How to Germinate Tacca Nivea
White bat flower is the common name for the Tacca integrifolia “Nivea” plant. These tropical evergreen flowers produce large white petals above drooping dark flowers and long whiskerlike bracts, which together resemble a bat face. The blossoms appear from spring through summer on top of a 24- to 36-inch-tall stalks. This plant grows wild in hot tropical Asia. In the U.S., it grows in Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 10 and 11. In cooler climates, they grow best in a shady area in a hot, humid greenhouse. When raised from seed, this plant produces blooms within the same year that it sprouts.
Wash a seed tray in soapy water and rinse in 1 part bleach mixed with 9 parts water. Let the tray air-dry so mud does not form around the edges when the soil is added. Check the drainage holes. If any are blocked, poke through them with an ice pick.
Mix together equal parts of peat moss and perlite to give the seeds a good-draining soilless mixture. Fill the tray to the top and mist the soil with room temperature water in a spray bottle until the soil is thoroughly damp.
Spread the seeds out on top of the soil and cover the seeds with 1/8 inch of the soil mix. Mist the top of the soil and move the tray to a warm area with bright indirect light.
Mist the soil whenever it starts to dry out. The germination process stops if the seeds dry out. Always use room temperature water since these seeds are cold sensitive. In eight to 12 weeks, the seeds start to sprout.
Place more soil mixture in individual plant pots about 2 1/2 to 3 inches wide. Scoop the seedlings out of the tray with a tablespoon when the first leaf develops. Place the small root ball in a hole created in the center of the plant pot and gently firm the soil around the plant. Set the seedlings back in the same location where they germinated to continue growing.
Karen Carter spent three years as a technology specialist in the public school system and her writing has appeared in the "Willapa Harbor Herald" and the "Rogue College Byline." She has an Associate of Arts from Rogue Community College with a certificate in computer information systems.