Seeds

[steve owen]

Thanks guys.

[NatachaW]

Hello folks, I live in Ireland and found a small patch of snowdrops in my garden in early spring which I was delighted with.  I am hoping to move them as they are quite hidden. 

I have two questions really.  Is it ok to move them now?  And I saw that they were laden down with seed pods so I picked them thinking that was the thing to do until I found this site and realise that I probably should have left them till they yellowed.  They are quite green, picture attached. 

Any help would be much appreciated.

Natacha

[Maggi Young]

Welcome, Natacha!

Since the pods are already cut off, I can't see the harm in leaving them somewhere warm and dry to see what happens to them. They do look nice and fat so there may be enough mourishment in the pod to allow the seeds to ripen, even offthe plant. If , in a week or so, the pods yellow a bit and look willing to open, then I would sow the seed and cross my fingers.
I'm in Aberdeen, Scotland and even our earlier snowdrops are not quite so far advanced with their seed pods as yours, so I think that you maybe could lift, divide and replant yours now, but the "real" galanthophiles will surely pop up any time with their expert advice ..... l 'et's see what they say.......

[NatachaW]

Thanks Maggi for that.  These bloomed in mid Feb, this pic of my little woman sniffing snowdrops and the clump of snowdrops too.  Don't know if mid Feb is early or not myself!

Natacha

[Alan_b]

I am NOT an expert when it comes to growing snowdrops from seed but this is my opinion.  If you leave the seeds on the windowsill to ripen they will ripen but they will also tend to dehydrate so you would need to keep a careful watch on them if you are to sow them at the right time.  I think you might as well bury the seed pods in some moist earth where you want them to germinate, about a cm below the surface, and let nature take its course.

Yes, it is okay to move your snowdrops now, whilst they still have leaves and you can see where they are.  Try to lift the entire clump with a fork or a spade and go deep in case the bulbs are deeper than you imagine.  Then carefully prise the bulbs apart.  You can replace some in the original location if you wish.

[Maggi Young]

Cute little snowdrop sniffer you have there, Natacha........ she must be a girl after my own heart.... the nose is always first to the flower..... scent is so important

[NatachaW]

Thanks Alan, I will try that so.  Just had a look and there are a few smaller pods left on the plant, a couple of which are gone yellowish but they are less juicy looking, so to speak.  Will try these also and label the different ones as a little experiment to see how they differ, if at all.

Thanks for your time in reading my post folks.

N

[KentGardener]

....there are a few smaller pods left on the plant, a couple of which are gone yellowish but they are less juicy looking, so to speak.  Will try these also and label the different ones as a little experiment to see how they differ, if at all.

Hi Natacha

I too have some of these smaller yellowing pods - my guess is that the ones here have aborted and will not contain any seed.   

Regards

John

[Alan_b]

Your snowdrops look to me to be Galanthus nivalis, the most common UK snowdrop species.  A very expert snowdrop grower I know says in his lectures that the Galanthus nivalis grown in the UK does not set fertile seed if self-pollinated.  Hopefully this does not apply to Ireland.  Anyway, I await your results with interest.  In my own garden I have several different Galanthus species so if anything sets seed I never know if it is self-pollinated or cross pollinated.

[Alan_b]

A thought prompted by another thread:

If one was to send seeds to the Southern Hemisphere could they be germinated six months earlier than in the Northern Hemisphere?  Do regulations allow you to send seeds to, say, Australia?

[Paul T]

Alan,

As long as the species is on our permitted list, seed is fine to come into Australia.  There are a lot of species listed in our Quarantine database, so the majority shouldn't be a problem.  As long as seed from any hybrid has it's species derivation on there (i.e if it is a named hybrid of an elwesii type then I would write it as Galanthus elwesii 'NAME') then there shouldn't be any problem.  I have received seed of Galanthus in the past without any problem.  For many of the newer named cultivars they'll never get to Aus, so growing from seed is well worthwhile for us to try for some new stuff here, and maybe be lcuky and get something as nice as the parent. 

That info a help?

[arillady]

Alan,
Also make sure there is no plant material apart from seeds. Package in new paper or plastic zip-lock bags with the full botanical name.

[Otto Fauser]

Paul , you have to blame me if I forgot any Galanthus species that do not appear on
 the Quarantine Database { AQIS ICON of permitted plants ]-as Bio -Security
Australia asked me and a few others to summit lists of certain genera -of those plants
 already growing in australian collections . also did Iris , Colchicum , Lilium , Gentiana and a few other genera . So anything that is not on the list ,willnot be allowed into Australia as seed .One can do a weed assessment , which is labourious, and takes many months to be approved if at all .

[arillady]

Otto,
I too worked on a list of the oncos and regelias - don't know if it was used or not.
Also did one on Rosa too - but this was not as complete as the Iris list