Hepatica seedlings

[kalle-k.dk]

I only add fertilizer when they are prick out

[Gunilla]

Karl, it sounds great to have flowers already the second year. I have decided to follow your example and have now a few pots inside .
Your yellow hepatica is a real beauty.
 

[johngennard]

I always bring the seed pots undercover just before Xmas but into a cold greenhouse without any heat other than bare frost protection.Invariably germination begins by the end of January or early February and the seedlings are not disturbed until the following year,about now in fact though it is not critical and can be delayed for a couple of months if that suits.I always prick out into 2/3ltr. pots with between 20/25 seedlings to a pot depending on which size of pot is used.The seedlings by now have a couple of true leaves and a distinct hard shoot and are much easier to handle than at the cotyledon stage.I also think that it is much easier to control the moisture and temperature of the larger pots than individual small pots particularly in the Summer months.Ideally I would  move them into individual 10cm.deep pots the following year but more often thn not they stay in the large pots for two years wher they produce their first flowers.They are lightlly fed occassionally during the first two years and are never allowed to dry out.

I am not saying that this is the perfect procedure but only that it is the one that I follow and have found successful over the years.I took the pictures below this afternoon and they were sown in May 2009.They are from Craemar,Transylvanica alba and japonicas.

[Gunilla]

What a lovely sight, John  .  Last year I brought my hepatica pots into my unheated outhouse to speed up germination, I have no greenhouse. They did germinate OK but then the mice found them . 

[johngennard]

I always start feeding the mice in the Autumn   

[Gunilla]

Ah, that's where I went wrong then 

[annew]

I must be doing something wrong (or not doing something right). Mine never produce true leaves in their first season. Perhaps I should try feeding them, poor things.

[Hoy]

I must be doing something wrong (or not doing something right). Mine never produce true leaves in their first season. Perhaps I should try feeding them, poor things.

Be careful!
A
I was "kind" to some seedlings last fall and they all burnt to death! Not Hepatica though.

[annew]

3 days after I brought the seed pots indoors, the first seedlings are germinating!

[Gunilla]

Lucky you. Nothing here yet, inside or outside .    Only some brave hellebore seedlings outside in totally frozen pots.

[Paul T]

I too only get the cotyledons the first year.  Are we saying that if repotting them when they first produce those cotyledons then stimulates true leaves in that first year? 

The yellow is gorgeous.  I didn't know Heps came in yellows.

[annew]

I didn't either - I'm trying to remain calm.

[Gunilla]

In a seed pot with H. nobilis var. pyrenaica seeds from Ashwood I found this different looking seedling. 

[Mavers]

That looks very unusual Gunilla.............looking forward to seeing pictures as it progresses to a mature plant.

[Hoy]

In a seed pot with H. nobilis var. pyrenaica seeds from Ashwood I found this different looking seedling. 

Seems to lack chlorophyll! Think it will die when the store of starch is used up.