Narcissus seed sowing

[Jack Meatcher]

For information, last December I used an Ian Young technique for sowing Narcissus seed. I'd rec'd some N. cavanillesii seed which I sowed at about 5cm depth and in a hole made by poking my finger in the compost. I poured all the seed in together, covered it up and watered it in. I looks like I got 100% germination and the things have grown like weeds. I've never before had Exchange Narcissus seed germinate within the year after sowing.
Interestingly, Bob Wallis told me that Narcissus (and other bulbs) like to be packed closely together when I said I thought I was "over-potting" my bulbs, ie., using too large a pot. They certainly don't seem to suffer from the situation that Quinces do - one strong seedling survives and kills off all adjacent seedlings.
Just a bit of feedback for thought.

Oh, I'm still new to this alpines lark so forgive me if I've stated the well known and obvious.

Jack Meatcher

[Maggi Young]

Many bulbs do seem to "enjoy the company" of others - and because of this Ian often uses "surrogate" bulbs - segments of polysytrene packing, the "s" shaped foam nuggets, to pack round  bulbs if he only has a very few of one kind to live in a pot. He also uses other kinds of bulbs to pad out a pot - for instance he might put little crocus bulbs in a narcissus pot to grow on. This creates a drier environment round the bulbs- it becomes better drained and drier- preventing any wet rots .

[Lesley Cox]

Like a bulb pot with a rogue grass seedling left to flourish is well drained compared with one containing just the bulb(s). Just occasionally my neglect and bad culture pay dividends instead of punishing me.

[brianw]

I remember at an AGS meeting, many years ago, being told to sow iris seed by the finger poking method. The first seeds to germinate and root down provide the drainage for the rest to follow. I assume this is particularly relevant to bulbous subjects with nice coarse annual roots, as separation at a later stage will be easy.

[Maggi Young]

The late and sadly missed Jack Brownless was a great exponent of the fingerhole method of planting 

[brianw]

This reminds me of the advice to root cuttings round the edge of a pot, because of the better drainage. The better drainage is presumably because you have just poked a number of sticks down it. Porous pots have long ago disappeared; if they ever really existed. Maybe I just need to double or treble the amount of coarse grit in my seed compost to get the same effect, and then feed a little more. I doubt it is as simple as more air and water, but the effect it has on the chemistry happening with the initial germination.

[johnstephen29]

Hi Brian I always plant my cuttings at the edge of the pot, they always root better than others further in, I always though it was due to it being warmer there.

[brianw]

Hi John. In plastic pots there will be bigger temperature swings with ambient changes round the outside of the pot. Maybe the stress induced by the swings induces rooting, or changes in water or air flow with the swings. We could try identical pots and cuttings with 1 pot insulated well and the other allowed to follow ambient swings. See if there appears to be a difference.

[Gene Mirro]

Like a bulb pot with a rogue grass seedling left to flourish is well drained compared with one containing just the bulb(s). Just occasionally my neglect and bad culture pay dividends instead of punishing me.

This is what I always do with bulbous plants.  I let a weed or a small plant like a Viola grow in the pot along with the bulbous plants.  It removes a lot of water from the mix, and tells you if the mix is too dry or lacks nutrients.  I call them indicator plants.  Bulbous plants in general do not tell you there is a problem until it is too late.  If the indicator plant gets too big and greedy, you can give it a haircut with scissors.  When the bulbous plants go dormant, I stop watering and let the indicator plant absorb moisture from the mix until it wilts and dies.  I get excellent survival of my dormant bulbs this way.  Without the indicator plant, the soil in a pot of dormant bulbs will remain quite moist for a long time, especially if you use a large deep pot, which I do because the bulbs develop so much faster in a large pot.  You have to be careful with lilies, because they don't like to go completely dry.  Another great advantage of an indicator plant is that its roots hold the soil mix together, so that you can dump the whole thing out and transplant it in one block.

[johnstephen29]

Hi Brian I don't know much about temperature swings, but I was always taught to plant cuttings this way. You get the odd cutting failing but most succeed, we could try your idea see what happens and compare notes.

[annew]

If there is only a bulb or two of clones of my seedling daffs, they are given 'pot buddies' - the pot is sectioned off with bits of plastic bottles so the bulbs are separated but the roots intermingle. Not suitable for showing, obviously, but it seems to work.

[Maggi Young]

This is what I always do with bulbous plants.  I let a weed or a small plant like a Viola grow in the pot along with the bulbous plants.  It removes a lot of water from the mix, and tells you if the mix is too dry or lacks nutrients.  I call them indicator plants.  Bulbous plants in general do not tell you there is a problem until it is too late.  If the indicator plant gets too big and greedy, you can give it a haircut with scissors.  When the bulbous plants go dormant, I stop watering and let the indicator plant absorb moisture from the mix until it wilts and dies.  I get excellent survival of my dormant bulbs this way.  Without the indicator plant, the soil in a pot of dormant bulbs will remain quite moist for a long time, especially if you use a large deep pot, which I do because the bulbs develop so much faster in a large pot.  You have to be careful with lilies, because they don't like to go completely dry.  Another great advantage of an indicator plant is that its roots hold the soil mix together, so that you can dump the whole thing out and transplant it in one block.

 Excellent advice

[Matt T]

I now know what to do with the exceedingly large number of Viola seedlings I've been fretting about!

[brianw]

I like the idea of plant buddies, for plants at a similar stage of growth, but "weeds" that germinate in seed pots that may be kept for several years can be a problem when they take over. Never thought about slipping a single bulb into the middle of a seed pot to simulate that initial germination. Yet another experiment waiting for someone.

[Gene Mirro]

I like the idea of plant buddies, for plants at a similar stage of growth, but "weeds" that germinate in seed pots that may be kept for several years can be a problem when they take over. Never thought about slipping a single bulb into the middle of a seed pot to simulate that initial germination. Yet another experiment waiting for someone.

If you are growing dryland bulbs, you will be drying them off every summer.  So the indicator plant or weed has a one-year maximum life expectancy.  If you trim it regularly with scissors, it won't get very big anyway.  It's a little extra work, but it's great to have a pot full of healthy bulbs instead of a few empty husks.