Dracaena cinnabari (Dragon blood, or Socotra dragon) tree is a succulent that makes a great feature plant in any garden. If you can find one that is growing fruit you can pick your own seeds and grow one from scratch.
Watch my video or follow my guide below to grow a dracaena cinnabari tree from seed for yourself.
How to grow Dracaena Cinnabari (dragon blood) from seeds
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Pick ripe berries from the dracaena cinnabari tree
It can take the dracaena cinnabari (dragon blood) tree up to 8 years before they are mature enough to grow seeds. Dracaena cinnabar is a monocot plant that’s berries can have 1 to 4 seeds in them.
Dracaena cinnabar berries are ripe for the picking once they turn orange (they start at green then turn black then turn orange).
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Prepare the dracaena cinnabar seeds
Pop the seeds out of the berries. There could be 1 to 4 seeds in each berry.
Some people suggest that you should soak the seeds for 3 days in water before planting. I didn’t do this and had success growing dracaena cinnabar (dragon blood) trees from seeds.
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Prepare the pot
Fill a pot with potting mix that has good drainage, something that is succulent friendly or for seedlings.
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Plant the dracaena cinnabar seeds in the pot
Insert the dracaena cinnabar seeds into the pot. Insert them 1-2 inches (3-5 centimetres) deep and separate them by around 2 inches (5 centimetres) away from each other.
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Water the dracaena cinnabar seeds
Give the dracaena cinnabar seeds a really good deep watering.
Then move the pot to somewhere out of direct sunlight but where it will receive indirect sunlight and warmth.
You will see signs of growth in 2 to 3 weeks if all goes well.
Supply:
- Dragon blood seeds
- Seedling tray/grow pots
- Potting mix (succulent type)
Progress of Dragon Blood Seed Growth
After 3 weeks almost all of my seeds have started to sprout. You will need to keep up the regular watering to ensure most of the seeds sprout.
Progress of the dragon blood seeds after 5 weeks is shown below. The shoots are mostly around 1 inch now and growing quickly.
Final thoughts
If you have found this guide helpful that’s great. Happy gardening and best of luck to you growing your own dracaena cinnabar tree from seed.
FAQs
How Long Does It Take for A Dragon Blood Tree to Grow?
It can take 8 years or longer for a dragon blood tree to reach maturity and a large size.
How to Get Dragon Blood Tree Seeds?
You can get dragon blood seeds from the fruit of a mature dragon blood tree (+8 years). When the fruit turns a red/orange colour you can pick the berries, and open up the berry up to find anywhere from 1 to 4 seeds.
How Do You Plant Dragon Blood Tree Seeds?
You can plant the dragon blood seeds directly into a pot with good draining soil and water. It’s best to move the pot out of direct sunlight so that don’t get dried out in the full sun.
How Do You Propagate Dragon Tree Seeds?
You can propagate dragon blood trees with their seeds, which they grow when they are mature plants (+8 years old). Simple plant the seeds into a pot and water frequently.
For more details read my full guide here.