Germinating now- - photos of seedlings

[Carolyn]

It's useful to learn which seeds can/should be sown under-ripe or still green. Eg primroses, which come up very quickly if not dried and brown.
I have read that trillium seeds, if sown before fully ripe, can germinate very quickly. So far, I have not found this to be the case - they all seem to need one cold period at least.
I sowed some fresh corydalis solida seeds last spring and they have not germinated yet. I wonder if they were not quite ripe? Harvesting them is difficult - a day too late and they have all been dispersed.

[Matt T]

I have read that trillium seeds, if sown before fully ripe, can germinate very quickly. So far, I have not found this to be the case - they all seem to need one cold period at least.

Most Trillium seeds appear to require a cycle of something like warm-cold-warm-cold-warm in order to germinate (by which I mean showing a cotyledon above the soil surface) if sowing fresh seed from ripe pods.

Carolyn, if you are getting Trillium germination after just one cold period you are achieving what many do not and cutting the germination down to a third of the usual time! You appear to be using the method suggested in the book 'Trilliums' by Fred & Roberta Case, i.e. sowing green seeds from unripe pods, the assumption being that the substances that control the mechanism for a double cold period to trigger cotyledon emergence have not yet been laid down. Congratulations.

If the seed is dry, a lot of patience and low expectations will help 

[ruben]

My new bouses to grow up seedlings, mostly crocus.

The germination grade is quiet high 

[Carolyn]

Yes, Matt, I have read what the Cases say in their book and last year sowed T hibbertonii and my large maroon trilliums (which may be chloropetalum, or kurabayashii, I'm not sure which) - some slightly under-ripe, some ripe but fresh.  I haven't yet found these yet this spring! They are somewhere in one of the frames.... But I know they didn't germinate in the autumn.

What I have got to show you  (- I dashed out in the pouring rain to retrieve the pot, so it's a poor photo - I'm not good with the flash) is T. kurabayashii, soaked in water overnight then sown on 5th March 2014 and left outside in all weathers.  Three seeds out of 18 have germinated.  I would say that they have only had one period of cold - last spring was very mild with no frost or even lowish temperatures.  These seeds were from the surplus seed which the seed ex sends out to local groups, which is why they weren't sown till March.

[Matt T]

From what I understand about dry seed (Deno says that dry Trillium seed should be considered dead), that's good going Carolyn.

Germinating here:

Conopodium majus, out native pignut, sown 19 Aug '14. Thank Lisa at Growild!

Fritillaria pudica, sown ?? my spreadsheet is empty  will have to check the label another time

The Tropeaolum speciosum I've shown before, but more are pushing through and characteristic leaves showing now.

Edit: I forgot to add these Crocus biflorus subsp. alexandrii from Marcus Harvey! I also have seed of Crocus hadriaticus from Marcus germinating now.

[Jan]

sowing seeds


 

[Jan]

The second method of sowing
 

[Jan]

Sowing Juno spring   

 

[Mike Ireland]

Not wishing to cause any confusion regards germinating Trillium kurabayashii seed, but last year I mislaid a large amount of Trillium kurabayashii seed & months later(late September) I found the seed dried to a crisp.  I scattered the seed on the garden, it germinated more or less straight away.  A photo today of the seedlings emerging for the second time.
It would appear there are no hard & fast rules in nature.

[Lewis Potter]

Seeds that have germinated within the last week in the greenhouse (No Heated ) are:

Dodecatheon puchellum
Primula capitata
Primula florindae

Also been trying my hand at hybridizing with narcissus and helleborus. Have to wait until next year to see how that turns out.

[johnstephen29]

Here are some seeds that have started to germinate, first is Lillium Formosanum Pricei, can't remember where I got the seed from. The next one is narcissus Bulbocodium, these are rhs wisley seed, I was at wisley last spring for the cyclamen society show and they had a grassy bank full of these, a really beautiful site.

Lillium Formosanum Pricei by johnstephen29, on Flickr

Narcissus Bulbocodium by johnstephen29, on Flickr

[Carolyn]

Not wishing to cause any confusion regards germinating Trillium kurabayashii seed, but last year I mislaid a large amount of Trillium kurabayashii seed & months later(late September) I found the seed dried to a crisp.  I scattered the seed on the garden, it germinated more or less straight away.  A photo today of the seedlings emerging for the second time.
It would appear there are no hard & fast rules in nature.

That's amazing! The seedlings must have grown on late into the autumn, to have made these healthy looking mature leaves.

[Mike Ireland]

That's amazing! The seedlings must have grown on late into the autumn, to have made these healthy looking mature leaves.

The first year leaves died over winter, the leaves in the photo appeared in the last couple of weeks.
Some leaves are even showing dark markings.

[Leena]

It is interesting to read about T.kurabayashii!
These are T.chloropetalum rubrum, sown in the autumn 2013, first kept inside for two months, then cold rest of the winter, outside summer 2014 and cold until now when they started to germinate.

[François Lambert]

Some seeds I have sown in 2014 did not germinate.  Probably the needed a winter chill to tell them to do so.