Trilliums from seed

[Leena]

Herman, thank you for sharing your experience! Very interesting, there are so many different factors beside species to consider.

- our winters start late, coldest period mostly Februari most frost.
- fluctuations in temperature periods.

This is interesting, so you have long warm autumn (well, much warmer than here), and not very long winter. So also a shorter cold period is enough to have them germinate.

I am still very much learning about these plants. I sowed my first Trillium from seed ex seeds in 2011 and 2012, and most of them germinated well in 2013-14 (after two winters), and I had planted them as clumps in 2014, but unfortunately I lost them all (except one pot kept in the cellar) in a bad winter 2015-16, very cold without snow. Since then I have kept most of the pots in cellar overwinter, but some have survived also outside for several winters and the first from 2014 sowings flowered last spring (these were T.chloropetalum, T.parviflorum, and T.erectum).

[Gabriela]

It is good:). They are just ordinary blue and pink ones but very hardy here, and have formed good clumps in my woodland bed. Much bigger than in the wild.

They were your seeds:). Thank you again, and hopefully when they flower, there will be also seeds from my lonely one T.luteum, which has never (in 5 years) set seeds:).

OK, thanks. I will make a small experiment - by bringing back inside to warm a sample of the seeds and see how much more warm they need (probably a month or so, if you say your seeds had rhizomes by January).
It may be that it needs cross pollination. Last spring I helped them with a brush and the results were good.

[Gabriela]

Herman: it is good to know you keep them in pots until flowering. I planted in the ground 3 years old seedlings and some didn't made it. The young plants are sensitive and then there are the many squirrels digging and digging....Moisture is indeed essential for their survival, reason why in dry years very few seedlings appear in the woodlands.

[Herman Mylemans]

Here's an example of a 2014 seed pot: Trillium underwoodii
Picture is from March 2020. Sown 29/07/2014, first leave 13/01/16.
Trillium underwoodii is very early, it can be damaged by late frost. So I still need to look after the right place in the garden.

[Leena]

It may be that it needs cross pollination.

I have been thinking about the same, so it would be good to have two plants.

[Véronique Macrelle]

it's nice to see this beautiful Trillium bloom the 4th year after germination.

[Tristan_He]

A few Trilliums I am growing from seed. These came as surplus seed from the SRGC seed exchange last year (2019-20) so were not sown until March 2020. Each packet contained about 5 seeds. I wasn't expecting much as I know Trillium seed really needs to be sown pretty fresh, but there is something in nearly every pot. They have had no special treatment, just sown and left in the cold frame. I brought them into the conservatory once there were signs of life to keep them safe from slugs.



Trillium ovatum



Trillium kurabayashii

I also have T. sessile, albidum and hibbersonii coming.



These T. rivale seedlings are from my own seed.

[Jan Jeddeloh]

Tristan you must be the trillium whisperer.  I'm impressed you got such quick germination from dried seed.

Jan

[Tristan_He]

It's possible that the odd weather we had last year helped Jan. We had an abnormally hot and dry spring followed by a very cool and wet summer. This seems to have convinced several plants that they had an extra winter , so maybe the Trilliums thought so too?

I also sowed the seed quite deeply in the pots as per Ian's advice for and-dispersed seed, and left them in the coolest shadiest part of the cold frame if this helps.

[Herman Mylemans]

Trillium chloropetalum var. giganteum sown in July 2020 and already germinated and showing one leave!

[Maggi Young]

changing the name  of the  thread to add  " from seed"

[Véronique Macrelle]

in your opinion, in winter Trillium seedlings are better in a cold frame than in a small unheated greenhouse?

[Tristan_He]

Hi Veronique, I think that depends on your winter temperatures. But it's better to try to give them a decent cold period to stimulate germination. If your area has reasonably cold winters (i.e. prolonged spells of 4C and below) you should get good germination in a cold frame. Warm spells in the greenhouse, such as may occur with winter sunshine, may confuse the seeds and discourage germination. So yes, I think a cold frame (or leaving the pots outside in a shady place) is better. Keep an eye out for slugs once the weather warms up. My first seedlings came up in January.

For really consistent cold temperatures you could even put some pots in a fridge for a few months, checking them every week or so for germination.

[Véronique Macrelle]

I only had 6 germinations ( 2 grandiflorum, 3 cuneatum and 1 angustifolium) out of about 15 differents pots, and I think it's because I left them in the greenhouse in winter (I love being in my greenhouse in winter watching the seedlings).
 so I will have to put my pots outside. since there are too many slugs, I will have to bag them then ..

[Yann]

I only had 6 germinations ( 2 grandiflorum, 3 cuneatum and 1 angustifolium) out of about 15 differents pots, and I think it's because I left them in the greenhouse in winter (I love being in my greenhouse in winter watching the seedlings).
 so I will have to put my pots outside. since there are too many slugs, I will have to bag them then ..

Trillium needs very cold temperature to trigger the germination.