Germinating now- - photos of seedlings

[Lesley Cox]

Well done. Doubt if that would work here, it still being summer (allegedly, it's been a cool, wet one for most people), so in the tunnel with everything else is probably best for now.

[Kristl Walek]

Just a comment---to be followed by pictures soon.

A customer posted on my facebook yesterday that the Paeonia brownii seed he received from me germinated 10 out of 12 so far after only 5 weeks. He treated them to the requisite cold inside plastic bags in the fridge. By the time he noticed, they already had their long, long roots. This is very valuable information, as it cuts down significantly on the normal 3 months cold recommended.

It also prompted me to go out to my unheated greenhouse yesterday (still pretty chilly out there, with night going down to -10C or more on occasion). I gently dug around in the 3 pots of the Paeonia I had sown out there---and sure enough there they were, all germinated a few inches down, keeping warm under the soil and mulch layer, just waiting to emerge once a bit more wamth arrives.

Also already germinated in those cold conditions were multiple pots of Lewisia rediviva & a ton of Aconitums.

[Lesley Cox]

We've had 49mm of rain here, Wed night and Thursday but I'd watered well on Wed evening so didn't let my new seed pots get the rain, covering them instead with thick layers of newspaper to ward off the drips from the tunnel roof. Then because the wind was supposed to blow strongly (it didn't) I put a light tarpaulin over the lot (12 trays) and some empty trays over that to stop the covers blowing away or being dislodged. Went out a few minutes ago with some trepidation to see what was what and after removing the covers found 5 germinations. Primula reidii from GR (sown 22 Jan), P. reidii williamsii from SRGC (20 Jan) old seed of Rh camtschaticum album (20 Jan), Arisaema jacquemontii from Chris Chadwell (20 Jan) and a rare Saxifraga from Otto (22 Jan). All too small for a picture yet. The sax is a slight green mist over the pot and I think every seed has germinated in the night.

I've not previously covered seed so closely so may try the newspapers again for a few nights to see what else happens. The new pots have been put out of their trays into another one, in more light as they are all quite pale green. I love this time of year when new seeds are coming up daily. Better than a drug fix.

[Kristl Walek]

This is my latest technique for Paeonia, Glaucidium, etc (seed with multiple temperature regimes).

I now sow them en masse inside plastic storage containers (in moist vermiculite, of course)

All my Paeonia species this year (except for P. brownii which is a straightforward cold germinator), were sown this way in November or December of 2011.
I am illustrating P. emodi.

Most Paeonia germinate at a long, warm (radicle only).
Then they need cold after which they will send up first leaf.

Germination began about a month or so ago.
Of course there are still many seeds to germinate (and they will continue over many months).
This method allows you to clearly see what is going on with each seed.
You now have two choices (the first rushes the maturation period along considerably).

1. I can now take the individual seeds that have germinated out of this container & put them in another container with moist vermiculite, and place in fridge.
By the time spring is fully here, they can be potted up (will now proceed to first leaf stage in the same first season) and will be large enough to overwinter in the fall/winter.

2. I can pot up the germinated seedlings & keep them actively growing until fall, overwinter them in this stage with first leaf emergence next spring.

Last year a batch of anomala germinated about 90% after sitting in the plastic container in the greenhouse all summer. In September/October I lined them up in a flat, kept them in the unheated greenhouse over winter, and they are now just coming out of dormancy.

Also I now also germinate Glaucidium in the same manner. The seeds shown in the pictures were soaked overnight in GA-3, and mixed with the moist vermiculite about 2 weeks ago. Kept under lights, nice and warm. Today I noticed germination beginning.

[Magnar]

A few more seedling pics:

Aconitum anthora
Androsace spinulifera
Androsace yargonensis ssp stenophylla
Anemone decapetala
Anemone multifida
Aquilegia canadensis
Arenaria capillaris
Aster alpinus dolomiticus

[Magnar]

Astragalus shortianus
Calceolaria cavanillesii
Centaurea bagadensis
Cremanthodium discoideum
Dianthus myrtinervius
Dianthus pinifolius
Epilobium crassifolium
Erigeron auranticus

[Lesley Cox]

Here are some germinating now but also including some which germinated several months ago but were too small to photograph. Starting with Rheum nobile. Looking forward to first true leaves. 10 up as of today The pot to the right is Carpentaria californica Ladhams's variety, from Michael C.

Eritrichium rupestre v. pectinatum from SRGC

Gypsophila aretioides (not) from SRGC and

Gypsophila aretioides (maybe) from AGS

[Lesley Cox]

Primula maximowiczii from AGS

Saussurea ?gnaphalodes from Chris Chadwell - This looks amazing in Google pics

Pinguicula grandiflora germinated well on grit. It has done too on spaghnum but these show up better

Asteranthera ovata. My own seed, what was left of the rubbish after I sieved out all the seed. 18, so very pleased with those. There are more pods forming from a pre-Christmas flowering and it's also flowering again now.

[Lesley Cox]

Rhododendron camtschaticum album from old seed. You see why it's no use photographing these as they germinate. There are 18 in this pot

Rhodo pachysanthum, has been germinating for around 6 months, still a few new ones after solid rain recently, 19 altogether so far

Rhododendrom thymifolium including 5 new ones this week

Arcterica nana

[Lesley Cox]

And some Australians sown a long time ago and germinating from Sept 2011, very slow to grow on mostly.

Patersonia fragilis, an irid

Blandfordia punicea

Richea scoparia. The larger one at the lower left I think germinated the previous year but I didn't notice it. The last picture is of the same plant germinated in 2008 or 9 but again I didn't notice it as it was among some ungerminated Trillium pots I'd given up on and had become overgrown wth grass. Just found it when doing a cleanup a couple of months back. I think it will be a very nice little shrub/tree for a pot. It is closely related to NZ Dracophyllums. In this pot just the one germinated.

[Michael J Campbell]

Lesley, how do you manage to germinate Blandfordia punicea in such numbers?, I only ever got one seed to germinate and then I lost it. Maybe the seed I get isn't viable at sowing time. 15 years, one seedling 

[hochu]

Lesley! Gorgeous seedlings! I was particularly surprised Asteranthera ovata. I tried it a few years to sow, but was never shoots. Are there any particular crop? I ordered seeds in Chile. Perhaps they are very old.

[hochu]

Some of my germinating now:

Gilia caespitosa
Dionysia aretoides

[hochu]

Yet..

Jankaea heldreichii
Ramonda myconi 'Alba'

[hochu]

Yet..


Corallodiscus kingianus
Polystichum imbricans