Difficult Seeds--PBS TOW
DrR Hamilton (Mon, 25 Nov 2002 21:23:52 PST)

Hi all,

I dont have any special secret for colchicum seed except to repeat
the much given advise - dont discard your pots of seed too early. I
have had several germinations this year in the second and third
spring from sowing. Even my own fresh seed does not germinate well
first year , with perhaps a few seedlings appearing followed by good
germination second spring. The other observation with colchicum is
that seedling often dont appear at the same time as mature leaves
appear- they are often much later and could be overlooked amongst
other winter growing genera whose seedlings are beginning to dry off.
Just this week -- the last week of our spring I have C szovitsii
seedlings appear in two separate pots.

I am very much a novice with Gethyllis seed but having read as much
as possible before trying it for the first time this year I think it
is a distinct advantage to be in the same hemisphere as the plants
producing the seed !! Gary Buckley has an excellent article on Suite
101 which will turn up fairly easily with a net search.

Cheers,

Rob

--

Dr R F Hamilton, 7 Beach Road, Snug 7054
Tasmania, Australia
Temperate Marine Climate (USDA 8/9)
Average Garden Rainfall 26.7 inches per annum
- fairly evenly spread (range 21-36)
Temperature extremes -2 C , 38 C.