Questions about seeds from hot and dry summer areas
Rodger Whitlock (Sat, 21 Jun 2003 06:30:30 PDT)
On 18 Jun 03 at 10:07, Mary Sue Ittner wrote:
I agree that there are species like Trillium, Scoliopus, Disporum,
etc. that need to be planted right away and kept moist until they
come up. At least it has been my experience that if I let them go
dry they never came up. But many of these are woodland plants where
it is cool and perhaps they get fog drip too or as Jane points out
the ants have moved the seed underground.
I've had excellent results from dried exchange seed of both trillium
and scoliopus. In fact, I sowed Scoliopus bigelovii last year and got
100% germination (8 out of 8 came up).
My secret, if it is one, is that I always give seed a long soak in
water before sowing, and then put the pot outside in a coldframe --
no fussing with temperature regime for me.
This method does not work with non-geophytes like the Labiatae
that simply want a modicum of warmth and moisture to germinate, but
it works very well with a lot of geophytes and many hardy perennials.
Nor will I claim that this method always gives good results. A lot
depends on how the seed was handled before I received it -- was it
kept under refrigeration, for example?
--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate
on beautiful Vancouver Island