Germinating now?

[Onion]

Hans,

nice information transfer this immediately  Sowing time this morning.

[cohan]

a few days ago, lori and i were talking here about himalayan saussureas--i had seed of six of these(not my plan, just happened that way...lol--not complaining at all though--every species seems fascinating; seed from holubec) and had found little information on sowing/pretreatment of them; lori mentioned having warm sown a couple with good results, along with a soroseris etc;
so i sowed in two groups, all of which got more or less room temperature for a day or so, then i split them, with one group going on the chilly floor in my unused back doorway (above freezing, but maybe not by much at night)-i use this as a prestaging area for seedpots i'm going to put outdoors-second group in warmer area under lights;
i think i finally got these all sown on the 16th, and today i looked and found germination on several of the Sauss under lights, and a couple in the cold area (not always the same germinating warm and cool, i have to take some notes on these), one species under lights having heavy germination already! so it must have been up at 2 or 3 days; i will keep watching the species that did not sprout yet and see if they prefer to do it warm or cold..; also germination beginning on Waldheimia tomentosa at warm..

another sowing, from alplains--Escobaria vivipara from arizona; although he suggests a 3 week cold stratification, this is not standard for any escobaria, so i thought i'd try it warm, first, and it was also up in several days..

[Sinchets]

Well done with the Saussurea, Cohan. Germinating here now are Lilium rhodopaeum from wild collected seed. The seed was sown on 2/10/09 and left outside over the winter.

[iann]

Keep those Escobarias warm and humid, Cohan   Very few cacti need cold stratification and most are extremely easy to germinate, but contrary to all expectations they don't like direct sun and dry soil for the first few months of life.  I start all cacti under plastic and artificial lights and I keep them that way for about 4 months, longer for very slow growing species.  Escobarias are tougher than some, but still can't take full sun until at least six months old.

One exception is the very alpine cactus Maihuenia poeppegii.  Cold stratification seems to help with germination, although simple aging also seems to break the dormancy.  It also enjoys high light early in life although it should still be kept moist.  Possibly quite a few people have this one in their alpine collection.

[cohan]

Keep those Escobarias warm and humid, Cohan   Very few cacti need cold stratification and most are extremely easy to germinate, but contrary to all expectations they don't like direct sun and dry soil for the first few months of life.  I start all cacti under plastic and artificial lights and I keep them that way for about 4 months, longer for very slow growing species.  Escobarias are tougher than some, but still can't take full sun until at least six months old.

One exception is the very alpine cactus Maihuenia poeppegii.  Cold stratification seems to help with germination, although simple aging also seems to break the dormancy.  It also enjoys high light early in life although it should still be kept moist.  Possibly quite a few people have this one in their alpine collection.

thanks, iann--yes, i was surprised about the idea of cold for escobaria (i have sown maihuenia after cold stratification, and i do have some aged seed that i will try eventually; pediocactus and sclero-maybe toumeya are said to need cold stratification) he also suggests it for several other cold zone cacti, echinocereus etc..
my seedlings are safely in a baggie under lights; i haven't decided whether to keep them under lights for a year or harden them off outside before fall...

simon--i guess, for some of the sauss, the germination was the easy part--now we'll see if i can grow them!

[Darren]

Ian - thank you for the info on the Maihuenia. I got some last year and after it failed to show I popped the pot in the fridge for a month and it germinated immediately after I took it out again. Must have been fresh seed!  Of course all but a few of them then damped off. The survivors are now perking up after the winter.

Here is a challenge: Anemones biflora, petiolulosa & tschernjaewii. They are dead easy to tell apart..

[Darren]

OK,

I'm not inferring any taxonomic significance here. You may note that in the first picture several of the seedlings have produced a first true leaf (which I have not observed in the other two species - generally cotyledons only in year one).

Also note the red stems. Whilst we are familiar with biflora having red flowers it varies considerably in the wild from yellow through bronze/copper to red. The picture here shows the underside of the cotyledons which vary from green to solid red and I wonder if this will correlate with the degree of red pigment in the eventual flowers?

I can't tell the other two apart at this stage, however the true leaves of tschernjaewii are very distinctive in year two. See the second picture. It's leaf is simply is not as divided and carrot-like as those of the other species, merely gently lobed, and retains this characteristic into adulthood.

[Lesley Cox]

Perhaps the first true leaves are apparent in year one because the seeds overall, have better growing and developing conditions than they would receive in the wild. I remember Archibald saying only the cotyledons came in the first year. Maybe with more water...?

[Darren]

This is a good point Lesley. Also the biflora germinated a month before the others and have had more time to develop further leaves. I agree with you. It seems nonsensical that a plant would be so fixed that it would effectively ignore the presence of available water & nutrients by limiting itself to just a pair of cotyledons - surely it would try to exploit the resources available? I will keep an eye on the others for signs of extra leaves.

[Sinchets]

Patience is something I force myself to have, especially with old pots of seed. Yesterday saw germinations in some pots of onco Iris seed sown in October 2007, and also of Paeonia mascula sicula and Colchicum luteum- both sown in October 2008.

[ian mcenery]

OK,

I'm not inferring any taxonomic significance here. You may note that in the first picture several of the seedlings have produced a first true leaf (which I have not observed in the other two species - generally cotyledons only in year one).

Also note the red stems. Whilst we are familiar with biflora having red flowers it varies considerably in the wild from yellow through bronze/copper to red. The picture here shows the underside of the cotyledons which vary from green to solid red and I wonder if this will correlate with the degree of red pigment in the eventual flowers?

I can't tell the other two apart at this stage, however the true leaves of tschernjaewii are very distinctive in year two. See the second picture. It's leaf is simply is not as divided and carrot-like as those of the other species, merely gently lobed, and retains this characteristic into adulthood.

Darren when did you sow the anemones? I have just sown (January) seed of biflora (obviously not fresh) but from a good and reliable source so may have to wait a little. Could you say when it is normal for germination to take place in the wild?

[Darren]

Same as any summer dormant bulb/tuber I guess Ian. I've always sown mine with the other bulbs in around september. Germination is usually evident at christmas time here but I suppose in the wild it may be delayed until snow-melt. You may well get germination from a winter / spring sowing (i have not tried it) but if you do I suggest you keep the seedlings cool & moist over summer to prevent them going dormant if possible. If nothing has shown by mid summer I'd dry the pots off a little (not dust dry) for a few weeks then put them outside in september. If you sowed in january then don't be surprised to see germination any day now.

[ian mcenery]

Thanks Darren I will keep an eye out 

[Sinchets]

For me Anemone biflora sown in autumn, germinated in spring after snowmelt. They went dormant over summer and rested that way until the start of this month here. Mine are 1 and 2 years old- so fingers crossed they get to flowering size.

[ashley]

For me Anemone biflora sown in autumn, germinated in spring after snowmelt. They went dormant over summer and rested that way until the start of this month here. Mine are 1 and 2 years old- so fingers crossed they get to flowering size.

Same here, apart from the snow melt 
Mine produced true leaves only in the second year though, so conditions were presumably less favourable than yours Darren.