Crocus caspius

[ian mcenery]

I have been trying to grow this from seed for about five years and each year I have sown a few seeds but my score to date is zero. Today  I counted 8 pots with a caspius label and not a sign. Has anyone had any success growing  this from seed and how did you do it? I have sown a couple of hundred pots of crocus seed using the deep sowing technique and over 90% have germinated  but this one has beaten me - or rather I may have beaten it. Help 

 

[art600]

Ian

No success here - but I still have my fingers crossed as seed was from SRGC 

[Ian Y]

Ian I can only suspect that the seed is not good after being stored as it should come up no problems.

I sow the seed in August and get germination in October but if the seed comes from an exchange and does not get sown until January then you have missed the time window. I would still expect some should germinate the following autumn.

Check these bulb logs.

http://www.srgc.org.uk/bulblog/log2006/251006/log.html

http://www.srgc.org.uk/bulblog/log2007/170707/log.html

Remind me later in the year and if I get a good seed set I will send you some fresh seed.

[Armin]

Ian,
I've the same problem with C. veluchensis seed. No success ytd.

I've sown C. caspius seed in autuum half mesh pot deep and bog down the pot completely in my garden.
Soil is a mix of 50% pure coarse sand with 50% compost.
The seed did not germinate in the 1st. year but in the second.
The seedlings grow in full shadow and soil never dries out.
Leaves appear in late autuum and have survived the last two winters unprotected at low temperatures of -18°C.
They are in the 3rd. year and the largest seedlings still show only 2 leaves, no flowers yet.

[Gerry Webster]

Ian - I cannot  claim great success. In Dec.  2006 I sowed about 10 seeds from Archibald. In Autumn 2008 3 germinated; none have germinated since. I now have 2 plants, 1 of which looks as though it may possibly flower next year. They have been (& will be) kept in an open sand plunge all year round apart from during periods of excessive cold. It may be easier from fresh seed.

[Lars S]

I got seeds of crocus caspius from the Crocus Group rather late in September 2008 and sowed them at once. No seeds germinated in spring but two germinated in the autumn 2009. I have noticed  that the pattern is the same with most of the crocus seeds that I sow in late september which I guess confirms what Ian Young says about the time window. I think that our autumn normally is much colder than in Britain. I try to keep the seed pots in dryish conditons during the summer months until the autumn as I have got the impression that the seeds may be destroyed if they are kept to wet.

[tonyg]

Ian, I am basically in agreement with Ian Young.  I have raised this one from seed several times and not noticed it as being impossible.  BUT I have noticed it has a tendency to damp off when young, perhaps in response to freezing combined with excess wet.  I once received a decent quantity of wild seed from a contact in Iran.  It did very poorly and seemed much more frost tender.  None of the seedlings made it to flowering size    However given your overall record of success I think poor seed must be a contributory factor.

[ian mcenery]

Ian I can only suspect that the seed is not good after being stored as it should come up no problems.

I sow the seed in August and get germination in October but if the seed comes from an exchange and does not get sown until January then you have missed the time window. I would still expect some should germinate the following autumn.

Check these bulb logs.

http://www.srgc.org.uk/bulblog/log2006/251006/log.html

http://www.srgc.org.uk/bulblog/log2007/170707/log.html

Remind me later in the year and if I get a good seed set I will send you some fresh seed.

Ian
Thank you I will keep trying. It is of course possible that some of the seedlings did germinate but the last 2 years might well have killed them as they were in plastic pots in a cold frame.  Thank you for your kind offer

Ian - I cannot  claim great success. In Dec.  2006 I sowed about 10 seeds from Archibald. In Autumn 2008 3 germinated; none have germinated since. I now have 2 plants, 1 of which looks as though it may possibly flower next year. They have been (& will be) kept in an open sand plunge all year round apart from during periods of excessive cold. It may be easier from fresh seed.

Gerry

Thanks. I too had some seed from JJA usually top drawer stuff so I was beginning to wonder if I was doing something wrong. I agree the fresher the seed the more quickly and reliably it germinates

I got seeds of crocus caspius from the Crocus Group rather late in September 2008 and sowed them at once. No seeds germinated in spring but two germinated in the autumn 2009. I have noticed  that the pattern is the same with most of the crocus seeds that I sow in late september which I guess confirms what Ian Young says about the time window. I think that our autumn normally is much colder than in Britain. I try to keep the seed pots in dryish conditons during the summer months until the autumn as I have got the impression that the seeds may be destroyed if they are kept to wet.

Lars

Thanks. You may be right about the wet I will bear this in mind. I noticed that ,my pots of non germinated seed were very wet so perhaps I will put them somewhere where they might get a lot less water till next autumn though the damage may well be done

Ian, I am basically in agreement with Ian Young.  I have raised this one from seed several times and not noticed it as being impossible.  BUT I have noticed it has a tendency to damp off when young, perhaps in response to freezing combined with excess wet.  I once received a decent quantity of wild seed from a contact in Iran.  It did very poorly and seemed much more frost tender.  None of the seedlings made it to flowering size    However given your overall record of success I think poor seed must be a contributory factor.

Tony thanks for you comments it may well be that as I said above it was possible that some of the seedlings did germinate but the last 2 years might well have killed them as they were in plastic pots in a cold frame although I usually find that seedlings seem to tolerate cold and wet better that the mature bulbs as I have managed to kill more mature bulbs than seedlings . Will have to be more careful with these. This is a species I have always wanted since first reading Bowles 30 + years ago

[Lesley Cox]

I have only had seed on C. caspius where it grows in the garden, not in my 3 potted groups. The seed pods form and stay well down below the surface so are difficult to collect. You have to dig for them and I've not gathered any to sow in a pot but I do get a bunch of seedlings each year in the ground. Then if I finger dig carefully, most can be lifted out and potted or placed nearby the parents. It's a species which likes a little dampness through the dormant period.

[Otto Fauser]

Lesley , Cr. caspius is one the easiest species in my garden . As it ripens its seedcapsules below ground ,I'm usually too late to collect the seeds . However I,m always delighted to find flowering plants in unexpected places - I blame ants for the distribution . I only grow the No. that Paul and Polly Furse collected and sent me in the 1960s. - colour varies from white to pinkish lilac .

[Lesley Cox]

Can't remember where I got mine originally, I'v had it maybe 15 years and like yours it varies from creamy white to a pale lilac. I haven't had seedlings elsewhere but I do try to collect the seedlings as they appear so that would stop them spreading about. When I've lifted corms I've often found them with a bunch of babies on top among the dead tunics, like Cyclamen coum and neopolitanum seedlings snuggling up to their mother if the pods haven't been removed.

I think it likes the garden because even if the place gets really dry, it's never as dry as a pot would be.

[Gerry Webster]

I think it likes the garden because even if the place gets really dry, it's never as dry as a pot would be.

It  certainly detests being hot & dry when dormant. That's how I lost my plants several years ago. I've only just  managed to replace them.

[ian mcenery]

Lesley and Otto

Thanks for the additional info I had in down as tolerating summer moisture but it seems that it may prefer this.

[Armin]

Ian,
forgot to mention. My seed originated from Otto's C. caspius

[ian mcenery]

Ian,
forgot to mention. My seed originated from Otto's C. caspius

Hi Armin thanks for the information obviously some good seed or better cultivation