Speeding Glaucidium palmatum up

[Robert G]

Rob- Lesely is right. That has been my experience too. Small leaf, but like the adult ones. For me they always stop there for the season like that and go dormant. I am starting them early so maybe I will get lucky. It is funny though I saw a couple references to them making two leaves the first year. I hope that helps. I say either plant would be welcome though.

[gote]

I have a box full of them. They came up with two cotyledons. Of course there is nohing to see now.
From my memory I would say that they opened flat, were 17mm long 8mm wide (the single cot) slightly pointed at the end and wider below the middle.
Maybe they were even a little larger. Nothing else year one. The Cotyledon only habit is i believe an adaption to deciduos forest as ecological niche.
Göte
 

[Lars S]

I have the same experience as Göte. One pair of leaves the first year and nothing more . The second year the plants came up withe several - bigger - leaves. Remains to see if they flower in year three.

[Robert G]

I have a question. Did any of you use GA-3 to aid germination. I did and I was wondering if that could affect emergance of the plant in that way. Lesely did you use GA-3? If you did and we had similiar results, could that be the explanation? I have germinated Glaucidium before, but always with GA-3, always with the same results.

[gote]

I did not I
Göte

[Lesley Cox]

I didn't either. I've not used it for anything and am not sure that it is available in New zealand and if not, we may not be able to import it (Hazardous substances and New Organisms Act). However, I've not explored this possibility.

From the above posts it occurs to me that perhaps there are two different KINDS of G. palmatum. By this I mean that maybe there is a very stong, vigorous strain and maybe a much slower, weaker strain because I have never seen a new seedling with two cotyledons and the one or two I've raised to flowering size took about 7 or 8 years to flower yet Gote and Lars get seedlings with two cotyledons which come more and bigger in the second year. My seedlings have remained with a single leaf, though a bit bigger, for as much as 5 years.

I've only had seed through the exchanges, usually 3 or 4 seeds at a time, and usually just one or two seeds germinate, and not until the second year. Freshness therefore, seems to be an important factor.

[gote]

The thought has occurred to me too Lesley.
However I have a more elaborate hypothesis.
Those of you who have one leaf coming first describe a real leaf not a cotyledon.
It seems that GP sometimes - like Lilum martagon (and others) always - has hypogeal germination.
In Lilium martagon, the cotyledon does not grow above the soil. Instead in the first growing season it forms a kind of umbilical cord from the seed to a microbulb that sends up a true leaf next year.
From what you write, I get the impression that for some reason, the cotyledons do not get above soil level and the plant withdraws the energy stored in them to form a growing point that next year gets a true leaf up.
This would - for a GP - be a less efficient way and an emergency procedure. Thus the small number of surviving seeds.
Why this happens is beyond me. It could have something to do with the temperatures/seasonal variations or possibly depth of sowing. 
It is usually the temperatures that guide the germination in the two-stage germinators. The following is pure speculation but i could imagine a scenario:
In the deciduous forest there is a growing window that starts when the frost is gone and ends when the tree leaves are fully developed.
Many woodlanders have mechanisms that ensure that they germinate at the start of this window and prevents them from wasting resources by trying to grow/germinate too late when the trees takes most of the light and moisture. If your climate Lesley gives the seed a too high temperature when germination has started the seed may switch to hypogeal germination because the high temperature has tricked into "believing" that it is too late to send up the cotyledons.
The two of us who have reported  good dicot-germinations are both from a relatively cool area.
I would appreciate other peoples ideas on this. I hope I have managed to express myself clearly.
Göte

[Susan Band]

Gote,
I think this is probably a good explanation. I have the cotyledon leaves appearing in the first spring as soon as I give them some heat.
I prick out the seedlings later on in the first season. There always seems to be more plants with a good root system than I would have expected. Previously I have thought this was down to the new leaves getting damaged with frost etc. but it could be the case that they never emerged.
I will look more carefully this year, they have yet to start.
They go out into fish boxes in the summer and by the end of the next summer they are ready they are ready to sell with a couple of noses. I feel they establish better when young.

Susan

[Lesley Cox]

Yes, I agree with Susan that it seems to be and probably is, the right answer, so if I get some more seed sometime, I'd probably be best to refrigerate it and sow it pre-winter, (by which time though it will be around 9 or 10 months old I imagine) rather than sowing as soon as I get it, in mid summer (from the seedlists.) Oddly, the one plant I DID have germinate quickly and grow on to flowering in 4 years, was a pure white seedling, though not from the white form - or not listed as such anyway. It was the only plant I have ever had stolen from my garden.

[Robert G]

I am sorry to hear about your garden theft, Lesley. Gote I think you theory makes complete sense. The weather here is not as moderate as the northern side of Europe. Today it is -20C, but it can easily be 30C in April. Spring often seems to be nonexistant. In the past I have put them outdoors in that heat and I confess right now my seedlings are under lights and in a room is warmer than I would want. So it is very likely that is what is happening. I just got a smaller batch of seeds, so I might sow them and place in a cooler area. It would be interesting to see the results.

Robert

[Gunilla]

Picking up on an old discussion. Today I have taken a picture of my Glaucidium palmatum seedlings. These were sown fresh last year and have germinated well. As you see all have two cotyledons.

[gote]

They look like mine did last spring. I am obviously later than Gunilla because they have just started moving but I think I see true leaves coming up.
Göte

[Paddy Tobin]

Ian,

Your fleece idea just struck me as good to keep out unwanted seed from seedpots. This season I have had super crops of Digitalis lutea in many of my seed pots which were placed too close to them. The fleece would have kept out these unwanted seeds.

Paddy

[Lesley Cox]

Your seedlings look wonderfully healthy Gunilla. Keep us in touch with their development please.