Germinating now- - photos of seedlings

[Gene Mirro]

Aster alpinus, sown 1/8/15 (that's month/day/year):



Gentianopsis crinita, sown 11/15/14:



Incarvillea mairei, sown 12/25/14:



Painted daisy, sown 1/1/15:



Physoplexis comosa, sown 12/15/14:

[Gene Mirro]

Phyteuma scheuchzeri, sown 12/25/14:



Phyteuma sieberi, sown 1/8/15:



Saxifraga arendsii, sown 12/18/14:



Veronica incana, sown 1/2/15:



Alstroemeria pulchra and pulchella, sown 11/4/14:

[deplantspecialist]

Viola cotyledon.

Seed arrived early April. 24 hour soak in 500ppm GA3, followed by 4 weeks in damp filter paper in a fridge, inspected weekly. First few seeds showed roots after 4 weeks (early May) and were potted up and left outside. The first of these are now emerging through the top dressing after a further 4 weeks (picture 1). Remainder returned to fridge and inspected weekly. Another 3 seedlings were potted in mid may and the 3 in the next picture were done this weekend (8 weeks after treatment). This is now all the viable seeds and germination was about 80 % for this species. Two other rosulate violas which arrived at the same time were also successful but had fewer viable seeds (around 50%). Not bad for a first attempt at these. Of course now comes the difficult part......

Hallo Darren,

how are the Viola,s at the moment? Do they still live ......
I have a question for you ( ore other forum members offcorse), I have sown at the end off November 2014 seeds off Viola cotyledon. I have not used GA-3 because in my opinion the seedlings are growing to high. The are in the refrigiator at till now. So nearly 2 months. I want to take them out and let the pot
outside in all the weather. Have you any experiens  sowing this species without GA-3?
Ore anybody else?

I hope for any answer, please,

best regards Peter

[meanie]

This for Maggi;

Bomarea edulis germinating................


Despite being fresh seed they have still taken about three months to start germinating.

[Maggi Young]

Three months eh?  I'll need to lay in sandwiches for the wait.....

[meanie]

Three months eh?  I'll need to lay in sandwiches for the wait.....

Typical of the youth of today to expect instant gratification!!

[penstemon]

Typical of the youth of today to expect instant gratification!!

Instant gratification. Astragalus aretioides, coll. Kelaidis in 1988. Sown last Sunday at 11 a.m., picture taken about 9 p.m. the same day.

Two obscure astragali collected in 1995:
Astragalus saralensis, JJH 951058, sown two days ago.
Astragalus testiculatus, JJH 951058, sown two days ago.

[meanie]

Instant gratification. Astragalus aretioides, coll. Kelaidis in 1988. Sown last Sunday at 11 a.m., picture taken about 9 p.m. the same day.

That is fast even for a Fabaceae!

Two obscure astragali collected in 1995:
Astragalus saralensis, JJH 951058, sown two days ago.
Astragalus testiculatus, JJH 951058, sown two days ago.

This actual seed was collected twenty years ago?

Continuing the Fabaceae theme these Bauhinia variegata seeds have also taken about three months to germinate.............


I chipped one of  the Strongylodon seeds that I was given and left the other intact. The chipped one has swollen considerably over the last couple of days............


How they looked when I received them.........

[penstemon]

This actual seed was collected twenty years ago?

It was. The A. aretioides was twenty-five years old, and very small seed, which made nicking it a great deal of fun.
I was given a large amount of old seed which included about two dozen species of astragalus collected by Halda in the 90s. (And the American aretioides.) There are no specimens of any of these in the online Kew Herbarium site, and Plantarium, the Russian website, only has photos for a few of the species.
Mostly alpine tundra plants.
Example of one, A. pterocephalus, aka Astracantha pterocephala.
http://www.plantarium.ru/page/image/id/26476.html

[Roma]

Fritillaria recurva from Alplains sown in March 2014.  Germination started slowly in December but is really speeding up now.

[Gene Mirro]

Gentianopsis crinita, sown 11/15/14, transplanted into bands:



Physoplexis comosa, sown 1/13/15:



Physoplexis comosa, sown 12/15/14 , transplanted into bands:



Phyllodoce empetriformis, sown 12/25/14:



The shiny leaves in the corner may be Campanula vidalii.

[Matt T]

Our recent cold snap seems to have had positive effect on a lot of seeds.

I was worried that my home-collected Hepatica nobilis seeds weren't going to do anything, so ecstatic to see these little ones pushing through.

Also home-collected, I seem to do very well with Narcissus rupicola subsp. watieri, possibly my favourite small bulb.

Narcissus assoanus seeds from Kurt's last list coming up in good numbers.

[Matt T]

How's this as an advert for the Crocus Group seed exchange?! Crocus laevigatus in mixed forms, for which I should probably have used a larger pot.

Crocus speciosus xantholaimos ex JJA 353.120 and Crocus oreocreticus, both from Mr Vickery.

And Scilla ramburei and S. scilloides, both from SRGC seed exchange 2013/14.

[johnstephen29]

Hi matt great photos of your seedlings, I have recieved some crocus seeds in the seed exchange, I have never grown crocus from seeds before, can you give me some advice please. Thanks John

[Matt T]

Hi John, Crocus are pretty easy from seed, just treat them like other bulb seed, i.e. Narcissus. Ian's bulblog will have lots of advice and I use the method employed by him and others. Sow them halfway down the pot in a gritty, free-draining mix and leave outside to take all the weather throws at them. I'd do this now but don't expect to see anything until next year. I move seed pots under cover when they germinate as it's so wet here and small seedlings are likely to 'damp off'. Keep them growing with a feed at half strength (I use a balanced Chempak #3) and repot after their second year. I sometimes repot first year seedling bulbs, but they're tiny so better not to do it too soon. Also, late sown seed may be erratic so a second year gives late starters another chance to germinate. And don't forget to post pics here.