Advice on sowing time - Frit pluriflora and Narcissus waiteri

[Mark Griffiths]

hi, I've got some seed off my own plants - Narcissus waiteri and Frit pluriflora - I'm anxious to get the best germination I can and try and get more plants as the pluriflora must be about 20 yrs old and never divides. When is the best time to sow? I don't have access to any kind of chilling.

[Ian Y]

Mark

I would sow them both late August for a September soaking, in the meantime store them at an ambient temperature, not in a fridge.
The Frit seed is best stored in a paper packet and the Narcissus seeds are best stored  in a plastic packet mixed with some dry sand.
Sow the Frit seed on the surface with a covering of grit and sow the Narcissus seeds at a depth of
3-5cms.

[Maggi Young]

Mark, having enjoyed your photos of your Fritilliaria pluriflora over the years  - like this one :


 - I can well believe you are keen to grow fresh stock of it - what a smasher! 

[Matt T]

Mark

I would sow them both late August for a September soaking, in the meantime store them at an ambient temperature, not in a fridge.
The Frit seed is best stored in a paper packet and the Narcissus seeds are best stored  in a plastic packet mixed with some dry sand.
Sow the Frit seed on the surface with a covering of grit and sow the Narcissus seeds at a depth of
3-5cms.

Following Ian's method, I got 100% germination this January on my home collected N. watieri seed sown in Sep 2013. Later sown (Feb 2014) seed of N. watieri Abaleish has given good germination in the last month - the trick will be to keep these tiny new plants growing as long as possible.

[Ian Y]

Matt, I have the same experience with some seed of narcissus wateri I received in February .
As I showed in recent bulb log it has germinated and I need to keep it growing for as long as possible to build bulbs that are big enough to withstand a summer rest.
Hopefully if I can keep it cool enough it will grow on for a while and have a relatively short rest before new root growth appears  in September.

[Mark Griffiths]

thanks all. I actually got the F.pluriflora by accident. I'd ordered another easier US frit and after waiting 2-3 years for a flower it finally turned out to be pluriflora. I had good germination once before but lost them in a few years.

The narcissus was from AGS seed so I've raised them to flower before. Oddly I've also been able to raise N. roemeuxii and N. rupicola from several sowings to flower but N.cantabricus and others I've never suceeded with.