corydalis seeds

[Tasmanian Taffy]

Hi all, I have just received some Corydalis seeds should I sow them now it's (early spring here) or should I wait until Autumn to sow them. Thanks in advance, John.

[Carolyn]

Sow them straight away, most of them are quite short-lived and you get best results with very fresh seeds.
Good luck!

[Lesley Cox]

Absolutely, sow at once and keep cool. I find even with my own seed or self-sown seed, they still often take 10-12 months to germinate.

[Tasmanian Taffy]

Thank you both Carolyn and Lesley, I will get busy.

[Gabriela]

Actually many Corydalis species require first a warm/moist period, followed by a cold/moist one. Reason why in some cases seeds sown in late fall/winter will germinate in the second spring after sowing. But of course depends what species you have.
In any case, sowing asap as advised by Carolyn and Leslie is the best you can do and then patience.

[Tasmanian Taffy]

Thanks Gabriela,
The seed I have is Corydalis Popovii

[RUAULTBO]

Thanks Gabriela,
The seed I have is Corydalis Popovii

[Véronique Macrelle]

it's interesting what is said here .. there was such a nice choice of species this year at the srgc, that I ordered 3 species, a bit randomly elsewhere ...
Do you think the seeds of Dicentra (which I find quite close to the Corydalis) react in the same way?

[Carolyn]

I think so, Veronique. I have always sown dicentra seeds fresh in the summer and they germinate the next spring. I'm not sure if they would germinate well after dry storage.
I chose some corydalis seeds from the seedex too, and the 2 which I kept warm (15C) in the house germinated in a couple of weeks - that was C. wilsonii and C. tomentella. I didn't expect them to germinate quite as quickly! Wilsonii damped off - the low light levels did not help. I have just bought a LED light for my seedlings and C tomentella is enjoying the extra light.
My other corydalis seeds are outside in the cold and have not yet germinated.

[Leena]

I managed to get Corydalis kokiana from the exchange. Seeds have been inside now for six weeks and I'm going to move pots to cold in the week end. I hope they germinate after two or three months of cold.

[Gabriela]

it's interesting what is said here .. there was such a nice choice of species this year at the srgc, that I ordered 3 species, a bit randomly elsewhere ...
Do you think the seeds of Dicentra (which I find quite close to the Corydalis) react in the same way?

As far as I noticed with our native species, Dicentra also has hydrophilic seeds.
Also, Dicentra spectabilis seeds kept in moist storage warm then cold, are about to start germinating now. There might be exceptions...

[Gabriela]

Carolyn - this confirms what I suspected for a while, that most Corydalis species which do not form bulbs, will germinate at warm. Or, they may germinate after warm/cold, but in any case do not have hydrophilic seeds.

The other Chinese species I tried were C. ophiocarpa and C. incisa (horrible weedy this one). Of course there are many other species to be tried.

Also our native C. aurea (annual or biennial) germinates at warm or after cold stratification, depending on the date of seeds maturation.

I managed to get Corydalis kokiana from the exchange. Seeds have been inside now for six weeks and I'm going to move pots to cold in the week end. I hope they germinate after two or three months of cold.

Good luck Leena! Looking fwd to see if it germinates.

[Carolyn]

Gabriela,
Another non-hydrophilic one is C cheilanthifolia. I have sown fresh seeds in summer and they germinated in a few weeks. Sown in the autumn/winter, they germinate in spring. It's not bulbous either.

[Rick R.]

I like C. cheilanthifolia. It is a nice filler in my garden, and it's always surprises me how many nice comments I get from visitors for such an easily grown plant.  I could say the same about Fibigia clypeata.
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I also have germinated C. wilsonii in a few weeks of 20C.  Its foliage is the most powdery blue of any corydalis I know.
   

If might share a germination success story with Corydalis hydrophillic seed:
     In 2015 I had 60 Corydalis malkensis seed from the SRGC.  (So these were dried seed from 2014.) I expected they would need warm, then cool to germinate.  That is, if I could get them to germinate.

  In late March, I took 30 seeds and placed them in a sealed small baggie with a moist (not wet) piece of paper towel, but the paper towel was not in contact with the seed.  The idea was to have the seed very slowly imbibe water from water vapor only, hopefully not destroying the cell integrity of the seed as it re-hydrates.  15 days later the seed had noticeably enlarged, and I planted them in soil.  They spent the rest of summer and winter outdoors.  The following March, 25 seedlings emerged at the 4-10C range.

Apparently, many recalcitrant seeds are not actually dead when they lose water.  But due to the loss of water, cell walls are forced to shrink, but can't do it uniformly.  Instead the rigid walls crinkle up like aluminum foil.  Normal re-hydration forces these crinkles to straighten too fast.  The integrity of the cell walls break and the cells die.  But very slow water imbibing allows cell walls to slowly straighten back to the previous shape without damage.

The other 30 seeds were planted directly into soil.  The rest of the treatment was the same.  Not even one seed ever emerged from this batch.

I've tried this method with dry Trillium seed with mixed success, but never in detriment.

Any thoughts or advice on this from anyone?  This year, instead of the this tedious vapor method, I am trying direct planting in barely moist soil, sealing it up, but not watering for 2-3 weeks.

[Véronique Macrelle]

I sowed 3 species received from the srgc at the end of January.
 I rehydrated them in a plastic bag with a slightly damp paper for 2 weeks.

then sown in pots
 put in an unheated greenhouse.

I have for 2 days 3l seedlings of Corydalis foetida which unfold: these seedlings are so typical!

I have already succeeded 1 Corydalis wilsonii, germinated after a whole year, but it died after having flowered after 2 years. and the few new seeds produced did not germinate afterwards.

don't corydalis need cross-pollination?