Manihot grahamii fruit

[AndyC]

My Manihot has produced a good amount of ripening fruit for the first time this year



I would like to collect some seed before they burst and scatter the seed everywhere.
Will it be obvious when the fruits are ripe, will they turn brown before they burst?
Thanks

[Chad]

What an interesting question.

I suspect answers will vary by local climate.

I've just been out to look at mine in the tunnel.

I can find no brown pods, but the 'early' pods are nowhere to be seen; exploded I think.

Cuttings are so easy, and seed so temperamental, that I don't look to collect the seed.

Germination is inhibited by complex mechanisms in this species. One batch of seed will germinate over, perhaps, ten years in the surrounding soil.

I do see 'brown' pods over winter, which I assume are decaying ones that didn't get ripe enough to split before it got cold.

And in the tunnel I get seedlings popping up all over the place.

Chad

[MartinNicklin]

I’ve never grown this so can’t answer your question Andy. However, I’ve been tempted but always put off by the asking prices. What I don’t get, based on what you say Chad about cuttings being “so easy”, is why this plant commands such a high price on the market?

[Chad]

It beats me too Martin.

I gave all the top growth last year to a friend who has visions of retiring on the profits.

I have to stool it in the tunnel, so I trim the die back and give away the firm stems in the spring.

Outdoors here it 'went backwards' and was smaller each year.; in the tunnel it is magnificent.

I'll add some cut stems to your spring order of cuttings.

Chad.

[MartinNicklin]

Thanks Chad. I'll certainly have a good go with it. I've got more space in the greenhouse now so if I can get a stem to root it would have a good home! Has anyone tried Manihot esculenta variegata? I know variegated plants are loathed by many but I really liked the look of this. It was offered a few years ago by, I think, Himalayan Gardens. However, when I decided to get one they had handed all of their stock over to Jacques Amand and it was not available.

[AndyC]

I thought I would try germinating the seed because my attempt to root cuttings last year failed miserably.
I'll try cuttings again as well as germinating from seed if I manage to collect any.

[Chad]

In the tunnel I let winter pass.

In the early spring, just as a few buds are showing, I cut the plant to the ground, trim off the 'die back' and use everything else as cuttings.

Even without 'bringing them in' to the house, let alone bottom heat, almost everything roots from pencil thick to 50mm 'trunks'. And once rooted, they grow away much more reliably than the seedlings.

To grow them on they do like heat, so far better in the tunnel than outside. If things haven't worked for you before then I'd go for heat to get them rooted.

Cuttings don't 'bleed' latex at that time of year.

If you want seed, I'd bag the fruit now, but it will need some hotter drier days to mature fruit now.

Paul, how do they behave in Essex?

Chad

[Paul S]

I've never managed to germinate seeds, despite plenty being set. Cuttings for me are hit or miss, usually miss. That is across the board, not just Manihot. All academic now as mine died. They can't take SE Essex drought without lots of water. More room for mahonias! :lol:

[AndyC]

If you want seed, I'd bag the fruit now, but it will need some hotter drier days to mature fruit now.

Chad

Thanks for the offer Chad. With the amount fruits on my plant I should be able to collect at least a few seeds. If I don't, then I don't deserve any.

Cuttings for me are hit or miss, usually miss.

I'm glad it isn't just me :)