Re: wow! Philodendron / seeds

From: Neil Crafter golfstra at senet.com.au> on 1999.12.17 at 16:18:51(3966) Hi Brian and all others considering a seed purchase from Alvim Seidel. A couple of years ago, Todd Ruth of San Francisco and myself organised a similar seed purchase through this list. In the end I think we had around 15 or so participants. We did a deal with them to allow us to purchase smaller quantities of seed than the 1000 minimum (100 From memory). Todd did the distribution and collected the funds. I got seeds from around 6 or 8 different Philodendrons (I am a Philodendron grower) and only had 1 specie germinate and now have 2 plants surviving and growing well. Was it worth it? Perhaps my 2 plants worked out quite expensive at around $20 each but I am now the proud parent of a plant that I would probably otherwise not have been able to obtain in Australia (we have extremely strict quarantine laws for the importation of live plant material, but they are more lenient on seeds) The viability of Philo seed is clearly an issue and there is no doubt that its best when fresh and I dont know if Alvim Seidel can guarantee that freshness. I might be interested in trying again. If people go into this with their eyes open and with the knowledge that it is likely that a high percentage of the seed may not be viable, then why not! Its fun trying to raise Philo seedlings and you never know, you may end up with a plant or two that you might not have been able to get by other means. Brian you may wish to email me direct to talk further about this if you wish. regards Neil +More Neil Crafter Adelaide Australia

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