Colchicum germination again.

[Janis Ruksans]

I agree with Janis re: early sowiing for many bulb seeds.
I have had better germination since sowing crocus and narcissus deeper.  Not only better germination but also better seedling development.  I think that, especially in pots. the even moisture at depth, makes a big difference to seed germination and seedling development.  'Empty' seedpots often get overlooked when watering to the detriment of ungerminated/germinating seed.... at least that can happen in my garden

The same happens with me, Tony. Most horrible that I sometimes forget to bring out of greenhouse pots with seedlings which don't like drying out and too hot summer - lost a lot of Erythroniums in such way. In attached pictures seeds germinating on soil surface in garden today. Not colchicums that case but Crocus abantensis (?) and Fritillaria crassifolia. Pictures made few minutes ago.
Janis

[Maggi Young]

It is interesting to see the germination of the seed on the surface as Janis shows.... but, how many of those seedlings will grow successfully to maturity? Precious few, i think.  Plants and especially bulbs have a ll sorts of mechanisms to survive in nature.... but:   growing in cultivation is not nature, it never can be.... so additional measures taken by the gardener can help to maximise the survival rates for the maximum number of seedlings.... deep sowing for some seeds has shown that to be a very helpful strategy.

[Ian Y]

Janis there is no doubt about my observations and practice that sowing certain seeds deeply gives them a huge advantage over similar seeds sown on the surface.

All seeds will germinate when sown on the surface provided the right conditions of moisture and temperature are met.

Some seeds will not germinate if sown deeply as they have a requirement of light to stimulate germination- I include Fritillaria and other plants with similar seed types among them.

For the most part you can work out which seeds will be best surface sown and which should be sown deeply by studying the method the plants employ to distribute their seeds. Put simply wind blown types should be surface sown and ant distributed types deeply sown but as always there will be exceptions.

Another factor that is worth observing is that Fritillaria seedlings on germinating will send down a  root and the young bulb will form towards the end of this so it immediately plants itself under ground.

Germination of Crocus, Narcissus etc. - that I sow deeply - behave differently in that the new bulb forms at or very close to the position that the seed is in when it germinates. So if it is sown on the surface the new bulb will form at the surface where it will stay until its second season of growth and only then will start to take itself down into the soil by means of droppers or radicle roots.

A young bulb exposed near the surface will have to contend with greater extremes of moisture and temperature levels not to mention predation by slugs, snails, vermin, etc.

If you can keep your seed pots dry during the dormant period then immediate sowing is also an advantage.
Because I cannot always provide that environment I have to store most of my seeds for an autumn sowing but I compensate by storing Narcissus and Crocus type seeds in packets of dry sand which mimics as near as I can the warm dry conditions they would experience in the wild. Fritillaria type seeds seem to perform best stored in paper bags in a stable environment. I do not recommend storing newly collected bulb seeds in a fridge because I am sure that many are still developing after they are shed and the cold temperature can arrest this development. If you want to store them long term then do not refrigerate them for at least six weeks after harvesting them to allow the seed to fully develop.

[tonyg]

The same happens with me, Tony. Most horrible that I sometimes forget to bring out of greenhouse pots with seedlings which don't like drying out and too hot summer - lost a lot of Erythroniums in such way. In attached pictures seeds germinating on soil surface in garden today. Not colchicums that case but Crocus abantensis (?) and Fritillaria crassifolia. Pictures made few minutes ago.
Janis

Janis - would these babies survive if the soil dried out soon?  Perhaps in your climate there will always be plenty of moisture.  Here we may have several weeks without rain at this time of year, the soil surface dries out completely.  Then it may rain for 2 weeks ... but too late to save the precious seedlings.  In pots under glass also the same risk but man-made

[Janis Ruksans]

Ian, Tony,
Partly I can agree with Ian, but I will follow my own way. I never saw so deep as Ian recommends. I just checked last year germination - ~95% of pots are marked with +. But may be I lost few seedling pots which last year were marked with +, but this spring they still didn't come up - Crocus paschei, Cr. cyprius, Fritillaria gibbosa - may be frost killed.
I think that high humus level helps surviving of seedlings. On attached picture you can see how looks this spring my old field. Picture is made late evening, so something dark, but it shows you how alive selfsown crocuses. Other bulbs will come later. Just selfsowing is one of main reasons why I was forced to replace my plantings to new plot. Other was rodents. They found way to my field. New field still remained untouched.
Janis

[tonyg]

Janis - I will fly out soon and help you clear those weeds from your old field 
Your methods clearly work well for you.  We all benefit through sharing our experiences and I guess each of us will return to the things that work.  For me deeper sowing is better than surface sowing but I too get some self sown seedlings (narcissus, corydalis especially) in the garden ... these must start as suface sowings.