Lilium species

[Véronique Macrelle]

I am still a beginner in seedlings. I had success until the flower only with Lilium formosanum until the flower.
What do I do with these tiny bulbils (2 to 3 mm) of Lilium castebaei to keep them alive this winter?
wet or very wet?
I cover them with gravel so that they do not dry out?
they are in the peat, and their leaves begin to turn yellow.

[pontus]

i would suggest moist for the catesbaei but not soaked either, as that will just make them rot.

try to provide good light as well.

the only issue if you top dress with gravel is that you will not be able to see how dry or how moist the soil is so it will be tricky to know when to water...

[Véronique Macrelle]

thank you, I grope ...:
 the dormancy was very late, and I had covered them to avoid the drying of the peat, but already now for 1 month a small leaf reappears on 4 of them (unless it is new germination?) but it is very dark and it freezes (- 4 °).

it seems to me that another seed species is also sown while it freezes every night in the greenhouse: Lilium bolanderi. if it works, it would be the first time for me that I succeeded correctly in a hypogeal germination;

I did not think that the lilies germinated while it was so cold.

[Rick R.]

The Lilium genus is very diverse, and indeed there are species that can (also) germinate at 2-4C.  Often, these are ones said to germinate at 10-14C, like L. pyrenaicum, pomponium, possibly the Balkan species.  Perhaps it is the variation in the individual species themselves, perhaps it involves certain other developments in the embryos.  With L. pomponium, for instance, I have found different batches of seed (from different sources) germinate best at, say, 12C, and some best at 2-4C.  With some seeds, and I do not doubt that this might include some Lilium, germination will take place at most any temperature, say 2-25C.  Prior exposure to a warm cycle, or even a week or two in moist warm conditions, can also affect cool or cold temperature germination.