Tropaeolum

[DORA]

Hi

Eric, it's a good news for us that your T. tuberosum produce many seeds.
Around 2000 flowers!! 

I've also heard that the tubers are sold as crops in S. America.
I wonder what taste they are. But "Ken Aslet" is not a species that are eaten,
so I'm sorry that I can't hear from you the taste.

I'm in Nagano now. There are many germination from many seeds.
The pic is T.hookerianum var. hookerianum's pot. I'll be busy to pot them up.

DORA

[Steven McFarlane]

Hi Dora and others

I said that I would report on my experiments with some of the tender species.  These have brought a fair degree of success.  The very fresh seeds of T. smithii have produced three seedlings (the first three of these which have germinated despite many attempts). 
Cuttings of T. fintelmanii olmosense, T. smithii and T. peltophorum have all rooted in water and are now growing away in a gritty compost.  There will now of course be the challenge of bringing the above through a dull cold Scottish winter but at least I have some hope of keeping them in cultivation.
I realise that this information is of little use if you do not have these plants but if anyone would like to experiment with very fresh seed of T. smithii please be in contact.  In the northern hemisphere any seedlings would of course need protection over the winter.

Steven

[ashley]

Steven,

Thank you very much for the seed of T. smithii and hybrids, immediately sown on arrival. 
This account of your success with fresh seed gives me renewed hope & the push to try cuttings of other spp. too

Dora, you've had fast and good germination   Well done!

[DORA]

Hi

Steven, it's nice to hear that your experiments have succeeded. Congratulation!
I know the cutting of T. majus is easy, but it's the first time to hear about T.fintelmanii,etc.
How long does it take to begin appearing the root? About 1 week or so?
It's interesting experiment, so I'd like to try cutting of T.smithii after growing more bigger.
I hope that your seedlings grow well over the winter.

Ashley, the germination rate of this pot was about 50%. I think the seeds from Chile flora maybe were fresh ones.
I hope your seeds from Steven begin to germinate soon.

DORA

[Jean-Patrick AGIER]

Hi Everybody,
It's now the beginning of "winter" in Lyon / FRANCE. Temperatures have quickly fallen down to a few degrees above O° with cold winds. All my Tropaeolum ( with the exception of the andean species ) have been brought indoors and they all seem to do quite well. Tr. MORITZIANUM is producing its first flowers ( how marvellous!!! ). I particularly like the flower buds ( of most tropaeolum species... ). Tr. Peltophorum is growing on and on... but still no flowers... Hope to post pics later on.
Dora, I've taken small cuttings from Tr. MORITZIANUM and they've rooted in water within a week. All the annual species can be propagated like this quite easily, provided you give them enough warm light ( mine have been exposed to sunlight every afternoon ( and we've had many sunny days since the beginning of autumn ). I don't have any experience on traditional cuttings in compost.
Hope it helps
Regards
Jean-Patrick

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi,
The seed exchanges are full of surprises. The seeds supplied are not sometimes what you're expecting. That was the case with this batch of seeds labelled as Tr. BEUTHII. In fact it was something different which flowered. Maybe the seed donor thought it was correctly named and the plants have cross pollinated spontaneously before harvesting the seeds ( thanks to the bees & other pollinators ) But indeed I really don't mind for these hybrids are much more interesting!!!

I wonder if this is also a hybrid,


grown from SRGC Seedex 2009 as T. beuthii, so coming into flower in a very short time (sown around May I think)!
I wonder if it will cross with T. tricolor which is close by??
cheers
fermi

[Paul T]

Nice, Fermi.  Very, very nice.  Did you get more than one seedling?  Mabye variability within the seedlings might help work out whether it is a hybrid or not.  That one certainly looks like a keeper though.  Feel free to multiply it up and send a tuber up here for an off-site trial. 

[Giles]

Something of a surpise - my first attempt at growing these - I bought some seeds, sowed them, stuck them in the fridge, and wasn't expecting anything to happen until I brought them into the heat next Spring. I checked to see if they needed watering today, to find..........

[Lesley Cox]

An excellent result Giles. Nice too that they are double stemmed.

[ashley]

edit by maggi: these posts moved across from seed exchange pages..... 


Welcome Westwind.  Is that T. sessilifolium on the far left of your lovely photo, and if so, is it perennial for you?



Photo referred to is this one....
 click to enlarge

[west wind]

have you photos of the plants you grow as well?

Thank you, Ragged Robin ,for your welcome message.
I really enjoy this forum.
I've been growing Tropaeolum species for these five years .

Here's some of my Trops.

Westwind

[west wind]

Welcome Westwind.  Is that T. sessilifolium on the far left of your lovely photo, and if so, is it perennial for you?

So happy to join the wonderful forum,ashley .
Yes ,that's it exactly !
T.sessilifolium forms small tuber in my climate.
But it often doesn't wake from dormancy next season.

Westwind

[Ragged Robin]

Westwind, your Tropaeolum are growing beautifully, a wonderful show....T sessilifolium is such a delicate colour and it's interesting to see the tubers, thanks.

[ashley]

Yes thanks for the fine photos Westwind.  You obviously grow this species far better than I do

Perhaps we should move across to the 'Bulbs/Bulbs general/Tropaeolum' thread for more general discussion.
Thanks Maggi.

[west wind]

Thank you for your suggestion.

Westwind