Seed starting chronicles 2012

[Tim Ingram]

Looking back over the 2011 thread is very stimulating. We sowed quite a bit of home collected seed last autumn and this is mostly outside in a cold frame; germination probably won't occur for a couple of months, though our mlld winter so far may not be sufficient to provide the stratification that is necessary for some plants. I am now going through seed from Alplains, Holubec and other collectors, and the seed exchanges to divide it into groups requiring different conditions. Quite a bit will go into the fridge after sowing for 6 to 8 weeks. We have sown other seed that needs no cold treatment in a propagator in the greenhouse but the lower light levels in the winter do lead to etiolation in some species (though not all). Great way of spending a winter's day...

[AmyO]

Great way of spending a winter's day...

Agreed!! I plan on sowing seed today from the American Primrose society exchange and putting them under the growlights indoors. My NARGS seed haven't arrived yet, so I need to save space for them, which will be a struggle as there is only so much space under the lights and always way too many seeds to sow!

[Tim Ingram]

Euphorbia rigida - sown in greenhouse, germinated rapidly (seed had been stored for 7 years so very pleasing to get good germination)
Lesquerella intermedia & fendleri (SWNS)
Stachys coccinea (SWNS)
Chilopsis linearis (SWNS)
Erysimum wheeleri (SWNS) - all these sown with bottom heat in greenhouse
(there are also several yuccas germinating as above from 10/11 year old seed from Ron Ratko, and a couple of dudleya of similar age)
Lupinus versicolor - sown as the Euphorbia after chipping seed
Lomatium utriculatum - home saved seed sown outside in a cold frame (hadn't expected such rapid germination)

(I now have to remove the food from our fridge in the garage to make room for all the pots sown this January!)

[Hoy]

Be glad you have that huge property! Where else should you plant all those plants

[McDonough]

Tim, so glad you started this 2012 topic, one of my favs for sure.  And thanks for making your photo large enough to see it full size to see all those perky seedlings and read the plant labels.  Good crop of southwesterners coming up there.  I've always wanted to try growing Desert Willow (Chilopsis linearis); but I don't think it could survive our New England climate.  It is rated zone 7-10, and for some smaller plants I will sometimes try "pushing the hardiness envelope" a bit, but my few attempts at doing that with shrubs (like Cistus, some maples) have failed, the winter cold is just too much for them.  In a few (very few) cases, I've had some luck with southwestern shrubbies, one of my favorites is Philadelphus microphyllus from SWNS a number of years ago, and perfectly hardy.

[RickR]

Tim, did these all (except the Erysimum) germinate at room temperature?

And except for the mentioned chipping, was there any pretreatment?

[cohan]

Any tips for sowing/germinating Geranium fremontii? I came across a mention of scarification and a 24 hour soak, which I have not heard of for other Geraniums??

[Lori S.]

It seemed like unusual advice to me too, Cohan, but I was surprised to see that scarification is recommended in the Alplains catalogue for G. viscosissimum (after which just the usual 70-degree-ish conditions are recommended, if I'm remembering the meaning of the codes correctly).  

I had to look that species up.  This article suggests that "Geranium fremontii" may be more correctly known as G. caespitosum, and that  fremontii may be just a variety, which USDA Plants seems to agree with.
http://www.swcoloradowildflowers.com/Pink%20Enlarged%20Photo%20Pages/geranium.htm
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=GECAF

The 24 hour soak recommendation is still odd, though.  Dr. Deno's work (First Supplement to the Second Edition of Seed Germination Theory and Practice) doesn't support it.  He reports that pre-soaking prior to germinating in moist conditions either did not give significantly faster germination, or actually risked seed death by inhibiting its access to oxygen and causing asphyxiation.  I know it's something some people like to do, however.

[Tim Ingram]

I have sometimes tried chipping geranium seed and think it can be effective, especially if you only have a few seed of something really special. I've not soaked them but normally just sit seed pots in water overnight which is likely to imbibe the seed pretty well. (When I was working in science I was chastised for watering all the freshly sown seed of Sweet Peas being used in genetic studies of their flowering - I was looking after the greenhouse over the weekend! - I have been very wary of soaking legume seed for too long ever since!).

