| Author |
Message |
Geir Moen (Gmoen)
New member
Username: Gmoen
Post Number: 3
Registered: 4-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, December 15, 2004 - 5:12 pm: |    |
Hello
I had a very interessting experience that I would like to share with you folks. I have in my garden two specimen of Hegemone lilacina, but sice a lot of my alpine friends also would love to have a specimen, I ordered some seeds (2004 collected) from Holubec this year. I have tried to grow this plant from seeds many many times before, and as I said I only got two plants through the years, it seems to me to be extemely difficult to germinate????
Well, I got the seeds from Holubec and this time I wanted to try something different. In the refrigerator I had some 500ppm Gibbrelic acid. It was no less than two years old, so I guess the effect is not 100%. I added some of the fluid in a little plastic box (the one you get film rolls in) and then the seeds. The plan was to leave them there for 2 days and then sow them as normal.
I am not sure how it is with you folks, but in my home everything seems to be about getting ready for Christmas. And because of a combination of this Christmas stress and a qiute slippery memory, the 2 days ended up in 2 weeks. I was just about to hang up some lights outside when the Hegemone project stiked my mind like a flash. But I finished the lights (no need to hurry now) and then went in to throw out the dead seeds....probably infected of fungus as well.
I was stunned when I opened the box and found that about 85% of the seeds had germinated perfectly. Just ready to be transferd to a pot. Can you beleive it, now I have over 50 good looking sprouts.
I know it will be tricky to keep them going from this stage, but it is not so important. The experience of seeing a handful (almost) of germinated Hegemone lilacina seeds pay off for me, even if I will not succed all the way (until next time)
Marry Christmas To You All
Geir Moen |
Lesley Isabel Cox (Lcox)
Member
Username: Lcox
Post Number: 49
Registered: 10-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, December 16, 2004 - 11:59 pm: | |
Congratulations Geir! I meant to order this from Holubec but a press of other things got in the way. Probably too late now.
Giberellic acid is not available in New Zealand but somehow we have to get some in. I've so far avoided asking the powers-that-be if an import would be permitted, so that I don't get a direct "no" answer. Gardens North of Ontario have it for sale so I might try there and see what happens when it reaches Border Control here. Then I only have to learn how to use it! |
Geir Moen (Gmoen)
New member
Username: Gmoen
Post Number: 4
Registered: 4-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 17, 2004 - 10:44 pm: | |
Hello Lesley
I got my Gibberellic acid from J. L Hudson. They have small packages (and even big ones). 100 mg costs 5 us dollar and that gives you 200 ml/500ppm. They also support you with a lot of instructions.
You can visit their homepage here :
http://www.jlhudsonseeds.com/GibberellicAcid.htm
Geir |
Lesley Isabel Cox (Lcox)
Intermediate Member
Username: Lcox
Post Number: 52
Registered: 10-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, December 19, 2004 - 3:12 am: | |
Thankyou so much Geir, your information is invaluable and the website in particular, gives me hope. There's enough there to make it sound quite a possibility for importation. I'm printing out the website stuff and applying to NZ Customs/MAF for a permit to import a small quantity.
