Monday, March 14, 2016

Growing a Gulmohar Tree from a seed

The beautiful Gulmohar  (Royal Poinciana)  tree is like a canopy of fire in summer, offering much needed shade.  I grew up watching those trees reigning the streets in the city.  They were always the cynosure for sure with their vivid red flowers.  The strong distinction is the flower with 5 petals.  The striped petal is known as the standard.  I have always wanted to grow this flamboyent, magnificent tree from a seed.   Finally, I carried out that experiment.   Given below are the steps I followed.



Step by Step Instructions

Equipment required:

  1. Gulmohar seeds.  I bought mine from Amazon and they were delivered within a week.

  2. Garden Tray around 3-6 inches deep.  Ensure there are holes at the bottom.

  3.  Sand and mud mixed in equal proportions.
  4.  A packet of manure 
Method:
  1. Soak the seeds for 48 hours in room temperature water.
  2. Fill the garden tray with the sand and mud mixture. 
  3. Make tiny pits in the mud with a rod/stick around 2-3 cm deep and sow one seed in one pit.
  4. Cover with more mud and sand mixture
  5. Sprinkle manure on the top
  6. Take a 1-2 glasses of water and spray evenly ensuring mud is damp
  7. Place the tray in an area where there is semi shade (but not completely indoors)
  8. Water once a day (1-2 glasses of water) to keep the mud slightly damp (do not over water or flood with water)
  9. After 1-2 weeks, the seeds will start sprouting.
  10. Once the seedling has grown for 3-4 weeks, transfer to its own pot around 6-12 inches high.
  11. After 3-4 months, transfer into the ground.
Stages of Progress:
These are the stages of progress that I observed after sowing Gulmohar seeds.
I got the seeds on 3-Mar-2016 and soaked them till 5-Mar-2016.  On 6th Mar, I sowed them in the garden trays.  The first seed sprouted after 1 week.

Seed that sprouted after 7 days of sowing: