Sowing Aquilegia jonesii

[JPB]

They need a cold rest, but sowing now and put them in the frigde for a month will work? Any other tips very welcome.

Cheers,
Hans

[loki]

Well it's a little more complicated than simply putting in the fridge for a month - usually.  Here's a protocol: http://www.nativeplantnetwork.org/network/view.asp?protocol_id=139

It's a little more than I usually would do.  Here's my (and our Native Plant Society's) method. 

I use perlite now as a medium for cold stratification - less mold, and easy to see the seeds.

This plant is from higher up elevationally than many other in the genus so it's likely to need at least 2 months of treatment.  However you never know unless you try.

So here's what I would do.  Fill a zip-lock plastic bag (you may call this something else - polythene ?)  with a handful of perlite, add water, and drain most of it out.  Leave only the water that sticks to the perlite granuals - no puddle in the bottom of the bag.   Then add the seeds.  I usually don't completely seal the bag.  If you do keep some air inside and when you check it, open and reclose with a bit of air inside. You won't usually have to add any water, but you may if it looks too dry. Put in the back of your fridge.

Check on them occasionally and look for germination.  I would leave them for 120 days unless you see germination.  Then begin to take them out of the fridge and put in the light - not direct sunlight or you will cook the plants.  If possible indirect light in a cool spot. Leave them out for a day here and there - there is no real schedule for this.  You are imitating snow melt and then snow fall recovering the seeds, which is typical in the spring for this species in its native habitat. Then put back in the fridge.  Keep this up till you start to see germination.

Now if possible, pick out germinating seeds and put into the growing medium of your choice (we use rootrainers). 

We don't have the option of picking out germinating seeds over time, we see some germination and then plant them all - and it usually works well. The non-germinated seed of this species need light so don't put too deep - a little bit of sand or peat won't exclude much light though.  I like to germinate them in a warm sunny spot, let them grow a bit in this warmth (a few weeks) then put them into a cooler but very bright spot to grow out.  They will be much hardier.

[Zdenek]

I sowed Aquilegia jonesii several times, always from wild collected seed. I treated it simply the same way as all other sowings I do - on normal peat/sand mixture covered with a grit and put outdoors exposed to elements. Always no germination in the first sprig, quite good germination in the second one and another but sparse germination in the third spring.

[JPB]

I've already put them in a mixture of sieved potting soil, vermicullite and lava-grit together with A. chaplinei, A. scopulorum, and A. caerula. After a week at 15C, I put them in a fridge-box at 1C. I think I'll leave them there for the advised 120 days. The other three species I'll take out earlier as they are not so "alpine" as A. jonesii. I'll let you know if they germinate.

Thanks for the suggestions,

Hans

[David Shaw]

In December 2007 I sowed wild collected (Mike & Polly Stone) Aquilegia jonesii in my usual mix of seed compost and grit. The pot was put outside until Novembe 2008  and then brought into the unheated greenhouse to stop it getting too wet over winter. The seeds have just started germinating this very morning. The difficult part will now be keeping them alive!

[Maggi Young]

Really difficult part is keeping the slugs off!

[Zdenek]

Don't be anxious, David. By my experience it is not difficult at all. Once germinated, the seedlings never died for me even if I had too many seedlings and left a part of them outdoors without prickling and without any care for the next year. I however have no slugs, I must admit, as our garden is in nature, out of a town or village.

[Maggi Young]

I however have no slugs, I must admit, as our garden is in nature, out of a town or village.

Zdenek, you are a lucky man not to have these pests. We have hundreds!

[loki]

So after my lengthy explanation on the cold stratification that I do with many rock garden and native plants, I have a little more to report.  We had our plant propagation workshop.  I followed this method with a couple pentstemons, and several other plants, and it worked beautifully.  It's one of the few methods where mold is not a problem. We also used 'scientific' supplies - germination paper in plastic petri dishes.  These molded and half were ruined.  (Moldy seeds are not always lost - so don't throw away just because of some mold - look for the radicle and roots and if readily visible, they are probably OK - In fact there is some evidence that some molds help some seeds to emerge!).

However, I ordered several Penstemons from Alplains.  Most are high elevation, and reportedly hard to raise.  And I ordered late.

So I am trying another method.  Gibberillins.  I could only find one product - Megagrow.  It is based on potassium gibberllates, and is a liquid.

I am soaking the seeds in roughly 1200 ppm solution in the fridge for a few days.  Then I'll put them in course soiless mix and see what happens in the warm greenhouse. I'm also trying this with a few peppers (Capsicum chinense) though not in the fridge.

I will let you know how it goes!

[Lori S.]

Depending on whether you just want to germinate some peppers, or whether you want to do some testing, you may be interested to know that Deno found that giberellic acid had no effect on capsicum.  He found them to be easy, warm germinators, after a brief water washing of the seeds (which is presumed to be sufficient to remove germination inhibitors).  Anyway, absolutely fascinating and essential publications!

RE. usage of giberellic acid and soaking of seeds, Deno also found that soaking of seeds for more than a brief period (overnight) may be detrimental to the oxygen exchange that seeds need- though perhaps you are not planning to soak them in a large volume of liquid? 

Krystl Walek has posted a great deal of truly excellent first-hand information as well on the use of giberellic acids on this site, that is extremely useful.