Those darn cycad rats!
by Jeff Chemnick

Well, here's one for you. Several months ago I laid down some Dioon purpusii seed in the greenhouse. I use a secret technique that Peter Heibloem told me about and since I am sworn to secrecy, I cannot herewith reveal what it is but no matter, it is not germain (no pun intended) to this story. But part of this technique (which honestly is probably not much better than anything anyone else does) is to cover the seeds. Suffice to say that the seeds were sown, covered, and happily germinating when "Whammo!" I was hit in the night by a greenhouse rat who offed close to a dozen seed. Now what's interesting, is that there were several other species of Dioon as well as Ceratozamia and Encephalartos in that same flat but that rat chose only the D. purpusii. Well, I have been ripped off before by seed-seeking rodents and I thought I knew their dirty little machinations. Typically they haul the seeds to an imagined safe harbor several rows of pots away and stash them in between the one gallons for consumption at their leisure. No big. Typically I soon discover the malfeasance, search in the likely areas, recover nearly all the stolen goods, and put out a rat trap to discourage repeat offenders. This game of cat and mouse has worked for years; that is, until the aforementioned heist of my D. purpusii seed. I searched everywhere. No seed. Eventually I gave up, figuring that a new and very clever breed of cycad rat had evolved perhaps as the unintended consequence of killing all the ones dumb enough to hide the seeds close by and then try to lick the peanut butter off a rat trap. So, guess what! Yesterday I was pulling weeds in the greenhouse on the upper deck (two decks, ground floor with the one gallons and one meter up with the two gallons) in the very last row and what did I find but my one dozen D. purpusii seed now reduced to ten and two empties and somehow planted all in a two gallon pot and germinating. But the really amazing thing is that the upper deck is a conglomeration of species and genera, with perhaps some 60 species of cycads in close to 400 pots. And very few D. purpusii. But that rat somehow knew where to plant the goods-right there in the pot marked "purpusii!" Not only that, but he got a better germination percentage than I ever have-100%. So my conclusion is this: either my secret method is not as good as that rat's or that rat can somehow (and quite logically if you think about it) select the good seed which I imagine are tastier and more nutritious. Now-how to harness the power of cycad-saavy rats to sniff out the good seed?

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