Mandragora Germination Information Not on Packets?
Answered by: Conrad Richter
Question from: No Name
Posted on: December 20, 1999

Dang. I wish I knew this before I planted the seeds. You guys don’t have any info about the seeds on the package??? I just lost a whole pack of seeds. =(

The germination requirements of Mandragora are still poorly understood. There have been no scientific studies to identify the optimum conditions and pretreatment requirements. For that reason, there is really no "right" way to germinate the seeds. We only have what amounts to anecdotal information from customers and from our own trials. The "state of the art" is still very much eveolving.

We print on the packets the minimum conditions that are required -- conditions that have worked for us in the past – but they may not be optimum. In our answer to your previous question we simply shared what some of our customers have found works – but we cannot say or suggest that what they tried is any more optimal than what we print on the packets.

Sorry for the equivocal answer – but unfortunately that is exactly the situation with Mandragora presently. For centuries is was simply collected from the wild, not grown, and hence there is little history of successful culture on which to base our instructions on.

Don’t assume that your seeds are lost. It may take months but they may still germinate. We have customers who have all but given up only to find that seedlings eventually appeared. In many cases no special treatment was given.

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