Seed germination temperature
Rachel Saunders (Tue, 19 Oct 2010 08:03:48 PDT)

Dear Andrew
The night time temperatures can certainly play a big role in germination of
seeds. I sowed a large number of seeds this season and I sowed them all in
March (very early fall for us). Nothing germinated at all in March or in
April and I began to panic. Then we had a really cold spell at the end of
April, and about 60% of the species germinated within 2 weeks. The rest
germinated in May and the last Romulea (some really old seed of Romulea
unifolia) was up by the end of June. We sow all our seeds in trays and they
are kept in a large plastic covered house which has no heating. During
March the day temperatures were probably too high, and the nights not cool
enough, and in April, the days were cooler but the nights still warm. The
cold snap we had seemed to do the trick and the seeds all came up.
We sowed Babianas, Lachenalias, many Gladioli and a few odds and ends like 2
Romuleas, a Freesia, a Polyxena, etc. Most were really old seed that we had
thrown out, but some were fresh unidentified species.
Regards
Rachel Saunders
Silverhill Seeds and Books
Tel: +27 21 762 4245
Fax: +27 21 797 6609
PO Box 53108,
Kenilworth,
7745 South Africa

----- Original Message -----
From: "MARK MAZER AND FREDRIKA MAZER" <markmazerandfm13@earthlink.net>
To: "Pacific Bulb Society" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2010 1:41 PM
Subject: Re: [pbs] Seed germination temperature