Cycad seeds and suckers for sale in South Africa

Seed and suckers are how most collections actually grow. Seed is the cheapest way into a species you could never afford as a large plant, and a sucker taken from a known parent gives you a plant that is genetically identical to it. Both take patience — a cycad measures its life in decades — but the starting price is a fraction of an established plant.

How to grow cycads from seed

1. 1. Check the seed is fertile. Only a pollinated female cone produces viable seed, and a cone can carry plenty of empty seed. Float-test the batch: sinkers are worth sowing, persistent floaters usually are not. Cut one open if you are unsure — a firm white kernel filling the shell is what you want.
2. 2. Clean and rest it. Remove the fleshy outer coat, wash the seed, and let it rest for a few months. Fresh cycad seed is usually not ready to germinate the day it drops.
3. 3. Sow on the surface. Lay seed on its side, half buried, in coarse washed sand or a gritty mix. Buried seed rots.
4. 4. Keep it warm, not wet. Around 25–30 °C with light, even moisture. Bottom heat makes a real difference through a cold winter. Rot is the main cause of failure, never dryness.
5. 5. Wait. A radicle can appear in six weeks or take a year. Do not disturb the tray to check.
6. 6. Pot on once the first leaf hardens. Deep pots, sharp drainage, filtered light for the first season, then progressively more sun for the sun-loving species.

Seed, sucker or plant — which to buy

• Seed is cheapest and most rewarding, but you are years from a plant with presence, and the sex is unknown until it cones.
• A sucker is a clone of its parent, so colour and form are predictable — and for a species like E. woodii it is the only way a plant exists at all.
• An established plant costs far more but is priced on a caudex that already took decades to build. Compare against the current rate per centimetre.

Permits still apply

South African cycads are protected plants, and the rules follow the seed and the seedlings you raise from it. Keep your purchase records, and check your provincial requirements before selling anything on. Wild-collected material may never be traded on Cycad Central.