My Bit of Heaven - by Kristl Walek

[annew]

This is really interesting information Kristl. I'm happy you will be keeping in touch with us after your move. Hope all goes well.

[Kristl Walek]

While February has been milder than any I can ever remember (high of 0c tomorrow, low of -9c), it is still winter here and not much will change yet for a while. The compensation is that February is a very sun intensive time; a great thing for those of us who suffer from light-deprivation depression (dreary November & December are tough!!!)

Even though I love how the internet has brought people, plants, information, and purchases right to my inner sanctum; there is barely a day I don't cringe when I see the ease with which erroneous information also gets spread. Because my particular expertise is seed and germination---this is obviously the area that irks me particularly. Wait for one source to publish something on the net (correct or incorrect) and everyone follows. The information then gets linked to the various germination databases and then appears to be law.

Case in point: put my native Maianthemum stellatum into any search engine---and see if you find any contrary opinion---everyone asserts "it requires cold treatment, and may take 2 years to complete germination".

To make the point publicly here, I tested 3 different batches of the species this year (my own wild collected, a batch from a friend in Wisconsin, and one from southern Ontario). They all did the same thing--easy, warm sprouting over a period of about 3-6 weeks (normally ending with almost 100% germination).

[Kristl Walek]

I spent many hours today dealing with Symplocarpus foetidus seed.

The large, marble-sized seed is formed inside huge, bumpy pods, which eventually drop into the mucky swamps where they grow, rotting over time and leaving the seed behind in the cold water. It is not a seed that should be allowed to dry out after collection for this reason, so I always moist-pack it after cleaning and keep it at room temperature.

A certain percentage of these seeds always rot over time (internal infection, problematic embryos) and I need to sort through them on a regular basis to remove the "rotten apples."

Also, at this point in time (3-4 months in moist, warm conditions), there is always a good percentage (20%?) that have sprouted. This strikes me as a bit of a high proportion to be the insurance policy for the seed-but normally there is little to no further germination in the subsequent months the seed is kept warm and moist.

The general germination pattern is cold-warm (with first sprouts appearing in mid-summer following cold treatment).

I ended up with 3 large flats of seedlings, 32 to a tray (almost 100 plants) from this 20%. Some were significantly more advanced than others. I keep the babies in a tray with no holes in the bottom and always keep a few inches of water in the tray while they are growing along under the lights.

[cohan]

its going to take me some time to go through these--33 pages!
as you know, we have some of these spring flowers here--Viola adunca, Maianthemum stellatum, Caltha palustris...but many others we do not....
some have already been on my wish list--Erythroniums, Asarum, Trilliums, and i am seeing some new ones--Saxifraga virginiensis, was it? a charmer..

[Maggi Young]

Even though I love how the internet has brought people, plants, information, and purchases right to my inner sanctum; there is barely a day I don't cringe when I see the ease with which erroneous information also gets spread. Because my particular expertise is seed and germination---this is obviously the area that irks me particularly. Wait for one source to publish something on the net (correct or incorrect) and everyone follows. The information then gets linked to the various germination databases and then appears to be law.

Case in point: put my native Maianthemum stellatum into any search engine---and see if you find any contrary opinion---everyone asserts "it requires cold treatment, and may take 2 years to complete germination".

To make the point publicly here, I tested 3 different batches of the species this year (my own wild collected, a batch from a friend in Wisconsin, and one from southern Ontario). They all did the same thing--easy, warm sprouting over a period of about 3-6 weeks (normally ending with almost 100% germination).

This is just another example of how valuable your contributions here are, Kristl.

[Kristl Walek]

Asarum canadense, like Trillium grandiflorum, sprouts late in the first collection year if the seed is kept moist packed and in warm conditions after harvest.  Germination is normally around October and, like the Trillium, germination is radicle (root) emergence only.

The first two sets of pictures show the rather massive germination inside the zip-lock in October, 2008. Nothing further than radicle emergence will happen until the seed has received cold conditioning of about 2-3 months (hypogeal germination).