I wonder if GA3 would help with Oncocyclus irises? |
Lesley Isabel Cox (Lcox)
Intermediate Member
Username: Lcox
Post Number: 60
Registered: 10-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, December 20, 2004 - 8:54 pm: | |
Well folks (down-under) Adrian Bliss has emailed to say that Giberellic Acid is available from a Christchurch firm called Global Sciences Ltd, in 1gm and 10gm packs. I've emailed them for more information and will report in due course. I'm sowing seeds today in my shed, gardening being impossible. It's the longest day of the year and the rain is what Roger calls "persisting" down. We in Dunedin (or here, just 16kms south of the city) have had a full third of our normal year's rainfall, this month alone. I fear for my precious juno irises which are valiantly trying to dry off. I'll have to put the pots in the shed I think but want to get the seed ripened first. |
Carol Shaw (Carol)
Senior Member ( posting super hero)
Username: Carol
Post Number: 280
Registered: 2-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, December 20, 2004 - 9:02 pm: | |
Lesley wouldn't it be better to put pots in shed for seed to ripen if weather is so bad? |
Lesley Isabel Cox (Lcox)
Intermediate Member
Username: Lcox
Post Number: 61
Registered: 10-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - 7:58 pm: | |
You are probably right Carol but I'm used to doing all my gardening in the open air and having seed ripen with the sun and wind around them. The shed is quite dark especially with no sun for days now. The pods would probably go mouldy. But I have moved the seedless and not-yet-flowering species under cover and the species with seed are still a bit green anyway. It's a bit of an unknown as we just don't get this kind of weather in December. Unsettled sometimes with the odd shower but we've now had 10" (rained steadily through last night and still going strong) in 3 weeks, well over a third of the year's normal fall. Let's face it, I'm going mouldy myself! |
Lesley Isabel Cox (Lcox)
Intermediate Member
Username: Lcox
Post Number: 62
Registered: 10-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - 8:02 pm: | |
Meant to add that I bought a digital camera yesterday (Panasonic Lumix LC70) and am having fun (indoors) trying it out this morning (but will have to remember that I have to go to work in less than an hour so better get my skates on). So once the rain clears I'll be out in the garden with camera and showing you more of what's flowering now down-under. |
David Shaw (David_shaw)
Member
Username: David_shaw
Post Number: 32
Registered: 10-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, December 22, 2004 - 11:05 am: | |
In the winter I slot some homemade frame lights into the spaces of the 'ranch' style fence (horezontal boards) bounding one side of the garden. These act as cold frames without sides and so allow maximum ventilation but keep the direct rain and snow off the pots beneath. They need anchoring down to stop strong winds blowing them away but work pretty well.
May be useful for you this 'summer'. |
Lesley Isabel Cox (Lcox)
Intermediate Member
Username: Lcox
Post Number: 66
Registered: 10-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, December 22, 2004 - 8:41 pm: | |
Thanks David, Anything's worth a try. (Still raining!) As a matter of fact NZers are the world's most innovative DIYers. We can do anything with goodwill and a bit of No 8 wire, so arranging some ventilated cover isn't a problem, it's just that it offends me I should have to do it this time of year. A very merry Christmas to all participants and lurkers . |
Hannelotte Kindlund (Hkindlund)
New member
Username: Hkindlund
Post Number: 7
Registered: 2-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 14, 2005 - 8:42 am: | |
Hello Geir,
How are your Hegemone seedlings doing?
You mentioned that you already have two plants in your garden. How did you plant them? Have they been flowering yet?
After your message here about your Hegemone success, I ordered some seed of two different clones from Josef Halda. After two weeks in GA-3 treatment both have started to germinate now. So I am really anxious to hear about your experiences!
From Stockholm, which is disappearing in snow,
Hannelotte
|
Geir Moen (Gmoen)
New member
Username: Gmoen
Post Number: 5
Registered: 4-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 14, 2005 - 10:43 pm: | |
Hello Hannelotte
So nice to hear that my experience is useful to you. This tells me that this might be a very useful way to germinate Hegemone. And I can inform you that the seedlings still are doing good. Out of four pots, three of them still looks great. One seed pot was killed because I let it dry out. I keep them under light in my basement. I keep them qiute wet and exsposed to moving air made by a fan.
The plants in the garden flowered first time last year, but you will probably have the same experience as me....THEY ARE SLOW GROWERS. The first year after sowing, you will have just one tiny leaf. So it might be a good idea to keep them in pots for 2-3 years.
In the garden they grow in a moist gritty soil, protected against the hot sun in summer (half shade). Even if they perfer a moist position, it seems that drainage is essential to succeed. Another problem in my area is that black frost can kill the flower buds in spring. I try to avoid this by cover the plants with styrofoam fish boxes (after frost), just to keep the frost in the ground as long as possible in spring (same method as I use for Cypripediums) |
Alpines