About the plant Teloxys Aristata, also known as sea foam, that is used to make ho scale model trees.
Branches from this plant make some of the best armatures for scale model trees. It is so good and popular that it is extremely expensive to buy.
Free Seafoam Guide Book
The book to the left is a complete guide to seafoam and seafoam trees. It contains a complete step by step guide to growing seafoam from seeds to harvesting and making trees.
Click on the image to the left to get your free copy.
Complete Growing Seafoam Video Tutorial Series
If you want to watch the entire growing process from sowing the seeds to making seafoam trees, click either on the image or click on Growing Seaforam To Make Seafoam Trees.
Seafoam Seeds
On the flip side, growing your own is easy and inexpensive.
Sea foam or Teloxys Aristata as it is called, grows throughout Siberia and even reaches as far west as Poland. It is a prolific seeder and extremely hardy. Generally it is considered to be a weed. It is such a pesky weed, that in some areas it is banned.
There are two basic steps that you must take to grow your own.
One is to get your seeds to germinate.
The second is how to get your seedlings to survive.
About This Series Of Seafoam Pages.
We have been growing seafoam as a hobby for four years. We have tried this and tried that.
In this series I will show you the methods that have been most successful for us in our location – Warsaw, Poland.
On Germination Of Teloxys Aristata aka (also known as) Sea Foam
If you click on the image to the left you will be taken to a video showing us using one of those cheap seed trays. We get the best results when we use one of them.
We use seeds that come from Holland. They are fantastic. Two days is all that it takes to seed plants sticking their noses out of the soil. You can buy the seeds here.
On Care Of Teloxys Aristata also known as (aka) Sea Foam during the growing season.
We have found that as long as the soil has good drainage, the plants will do well.
They are a dessert weed and prefer dry conditions. It is said that they like dry sandy soil.
In the garden we just stick them in the plain old well drained garden dirt. The plants are spaced 7 to 15 inches apart. That equates to about 5 plants per linear yard.
When growing on our balcony or window sill, we use plain, cheap potting soil. They are grown in run of the mill planters and water bottles with top sections removed and drainage slits added by piercing with a sharp knife.
Note the wind screen around the plants. We are on the 9th floor and it gets a bit drafty up here. Thunderstorms can be a thrill for us as well as the plants, affectionately called weeds. (You guessed right. We are growing weeds as distinguished from weed!)
Window sill farming makes growing seafoam an all year proposition. I don’t use a grow light. There is enough natural light during the winter months. If you are located north of where we are in Poland, you will need a grow light. The web has a lot of information about DIY grow lights.
Harvesting
You will see black seeds start to develop. The plants will turn a shade of red.
When they stop growing, it is time to harvest.
When you pick, seeds will fall off the plants. Next year your garden will be full of plants.
If you want to save the seeds, put newspaper under the plant and bend it over the paper. Seeds will fall on the paper.
Be careful. By now you know how small they are.
Cut the stem at the base and pick the plant up in the paper.
Shake the plant to remove all the seeds.
Preserving Seafoam
Once you have everything harvested, shake the seeds from each plant and remove the leaves.
Hang them to dry.
You can use them just as they are,
or,
Spray them with a mixture of 1/3 glycerine, 2/3 water.
You can spray once a day for three days.
Allow to dry thoroughly but not in the sun.
Do not give them too much glycerine or they will feel oily. A single spray may be enough since you will be spraying them with glue to add flock.
But for long term storage, 3 doses is better.
or,
Some people advocate dipping each plant of a “drippy” mixture of white glue and water. After the dip, shake them to remove loose mixture and hang again to dry.
Once dry you are ready to make your trees.
Seafoam Seeds
