Good Afternoon, Seed Sowers. This is great with all the trial info coming in. Today I received an order of Irisseed, mostly Junos, Anemone species, etc. etc. I will take half the batch of each and use the GA3 treatment, and the refrigerated seed in slightly moist medium. It will be a while before I can post results. As i write this, here is a little report on Ga3 treated seed. Lilium candidum seed , sown 11/29/11, Ga3 treatment 250 ppm, planted in seed mix, and placed in coldframe, 10 seedlings emerged so far. Fritillaria spefsiotica , sown 10/27/11, Ga3 treatment 300ppm, planted in seed mix, 13 seedlings emerged so far. Narcissus rupicola ssp. rupicola, sown 10/27/11, Ga3 treatment 300 ppm, planted in seed mix, 12 seedlings emerged. etc etc A great continuing topic would be damping off cultural practices, preventatives. Has anyone used 'Rootshield' for an extended period? Rick K On Wed, Dec 28, 2011 at 11:22 PM, Lee Poulsen <wpoulsen@pacbell.net> wrote: > With all the talk of Deno's research as well as the use of gibberellic > acid in getting seeds to germinate, I have to report that the method Diana > of Telos Rare Bulbs uses to germinate seeds from the two American > hemisphere mediterranean regions (Chile and California) has produced > amazing results for me this autumn. In the past, I've always just sown > seeds from both of these locations directly in 10-cm pots in the autumn and > other than watering them, I would just leave them outside to experience the > fluctuating autumn temperatures and sporadic rainfall that occurs here in > southern California naturally (since this is a mediterranean region in the > Western Hemisphere). I always get decent germination for most species, but > some species have never germinated for me. I would always attribute it to > their being from regions more poleward than where I live, and therefore > more chilly, or from regions at much higher altitudes than my location, or > even from regions more desert-y than my location. > > Regardless, in her blog, Diana mentioned that for seeds from California or > Chile, she puts them in slightly moist vermiculite in sealed baggies in the > autumn and then places them all in a refrigerator. She then checks all the > bags on a regular basis for germination, and as they germinate, she takes > them out of the fridge and plants them in her regular seedling mix. > > For me the process is still underway, so I don't know the final result, > but so far, the results have been overwhelming to me, both in the species > that have finally germinated for me, as well as in the numbers of seeds > that germinate. I've finally gotten Rhodophiala rhodolirion, both pink and > white versions to germinate, and they germinated almost as quickly as the > low elevation species did--about 2 weeks in the fridge. Also, the > Calochortus seeds from the first round that came from the BX have > germinated (I believe some of them were the old seeds from Nhu that Michael > Mace referred to). And then to my most pleasant surprise, several species > of Chilean seeds that I got in May of 2010 and was unable to sow that > autumn due to excessive business travel, have all germinated including > seeds that I didn't think would be viable that long. > It's a little more trouble to plant germinated seeds, but well worth the > increased germination rate. (Another example is Tropaeolum azureum: I've > always gotten maybe 1 or 2, never more than 3, seeds out of every 10 that > I've planted to germinate in the past. This time, 8 or 9 out of 10 seeds > germinated and I was completely unprepared for that. I purchased more of > this to try this year since I was unable to plant the seeds I bought a year > and a half ago. But the old seeds germinated in almost the same numbers, so > now I have two full pots of this growing!) > > I think I'm sold on this method now. > --Lee Poulsen > Pasadena, California, USA - USDA Zone 10a > Latitude 34°N, Altitude 1150 ft/350 m > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ >