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Various seed gathering questions

Hi all,

I would like to ask for advice about some problems I'm having propagating
some plants.  The specific plants are probably unfamiliar to you as I'm in
the southern hemisphere, on the African continent, halfway between
subtropical coast and alpine mountains - a zone that was dangerously
hot & humid yesterday and today is icy cold.  But my questions are fairly
generic and you may be able to offer similar advice.

You may, nonetheless, be familiar with Tulbaghia species - fragrans
and violacea - known in the US as Society Garlic AFAIK.  I'm gathering
seeds now from an as yet unidentified species.  As it is late spring here
with the main summer rains still to come,  I'd guess they need to be sown
now, i.e. fresh without any special treatment.  But I wonder if anyone
has better knowledge regarsing Tulbaghias generally?

Many of my seeds from one kind of tree - Cussonia spicata (Cabbage
tree) FWIW - seem to have rotted in the seedling mix.  When I dig them
out it looks as though fungal growth may be involved.  Question:  Could I
dust the seeds with sulphur before sowing to control fungi, or would
that harm the seeds/seedlings?  Any better (but cheap) ideas?

Those and other seeds are also often destroyed by some kind of borers
whilst I'm storing them.  Similar question - could I use a (liquid) residual
stomach insecticide on the seeds to save them from borer attack or
would I poison the seeds/seedlings?

Whilst I'm on the issue of pests, I face serious competition in the wild
from monkeys that eat the fruits before they are properly ripe.  I've
found, however, that the leftover seeds from these monkey-eaten
'unripe' fruits are already viable.  If I knew when the seeds are okay for
harvesting despite the fruit apparently being unripe, I could beat the
monkeys to it.  Does anyone know how to tell when seeds are ready for
life on their own despite unripe appearance of the fruit?  In case anyone
knows them, the shrubs/trees involved are Hyperacanthum amoenus,
Ochna arborea, and Rothmannia capensis & globosa.

This is getting rather long, so I'll stop there and ask for advice on cuttings
another time.

Regards,
Martin
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