Rick - all these seed except the Lomatium and Euphorbia were started off with bottom heat in the greenhouse - I suppose equivalent to 'room temperatures' and then removed to the lightest spot in the greenhouse once germinated. So they will now experience quite warm days and cool nights and I am not too keen that they grow too quickly! (probably should have sown some of them rather later in the spring but there is always too much to do then).

[Michael Young]

With respect to Geranium viscosissimum, I have had excellent success using a couple methods. Scarifying the seeds between folds of 100-grit sandpaper and exposing  them to conventional (warm, moist, and well-illuminated) growing conditions resulted in 80% germination within two weeks. I achieved comparable germination by enclosing the seeds in a foil packet and submerging them in boiling water for 10 seconds, exposing them to 8 weeks of cold-moist stratification, than transferring them to a warm environment. Germination began during the cold treatment and continued during the warm phase. I'd guess that the cold treatment was unnecessary for this species, but it did no damage. Failure to scarify, or to expose the seeds to a longer period of boiling water, resulted in no germination. Alternatively, direct seeding (also known as neglecting to deadhead) resulted in many seedlings in the garden.

[Peter George]

Now why would 'direct seeding' result in a high germination rate when there was neither scarification nor the boiling water treatment? I know nature is always 'right,' but what is it about plants just dropping seeds that makes the germination rates so high when if we do the same thing, we get nothing?

[Lori S.]

I've always wanted to try growing Desert Willow (Chilopsis linearis); but I don't think it could survive our New England climate.  It is rated zone 7-10...

Not to imply that the conditions are the same, but it's interesting that Bob Nold grows it in Denver, far from the Sonoran and Chihuahuan desert washes that I tend to associate it with from fondly-remembered trips long ago (re. High and Dry: Gardening with Cold-hardy Dryland Plants).  I hope this mention of his name will get his spider senses tingling, so he can pop in and tell us about it in person!

Tim, you have a great start to the season.  I've started earlier than usual this year, but only have 4 pots of sprouts so far - eager beavers that need nothing more than scarification or just moisture to trigger them:  Astragalus coccineus (so easy to germinate, so hard to grow!!), Oxytropis lagopus, Acantholimon saxifragiforme.  Salvia pachyphylla also germinated in a few days, which kind of surprises me.

[Michael Young]

Now why would 'direct seeding' result in a high germination rate when there was neither scarification nor the boiling water treatment?

I assume that the hard seed coat prevents too-early germination (read: autumn) in G. viscosissimum.

I've always wanted to try growing Desert Willow (Chilopsis linearis); but I don't think it could survive our New England climate.  It is rated zone 7-10...
Not to imply that the conditions are the same, but it's interesting that Bob Nold grows it in Denver, far from the Sonoran and Chihuahuan desert washes that I tend to associate it with from fondly-remembered trips long ago (re. High and Dry: Gardening with Cold-hardy Dryland Plants).

I regret that I had no difficulty in killing Chilopsis linearis a few years ago. But that record-setting cold snap--4 days of lows near -10 C in early October, which constituted the first frost of the year--took out quite a few marginally hardy plants (including all of our cactus).

[cohan]

I also don't see why direct garden seeding results in germination without scarification ( I could see if it was just a matter of much larger numbers of seed and low germination percentages).. I suppose the sown seeds that were not scarified and did not germinate were just given cold stratification without freezing? So then maybe outdoor treatment over winter would work without scarfication? I have to see how many seeds I have, whether or not there are enough to experiment....
Lori, I did also gather from googling that fremontii is considered by some to be a sub-species of caespitosum.. Ironically, the seed for this North American came to me from Philippe in France...lol

[McDonough]

Lori, I did also gather from googling that fremontii is considered by some to be a sub-species of caespitosum.. Ironically, the seed for this North American came to me from Philippe in France...lol

Just make sure you don't end up with Geranium robertianum after that world-wide trek