The germination of ceratozamia seeds.

Growing ceratozamia mexicana by seeds.

One of the biggest troubles to overcome when we want to germinated seeds of ceratozamia is precisely is the treatment previus to germination process. 

For beginning we must clarify, even if the ceratozamia seeds are fully grown, the embryo inside them is immature. that fact makes necessary a process of maturation of embryo, which is in some cases a very large time process. sometimes it takes even five years!

The ceratozamia seeds are very delicated to handle, for the beginning is necessary keep the moisture around them; with the purpose of avoid dehydration.  At same time, we must keep it cleanest possible to avoid fungal or bacterial infections. 

If the seeds are too wet, the hard seed coat will break and the seed could be killed by bacteria or fungus.

Our first step is clean well the seeds, for this we must eliminate the sarcotesta ( pulpy coat) Please  wear gloves to avoid touch the pulpy coat, because it is toxic.

Once we have our seeds sarcotesta free, we must proceed to desinfection process; for that we will use a clorine solution at 20% (v/v) by 30 minutes.   When the time is up, we will rinse the seeds with pure water and let it dry over a paper sheet.

After that, we proceed to put the seeds in a process of stratification, in which we will put the seeds surrounded by moist peat moss.
The moist peat moss will protect the seeds over the process of maturation.

The peat moss must be previously moisted and esterylizated by several minutes;with that purpose we will use  regular microwave oven.
Once the peat moss is ready and cool, we must put it in clean plastic bags,we will use enough peat moss to cover and protect the seeds; the peat moss should be moist but not to wet to dripping.  
After mix the seeds and the peat moss, proceed to squeeze gently to take out the air from the plastic bag.then make a knot to seal the content.

The bag of seeds, should be labeled with full date. we must keep it on refrigeration, cool, but not frozen! for several years; checking the content periodically  to avoid loss by microbial contamination.

During the checkings , we will looking for germinated seeds with sprout of roots . those seeds are ready to sow and should be take out for sowing.
to sow the seeds we will use  sand or sphagnum moss( blond moss)

The process of germination takes several months and is very slow. If you dont have patient  dont try it! 
This are photos of the same seeds in the spring time! showing his first leaf.

again, the germination is slow, the grownth is slow....they live in the slow channel of life.