Journal September 3, 2014 Bouganvillia Seed Germinating In Vitro

While visiting a plant nursery in Vermont late in July I came across a Bouganvillea plant.  The plant was beautiful, but rather expensive, so I thought why not grow one from seed and place it in the greenhouse with the olives.

Finding Bouganvillea seeds turned out to be a challenge, but I finally managed to purchase some seeds for a plant with garnet colored flowers.

Some seeds were placed on moist paper towels to germinate and some were placed in vitro.  I finally gave up on the seeds in paper towels after a few weeks.  The seeds in vitro began swelling and produced radicles within about two weeks.  Then, they seemed to grind to a halt.

Knowing that the seeds "need to see light" to germinate, I decided to give one vessel light 24/7 for several days to see what the effect would be.

The above video is a record of the experiment and this seed is far ahead of seeds started on the same day.