The zip-lock was put into the fridge November 14th, 2008.
Taken out and left at room temperature in February, 2009.
The last two pictures show how the seedlings looked today, March 2, 2009.

[Maggi Young]

I can't believe how keen these little guys are to grow. I wish all the seed we get  was so fertile!

[maggiepie]

The pic reminds me of my hellebore babies last year, except for the number.
They look so healthy Kristl, how big do you let them get before potting them up?

[Kristl Walek]

Helen,

Sadly, they will simply get composted, once my germination experiment is finished. It's just a test for my book on propagation of native species. If my property here were not overflowing with mature plants, I would be tempted. I am potting a number of exotic Asarums right now, which I will take to Nova Scotia. They have an almost identical germination pattern.

[Maggi Young]

Kristl, isn't your Buyer a landscaper? Might he not welcome the chance to get all these seedlings to grow on for some really classy planting schemes??

[Kristl Walek]

Maggi, even if I decided to take hundreds of mature plants with me, the new owner will still be left with drifts and drifts and drifts in the garden. Even though I have largely gotten over the twinge in my stomach I used to get whenever I composted perfectly healthy seedlings, I still can't look them straight in the eye when I do it.

[Maggi Young]

I still can't look them straight in the eye when I do it

I should think not.... that would be too cruel! 

Think of all that energy going into the compost though..... rocket fuel! 

[maggiepie]

I still can't look them straight in the eye when I do it.

Kristl, would it be possible to donate them to ORG/HPS for them to grow on and sell at one of their plant sales?
Hate to see such healthy little babies go into the grinder 

You have so much on your plate I guess that was a bit unrealistic 

[Kristl Walek]

Over the past few years I've been testing my entire native seed inventory using the identical  method for each species (in moist vermiculite in zip locks), with the cold treatments provided in the fridge only.

While some inconsistencies were present (there always are), here are some of the results from today:

One cold treatment of 3 months.
Asclepias exaltata (fresh seed)- aged seed will germinate without cold. Many Asclepias species behave in this way.
Eupatorium maculatum, purpureum
Polygala senega
Viola adunca, canadensis, fimbriatula, lanceolata, nephrophylla, pubescens (moist packed from collection to cold treatment)
Mertensia virginica
Angelica atropurpurea
Amelanchier sanguinea
Ceanothus americana and ovatus
Stipa spartea
Dicentra cucullaria (Moist Packed from collection to cold treatment).
Streptopus roseus (Moist Packed .....ditto......)
Veratrum viride

Some had begun germinating while in the cold (Dicentra, Veratrum and Erythronium americanum).
The pictures of the Erythronium show how it looked coming out of the fridge, and then again one week later. Rates were very high.

A post script on the Erythronium americanum one month later---all seedlings collapsed and died off due to germinating in such warm conditions.

[Kristl Walek]

And these are species that received 2 cold treatments, begun with and interspersed with periods at warm (warm-cold-warm-cold-warm).

GOOD REASON TO ALWAYS KEEP ALL SEED POTS FOR AT LEAST 2 YEARS!!!!


Gaylussacia dumosa
Pedicularis canadensis
Coptis groenlandica trifoliata
Celastrus scandens
Caltha palustris
Aralia racemosa
Comptonia peregrina
Crataegus pedicellata
Arctostaphyllos uva ursi
Cornus stolonifera
Cornus rugosa
Prunus pensylvanica
Lithospermum canadense
Sambucus nigra canadensis
Rosa virginiana
Rosa acicularis
Rhus aromatica
Juniperus virginiana & communis
Sorbus decora
Aralia nudicaulis
Trientalis borealis
Actaea pachypoda and rubra (these were stored dry; if moist packed after collection, germination is after the first cold treatment).
Staphylea trifoliata
Viburnum alnifolium (lantanoides)
Viburnum recognitum
Mitchella repens