How to grow Dyckias from seed

So your Dyckia has produced a bunch of little seed pods and you want to try growing some bromeliads from seed. Each pod contains dozens of seeds and they're fairly easy to grow. Note: this method also works with other members of the Pitcairnioides group, like Hechtia, Encholirium, Puya and Pitcairnia. These all produce dry flake-like seeds that are easy for a beginner to work with.

There are probably many different ways to germinate bromeliad seed, but this is an easy way that works for me. Keep in mind that a self-pollinated species will produce seedlings of the same species, but there may be slight variations between the plants. Seeds of hybrids will produce plants with a wide variety of characteristics due to their more diverse genetic makeup.

Collect the seeds as soon as the pods start to split. The seeds are lightweight and if you wait any longer they're likely to blow away.

Soak the seeds overnight in water. This speeds germination, but makes it difficult to separate them for planting. I dump the seeds and soak-water out onto a fine mesh.

The water quickly drains through and the seeds can be easily separated and picked up with a flat wooden toothpick.

Any kind of clear, closed container makes an excellent humidity chamber perfect for starting bromeliad seeds. Plastic clamshells or pastry trays are ideal. I like the ones with aluminum bottoms. You can quickly punch drainage holes in the bottom with a pencil or ice pick, then fill with sterile potting soil or seed-starter mix.

I like to get the germination tray going a few days ahead of time. Fill it with soil and water thoroughly. Close the top and place it in a bright, but shady location. Humidity will build up and run back into the soil creating a moist environment perfect for germination.

Carefully spacing the seeds on the soil makes transplanting so much easier later on as the plants develop.

Tightly close the container and keep it in a bright shady location. The water should recycle providing all the moisture needed by the developing seedlings, but check the soil periodically and add water if needed.

Airborne moss or fern spores often find their way into the germination chamber, but their growth rarely causes a problem for the bromeliad seedlings.

Within a few months the seedlings will have several leaves and it's time to start venting the germination chamber to harden off the plants. Start by propping open the lid a small amount to allow humidity to escape. Increase the amount of venting over a period of a few weeks, keeping a close eye on the soil moisture and watering as needed. Once the seedlings have been hardened off, they can be carefully transplanted to small individual containers. Keep them shaded until they become well-established in pots and then gradually acclimate them to the light levels they'll get in their permanent location.

Congratulations! You've now grown your own bromeliads from seed!

Cassava, Yuca (Manihot esculenta)

Manihot esculenta, also known as cassava, yuca and manioc, is a fast-growing perennial with an edible tuberous root. In common usage, the plants are usually referred to as cassava and the roots are marketed as yuca. This may vary depending on locality. The roots are the source of the starch that is processed into tapioca.

Plants quickly grow to a height of about 10-12 feet and then flop over if not topped. Trimmings can be chopped and composted, or spread as a weed-suppressing mulch between plants. Stems can reach 20 feet or more in length if allowed to sprawl.

Cassava is grown world-wide in tropical regions, but originated in Central and South America. There is archaeological evidence that it has been in cultivation for at least 4,000 years and possibly as long as 9,000 years.
The leaves are palmate, about 8-10 inches across, and deeply lobed. Some cultivars have red petioles, making a nice contrast to the dark green leaves.

Older stems have a distinctive prominent stub where each leaf was attached.

Plants put in the ground in spring grow throughout the summer and flower in autumn. The cream-colored flowers appear in clusters at the ends of the branches, but they are small, and go almost unnoticed amid the foliage. Only close inspection reveals their beauty.

After about 9-10 months of growth the yuca roots are large enough to harvest. Roots that are 3-4 inches in diameter and 10-15 inches long are a harvestable size. Production volume doubles if harvest is put off until after the second vegetative cycle, but the roots are supposedly not as tender.
When grown commercially, the entire plant is dug, roots are harvested, and a new crop is planted the following spring or at the start of the rainy season. If you only have one or two plants, it's possible to dig around the base of the plant, harvest the mature roots, and leave the plant to produce another year. I've been doing that for years on the plant pictured below.

The one root at the top of this grouping weighed over 6 pounds. I'd only dug out half of the root system when this photo was taken, so you see they can be quite productive.

