California Dudleyas are easy to grow. Illegal wild collection can be disrupted via legal propagation. I propagate Dudleya with middle school science classes. If seventh-graders can grow these natives from seed, you can too.
 Home gardens are a good source of Dudleya seed. Collect whole flower clusters in the late summer. Dry and store in a paper bag. Many Dudleya varieties freely hybridize, so garden collections are a good source of unique types |
Seeds are microscopic. Small brown crescents or football shaped ovals. Seeds do not need to be cleaned, but crush pods to release the seeds. Hundreds of seeds are found in every flower. |
 Broadcast seeds on the top surface of a “soiless mix”. I use the those ubiquitos landscape flats to seed individual varieties. I use stucco sand, perlite and vermiculite and a time release fertilizer. No composts or peatmoss at this stage. |
| Seeds have no dormancy and can be sown any month of the year. A single teaspoon of seed will germinate hundreds to thousands of tiny plantlets. |
I germinate flats under a spun row cover inside a shade house. Plants are misted four times per day. via a battery operated hose timer and “mister” drip emitters. Flats are kept uniformily moist, but not soaked.Expect germination in a week to 10 days. |
 Plantlets are lifted twice. Pricked up with a pen- cil or the tip of knife. The crowded plantlets are spaced on a fresh flat (100-200 per flat), and later lifted to cells or 3 inch pots. Algae scum remains a risk, so continue to use a soiless sand-rich mix. |
| Dudleya will be ready for “potting up” to commercial sized containers in 4-6 months. Final soil mix can be a garden loam or cactus mix. Overly rich soil can yield overly frost-sensitve plants.
Light shading (50-60% shadecloth) improves color and tone of the first year plants. |
 First year Dudleya lanceolata grown by Los Osos Middle School students ready for restoration planting. |
Good luck!
John Chesnut
Awesome project&Great job.Glad to hear that they will be used in restoration planting.Two great lessons for the kids.If this was your idea-GREAT IDEA.Just wondering how the restoration planting went?If it is done,any pics?Thanks,Rick
This is exactly the information I’m looking for. Thank you.
Could you suggest what battery operated timer to use?
Fantastic John! Very good info. I’m trying to flood the market with D. cymosa from here in Lake County, as well as provide plants for replanting back into nature. If we all just do something, well beat the poachers!
How do you get the seeds?
Hi Mary,
Please contact John Chesnut at jchesnut@slonet.org
Seeds are from garden specimens
One plant will yield sufficient seed to make hundreds of plantlets
What were the ratio’s of your soilless mix?
I would also like to know, thank you!
Soil Mix
5 Stucco sand or “sharp river sand”
3 Coarse Perlite
1 Peat Moss
1 Vermiculite
Gypsum to control salts
When do you start providing the time release fertilizer? Do you add it in to the soiless mix at the start?
I sprinkle osmocote at the 4 leaf stage.
When do you usually do the first lift/transplant?
I lift and transplant when plants seem crowded and are strong enough to establish. I attempt to complete the potting up before summer sun and heat stresses the plantlets.
What kind of time release fertilizer (that is, what’s the brand and where did you buy it?). I have a bag of seeds I’d like to start growing asap.
Do you have any close-up image of the Dudleya when it first germinates? I need to know what to look out for.