totally dar. Mine were dumped on top of a cupboard in garage - keep frost free but cool. Do not water. Just forget about them for a while - I did mine, completely, and when I looked there were spindly stems, If I had kept a closer eye on them that would not nave happened

Plant them on again DO NOT drench with water. Keep the compost gritty, and nurture in a cool environment,

Hey but you are really licky to get seed from an indoor plant.

Comeback to me if you are stuck - you know where i can be found

See I knew you guys wouldn't let me down! Thanks

I don't think I can take any of the credit for the seed pod to be fair, house plants a bit hit and miss here! I'll let you know how we get on, my theory with collected seeds is nothing ventured nothing gained.... it's not like I've paid for the seeds so anything I get out of it is a bonus and if it doesn't work I've only lost a couple of minutes out of my life when potting up!!

Forgot to say don't water until you have germination. The bag will keep all the moisture they need in. Oh but do water when first sown. 

Bjay

Hopefully the seed pod had begin to split open before you removed it. Otherwise the seeds inside will not have been mature enough to grow.

well done but remember cyclamen like cold room,mist each day and don't let it dry out.when finished plant in garden or keep corm for next year.They do not like heating or over watering (that's leaving it paddling in water).keep going!growing anything from seed is an achievement.

It sounds like from what you've all discribed I've got the conditions licked in the conservatry..... it's really cold (in comparison to the rest of the house, I water once a week on a Saturday morning as I'm cleaning up and it does get a bit of condenstion in there when we are cooking, the kitchen leads straight on to it with no door so there's always a bit of steam build up!

Burghill ~ the pod has started splitting which is why I noticed it so fingers crossed.... and like I said earlier, anything from cutting or seed from an existing plant is a bonus for me because they are free!

Hi Moonlit, I've been growing indoor cyclamen (Cyclamen persicum grandiflorum - the large scented ones) for a few years now and agree with the other comments - it's important that you let the seeds ripen on the plant and don't grow them in warm areas.  I find them easy to grow from seed - in my case I soak them for 24h, then just sow them on top of a pot of compost, cover in grit, water them once and leave until they germinate.  They produce a single normal leaf first (no 'seed leaves' like other plants.)  When the second or third leaf appears, I (very carefully, so as not to damage the roots!) prick them out into 3 inch pots, so the top of the tiny corm is just visible.   Mine are in flower now - lovely having them in full bloom over Christmas, and they'll go on flowering for months.  When they stop producing flowers, I drastically reduce watering and let most of the leaves die off.  In about July/August, they are usually completely dormant and I re-pot them in fresh compost, keeping most of the corm above the compost and cover the visible compost around the edges in grit.  I find they prefer a 5 inch pot when they are over 2 years old.  My oldest ones are now about 7yo and the corms have grown to about 4 inches across!   I'll add a photo or two tomorrow.

Thanks Santas litle helper!  I might have nipped off the pod too early, it had started opening but hadn't fully opened..... but I'll give it a go.