Yuca roots are prepared by peeling, then cooking in the same manner as potatoes; boil, bake, roast, or fry them. They must be cooked before eating due to cyanic compounds present in the raw roots. The heat from cooking renders these compounds inert. Some cultivars with very low levels of cyanide can be eaten raw, but you'd have to be certain you had that cultivar and bitterness is not necessarily an indication of cyanide levels.

The grated root is used for cassava bread, and young leaves are also edible after cooking. To prepare the leaves, remove the petioles, then finely chop, grind or pound the leaves. Cook them as greens, seasoned to your own liking, or add to soups and stews. I like to puree the leaves in the blender, cook and season them, and serve over rice or pasta. There are lots of recipes available online. 

**Cassava leaf must be cooked thoroughly before eating! Cassava leaf is a good source of vitamin A, C, B vitamins, iron, calcium, zinc, manganese and magnesium.

There is a variegated form of cassava that is primarily grown as an ornamental. It doesn't produce the large roots of the commercial varieties, but makes a showy addition to any landscape.

To start a new crop, mature cassava stems are cut into sections and laid horizontal in a shallow trench, then covered with soil. Alternately, the may be simply poked straight down into the dirt, with a few nodes visible above the soil line. In commercial plantings they are spaced about 4 feet on center. The cuttings produce an abundance of roots and quickly start growing. I have cassava plants and cuttings for sale -- click the link at the bottom of this post.

Cassava tolerates a wide range of soils and environmental conditions, making it an ideal crop for impoverished soils and drought-prone regions. In some parts of the world, cassava is grown as livestock feed or as a biofuel.
Manihot esculenta is recommended for USDA Zones 8-11. It can be grown in colder climates as an annual ornamental, but the growing season won't be long enough to produce a good crop of roots.
Buy cassava cuttings.

Luffa aegyptiaca

Luffa aegyptiaca is an annual climbing vine that produces a fibrous, sponge-like fruit commonly used in many bath and body products. These natural plant-fiber sponges are used in the bath or shower to gently exfoliate skin, in the kitchen to scrub pots, pans and non-stick cookware, or outdoors to wash cars, trucks and boats.

Luffa requires a long growing season. If planted early enough in the year, a few fruits will form in the spring that ripen by fall. During the long hot days of summer, pollination is inhibited, but resumes with the shorter days of autumn. If you have a 10-12 month growing season, you'll get a bumper crop of luffas at the end of the year.
The showy yellow male flowers open one at a time on an elongating upright stem.

 Female flowers are solitary with a pre-formed fruit. Individual blooms are about 3-4 inches in diameter.

Pollinated flowers result in a rapidly growing fruit that eventually reaches 15-18 inches in length. There are other cultivars of luffa; they may be longer and thin, short and thick, or with ridges on the skin. Young fruits that are up to 6 inches in length may be cooked and eaten as a vegetable. In China, the flowers, leaves, and young shoots are also eaten.

As older fruits reach maturity, the skin changes from dark green to yellow-green. Finally it turns brown and dry. At this point it's ready to harvest for the fibrous sponges. Harvest as soon as the skin turns brown. Clip the fruit off to avoid damaging the vine because more fruits are still forming. When the skin is dry and brittle, crack it open and peel off the outside.

Inside you'll find a beautiful luffa that may be any shade of brown to nearly white. Shake out the seeds and wash the fiber thoroughly to remove plant sap. Dry it in the sun and your luffa is ready to use. Leave it whole for use in the bath, or cut it into conveniently sized pieces for other uses.

Luffa aegyptiaca is native to tropical Africa and Asia. The vine grows more than 30 feet long, so give it plenty of vertical space. They'll quickly climb a trellis or fence and cover adjacent trees or shrubs. Grow in full sun for best flower and fruit production. Here's a photo of one of mine covering a sabal palm.

Pineapple (Ananas comosus)

Mid- to late summer marks the peak of the pineapple season for most home-growers, although pineapples can fruit any month of the year in warm climates.

What many people don't realize is that there are many different varieties, each with their own unique characteristics. The fruit you buy in the grocery store is pretty much all some variation of the Smooth Cayenne variety.  The other varieties that are not so easily found have fruit with different textures, flavors, color, size, etc.

