Thank you, Dell. I will be teaching some beginners in Sept. and will
give them this technique which seems more likely to work for them and
therefore encourage them to be seed growers.
Shirley Meneice
Dell Sherk wrote:
>I must weigh in on this thread. I have germinated many seeds by flotation
>Hipps, Cyrtanthus, rainlilies, Rodophialas, pamianthe and other South
>Americans. Germination was always successful if the seed was fresh or
>properly preserved (refrigerated), but the problem came in many cases when I
>potted them and tried to grow them on. The losses were frequently great.
>Mary Sue convinced me to try another technique: on the surface of a
>well-drained, moist potting medium deposit a layer of coarse sand perhaps
>0.5 cm deep. Moisten the sand and make slits in the surface (I use a butter
>knife). Into each slit I place one seed on edge leaving a little of the
>papery seed coat protruding above the surface. Next, I mist the surface with
>a dilute suspension of Captan fungicide to prevent damp-off and place the
>pot into a wrm, humid propagation chamber - a plastic bag or a sheet of
>glass or plastic on top will do. Germination is usually slower than with
>flotation, but especially with Hipps, it is often 100% and there is little
>or no loss with growing them on in the same pot where they germinated for a
>year or so.
>
>Give it a try,
>Dell
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