Placea

[ollie]

Great to know Martin - I have young seedling bulbs of a number of these sp so I am now better equipped to manage them!

[ashley]

Seed rinsed in weak sodium hypochlorite solution & placed on just-damp tissue at 4°C began germinating after 14 days, and almost all had germinated by 21 days (photo; 2 mm grid). 
These were planted up in mid-July, since when some seedlings have already gone dormant but others remain in growth (apologies for bad second photo).
Many thanks Paul

[ollie]

I was lucky enough to receive some seeds from Paul as well and after no germination on moist perlite at room temperature (22C) after a couple of weeks, I put feelers out for advice on germination.  Received some excellent advice re placing them on moist paper towelling and into the refrigerator for 2 weeks.  Germination commenced almost immediately in the dark and cold of the fridge and I had 100%.  It was all down hill from there unfortunately.  I carefully potted the seedlings (root only, no leaf shoot) into an open pumice based mix, placing the pot in an open top polythene bag (intent being to help retain humidity around the young seedlings) and placed the pot into my unheated greenhouse where at that time of the year, daily temp fluctuations were roughly between 5C and 15C.  They were misted every 3rd day or so but all seedlings just slowly died off - no obvious fungal issues.
I am keen to try again if I can get some more seeds.

[Paul Cumbleton]

Pity your seedlings died Ollie. I sowed some of the seed myself, just in the normal way on the surface of a pot of typical, gritty seed mix and covered the seed with grit. I watered the pot and put it in the fridge for about a month, then in a shady spot in the greenhouse. seedlings emerged about 10 days after, and so far have grown OK as you see in the picture below. Here's hoping.

Paul

[ollie]

I am keen to try again and the next time will follow your lead Paul and try to germinate them in the medium and container they will remain in until established.  They clearly didn't like the transplant process.  Hope your parent bulb flowers again for you next April! (or do you expect to wait another 16 years?)

[Rimmer de Vries]

Pity your seedlings died Ollie. I sowed some of the seed myself, just in the normal way on the surface of a pot of typical, gritty seed mix and covered the seed with grit. I watered the pot and put it in the fridge for about a month, then in a shady spot in the greenhouse. seedlings emerged about 10 days after, and so far have grown OK as you see in the picture below. Here's hoping.

Paul

Hi Paul do you ever have damp off when seeds are sown so closely?

[Paul Cumbleton]

Hi Rimmer,
I haven't found a problem sowing bulb seed like this; in fact they seem to do better overall. Although, I didn't think these were very crowded especially compared to some of the bulb seed pots Ian has shown in his bulb log.

Paul

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Paul,
the seedlings here died down with the onset of hot weather.
How would you recommend to treat them over summer? Should they be allowed to dry out completely? Or kept moist?
cheers
fermi

[Paul Cumbleton]

Hi Fermi,
I imagine your young Placea bulbs will be exceedingly small and could desiccate if kept bone dry. However, there is always a risk of rotting if kept moist during dormancy. If they happen to be in a clay pot I would keep this plunged in sand and water just the sand. An alternative Colin has successfully used with one year old Fritillaria seedlings in plastic pots is to store the pots in a polystyrene (styrofoam) box with damp newspaper in the bottom and the lid kept on. This keeps some humidity in that stops the compost being desiccatingly dry.

I hope they survive!

Cheers
Paul

[fermi de Sousa]

I hope they survive!

Hi Paul,
I'll let you know!
cheers
fermi

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Paul,
I'll let you know!

Yay,
a few have already resprouted!
Will they take frost or should they go under cover?
cheers
fermi

[Paul Cumbleton]

Hi Fermi,
Great to hear the Placea have re-sprouted. I have always grown them frost-free, so I don't know if they would take a little frost. I would play safe and move them under cover.

My adult bulbs produced one flowering stem this year (compared to two last year) so I was unable to make further seed. The good news is that this year the flowers were rather larger than last.

Cheers
Paul