What many people also don't realize is how beautiful pineapple plants are as they prepare to flower.  Here is a sampling of a few different varieties:

Pineapples are very easy to grow in areas where winter temperatures don't drop below the mid 20s F.  In colder regions, many varieties can easily be grown in pots. 
The plants will grow in either sun or shade, but plants in sunny locations usually fruit sooner than shaded  plants. 

Most people start their first pineapple plant from the crown of a pineapple they bought at the store.  This is easy to do.  Simply twist off the top, let it dry for a couple of days, pull off any dried or small leaves at the base, and stick it in the dirt.  

Unfortunately, this is not the best way to start pineapples and first-time growers are usually disappointed with the long wait for fruit (possibly 3 years or more).

The best way to start a pineapple is from a sucker.  You'll have to know someone who is already growing pineapples to get these, so make some friends!  The suckers grow directly from the main stem of the mother plant and usually appear from the leaf axils after fruiting.  

Leave one large sucker growing from the lowest point on the mother plant to produce next year's fruit.  Remaining suckers can be removed and planted on their own.  

Allow suckers to grow a little larger than a typical pineapple crown before removing them. Here's a sucker that is ready to be removed.

Remove it by pulling outward and twisting to the side at the same time.  A nice big sucker will pop right off the mother plant.  These are ready to stick in the ground immediately, and often fruit within a year.

Another method of starting new plants is to take one of the slips that develop on the fruiting stem, or at the base of the developing fruit. These planting pieces usually won't mature as fast as a sucker, but they will fruit sooner than a crown. 

The slips attached to the fruiting stem will continue to grow as long as they are attached. Again, allow them to reach a good size before removing them. Here are some slips growing after the fruit has been harvested.

The slips attached to the base of the fruit will be removed when you harvest the fruit and cut it for eating. These will be smaller than the slips allowed to grow on the fruiting stem, but they will still develop into nice plants. Some pineapple varieties are more likely to do this than others.

As the pineapple fruit grows, it will have a dark purplish coloration in most varieties. 

As it nears maturity, it will turn green.  

At this stage you'll want to start watching it closely.  As soon as the base of the fruit turns yellow and develops the familiar pineapple fragrance, it's time to pick or time to protect it!  If you leave fragrant fruit ripening out in the open, some creature of the night will pick it for you and you'll only be left with scraps!

Once you get a few pineapples going, they will continue to multiply every year, and soon you'll have plenty of fruit to share with friends and neighbors!

And remember, nothing tastes better than a fruit you've grown yourself!

Guava (Psidium guajava)

The tropical guava (Psidium guajava) is a fast-growing fruit tree believed to have originated in Central America, but is now grown in tropical regions world-wide.
They can reach heights of 20-25 feet but can be maintained at around ten feet.  Guavas even fruit well in containers.  They are evergreen or deciduous, depending on the severity of the winter.  During hard freezes, there may be some die-back of the upper branches, but new growth will quickly replace the limbs lost.
Fragrant and showy flowers appear in early spring.

As the fruit develops, the flower calyx remains at the end of the fruit.  The guava fruit ripens in mid to late summer and the fruit itself is highly aromatic.

In Florida and other warm regions, the fruit is attacked by the Caribbean and Mediterranean  fruit fly.  This is a huge problem for commercial production but for home-growers the fruit can be bagged to protect it.
I 've experimented with different materials and I'm currently using little bags I made from a product called floating row cover. It allows light, water and air to reach the developing fruit, while keeping out insects. I've also used plastic sandwich baggies, but if they are exposed to direct sun the fruit will burn on that side, causing a large brown sunscald on the skin.

For plastic baggies, I slip the baggie over the green fruit, and lightly secure with a twist-tie.  When the fruit ripens, it loosens from the stem and drops into the baggie.  The weight pulls the baggie off the stem and it drops to the ground.  During guava season I simply go out each day and pick up the fallen fruits, free of fruit fly damage. The fabric bags don't slip from the stem as easily so I usually have to manually remove them when the fruit is ripe.

