Monkey puzzle (4 seeds)
Araucaria araucana
Four seeds, which was the whole packet: they are large. They came out of cold storage, so they were sown the day they arrived, each in its own deep mesh basket with the pointed tip down and the top left showing.
They are in the propagation tent for winter. The plan is to move them outside in spring, let them stay out as it cools, and have them fully hardened off by the following winter, with some protection for that first one.
Roots are sparse and dislike disturbance, so each seed has its own pot from the start.
- Common name
- Monkey puzzle (4 seeds)
- Section
- Propagation
- Spot
- Indoors (propagation tent)
- Soil
- Our own mix: half coir, half perlite
- Options
Bonsai · Patio pot · Plant out
Bonsai
This option is recorded in the catalogue; detailed plans are still to be added.
Patio pot
This option is recorded in the catalogue; detailed plans are still to be added.
Plant out
This option is recorded in the catalogue; detailed plans are still to be added.
- From
- Seed from a mail-order seed specialist, Oct 2026
- Age
- Seed
- Next repot
- Around Sep 2027
- Edible
- ✅ Yes: The seeds are, roasted like chestnuts. A tree takes thirty to forty years to produce any.
- Hardy
- ✅ Once grown. Seedlings need shelter for their first winter outdoors
- Garden-centre price
- Estimate once germinated
Did you know?
The name comes from a remark made in Cornwall around 1850, that climbing one would puzzle a monkey. There are no monkeys where it grows wild, in Chile and Argentina.
Care & updates
- What to expect
- Germination in one to two months at about 15°C, and not all at once. A root goes down first, then a shoot. Slow after that.
- Sown
All four sown on the day they arrived: pointed tip down, tops showing, in half coir and half perlite, one per deep mesh basket. Into the propagation tent.
🎮
A man turned into an ape, with a problem to solve.
Look it up →