Veratrum from seed

[Tristan_He]

Does anybody have any advice on growing these from seed? I have had reasonable germination in the past but the seedlings always languished and then died without making a second leaf. Any advice welcome!

[Giles]

..with my apologies if I've got the wrong end of the stick..  ..it only produces one leaf in the first year, then dies back in the Winter, and doesn't do anything further until the next year.

[Tristan_He]

Hmmm... thanks Giles. I've just googled pictures and see that seedling Veratrum look nothing like what came up for me. Clearly an imposter... will have another go maybe.

[Giles]

Veratrum is something that Witton Lane Seeds usually have on their seasonal seed lists, so might be worth asking there.

[Tristan_He]

Thanks Giles, I've sent them an email (catalogues on their website are all pretty old).

[Vinny 123]

Seed sown direct from a trully huge Veratrum (sp. not known) at Calke Abbey (just up the road from here), came up like grass seed this spring.....................
Supposedly phenominally slow once germinated, wild stock are commonly quoted as being from offsetting. Certainly someone who I bumped into at a local nursery, with two large clumps in his garden, suggested that they are all but invasive once they are established large plants ( two species - album and nigrum).

[brianw]

V. nigrum forms large clumps for me; or would do if we had decent rainfall for a change. I water it to keep the 3 clumps alive. At least I got some flower stems this year. V. californicum grows fine in another part of the garden.

[Vinny 123]

V. nigrum forms large clumps for me; or would do if we had decent rainfall for a change.

Interesting - the clump at Calke is in the walled garden constrained by a concrete path and the wall - I suspect that it is actually rather dry. Next time I am there I will try to work out what aspect it is on, but almost certainly facing S/SW, so it will bake and I doubt that it is watered.

[brianw]

I appear to be in a rain shadow area here. Local friends used to complain about the rain just 6 miles away when we were getting little. Local forecasts say we ~30" a year, but I have my doubts here. Sloping dry chalk close to a hedge is not a good idea. My late summer raspberries have been poor for the last 2 years, and that is with additional watering.

[Margaret]

I have a large clump of V nigrum on my allotment. Three flower spikes this year. It is fairly dry in the summer but wet in the winter because of our high water table.

[Véronique Macrelle]

I have Veratrum nigrum in my garden for 15 years, brought from a small purchased plant.
it took 7 years before flowering, and after that it flowered only one year in 2. I imagine that seed production does.
 the leaves are very beautiful, but susceptible to slugs.
 I have each time sowed seeds, immediately (still green) or drier in January ... without any germination. it is a mystery to me.
 today I have a 5/6 shoot clump, remarkable.

but I got into the habit of not letting all the seeds develop so as to tire the plant less. they are also never ripe in time to go to the srgc exchange.

 it grows in bad sticky clay soil that overcooks in summer.

[brianw]

Just had a quick count here as it gets dark. I had 9 flowering stem this "poor" year. 7 on 1 clump, 2 on the other and none on the 3rd. That is a poor year. I seem to recall I grew it in a large pot when I first had it, and divided it into 4 at one stage; giving some to a friend. She flowers it but no idea how well. Only 3 seed pods on my plant this year. I suspect every flower on the V. californicum this year gave seed. 100's went to the seed exchange, although I must admit never noticed any self sown.