Mature fruits are oblong and 2 to 4 inches in length.  The flesh inside may be white, red, pink, or yellowish, depending on cultivar.  They can be eaten fresh or cooked.  Guava paste and jelly is also popular.  There are many small, hard seeds in each fruit that can be easily swallowed (or strained out when making jam or jelly).

There are various medicinal uses for the roots, bark, leaves, and immature fruits.
Young stems are four-sided, while older trunks and branches have an attractive smooth bark that flakes off in patches.

Do butterflies REALLY like that plant?

That is a question we should all be asking when planning our butterfly gardens.  Lately there is a trend among commercial plant growers to claim just about any flowering plant will attract butterflies. 
One Florida grower that sells to the big box retailers actually prints a big butterfly on the side of their pots and a whole ring of little butterflies all the way around!  It doesn't actually say this is a butterfly plant, but who could blame a novice gardener for being misled?

What does "Butterfly Plant" or "Attracts Butterflies" really mean anyway?  Those phrases give no indication of whether the plant provides nectar for adults or if it is a larval food plant.  Many an uninformed gardener has no doubt purchased a plant that "attracts butterflies" only to later find the plant consumed by voracious caterpillars!  That probably wasn't what they had in mind when they made their purchase.
Another question we should be asking is "WHAT butterflies does the plant attract?"  Many common garden plants are native to other parts of the world, and have been propagated and moved around by avid gardeners.  The butterflies that were attracted to the plant in their native habitat may not even exist in your garden.

Some butterflies prefer to feed on the nectar of specific plants.  They are even more specific about where they lay their eggs.  Some caterpillars are only able to feed on a single species of plant!
So, ask lots of questions before you make your purchase.  Unfortunately, the largest plant retailers rarely have knowledgeable people on their staff.
So what's a butterfly lover to do?  You could do some research online, but here again lots of misinformation is circulating, getting copied and pasted from one website to another.

The best solution is to zero in on your local community.  Visit a neighbor who has a butterfly garden.  Go to a local park or botanical garden and watch where the butterflies spend their time.  Make your observations at various times during the day; some flowers release their nectar at specific times.  Also be aware of which butterflies you already see in your yard.  Planting the right flowers could bring more of them.  Above all don't forget to include some larval food plants.  Your butterfly population can multiply exponentially if they can live out their entire life cycle without leaving your yard!

Orchid waterfall

Dendrobium pierardii planted on a horizontal branch makes a waterfall of blooms!  This orchid is cold-hardy to the mid 20° F range, deciduous, and pendulous.  Since they are leafless in the spring when the blooms appear, there is no foliage to obscure the mass of blooms.

The flowers are lightly fragrant and when the sun shines through the petals, they sparkle!  The yellow lip is slightly fuzzy.

Dendrobium pierardii is a natural epiphyte and thrives when planted along with other epiphytic plants. Here's one growing with Resurrection fern.

They require no care whatsoever once they are attached to the branch.  A single staple holds small plants steady until rooted.  The roots run along furrows in the bark and gather nutrients from decomposing leaves and other debris falling out of the tree.  New green shoots grow from the base of the plant in spring and will produce flowers a year later. 

Each year they grow larger and more beautiful! This specimen has been growing unattended for more than 20 years!

Another four years of growth since the above photo was taken for this original post and here's what it looks like:

I had to stand back much farther to get the whole thing in the photo!

Thinning peaches

Peach trees typically set too much fruit.  Unless you thin it out, you will have lots of small fruit and not many of the nice big eating peaches.  Thinning should take place when fruit development has reached marble size up to the size of a quarter.  By then you can get a good idea of how much fruit has set and is holding on the tree. 
Thinning is performed by simply twisting or rubbing off the small fruits.  Thin the developing fruits so that you only have one fruit per 5 to 6 inches of branch.  I like the fruit I leave to be on the underside of the branch.  This makes them less visible to passing birds that might like to take a bite! 
By thinning, more of the tree's energy is available to go into fewer fruit.  The result is fewer but larger fruit--better for eating!

In the above photo you can see there are way too many fruit developing on the branches.
Below is the same branch after thinning.  The tree will put more energy into fewer fruit, resulting in big delicious peaches!