Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Bulbs => Galanthus => Topic started by: johnw on January 18, 2013, 05:39:39 PM
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I was lucky to get a small packet of platyphllus seed yesterday. Now how to treat them? Do they need a warm period after sowing followed by cold or straight into the cold?
I intend to sow about an inch or so deep. Possibly a little lower as I suspect this one does not want to dry out when in growth, maybe even not bone dry whilst dormant.
johnw
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Ian Young would probably say soak over night and plant half way down the pot.
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Soaking it is Mark. As these seeds are black & dry-looking I think halfway down, as you say and the BD insists, would be wise.
johnw
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I've found that dry Galanthus seed generally germinates well if surface sown, covered with a centimeter or so of grit, watered and left in a cold frame. Unless the seed is sown very fresh, it often seems to take two winters to break dormancy, so perhaps it does need a warm moist period before the cold, like Helleborus, which disperses seed at roughly the same time of year. Sown in January I'd be surprised, therefore, if it germinates before spring 2014. I have never bothered soaking Galanthus seed prior to germination. My view is that this treatment only helps in genera where germination inhibitors can be leached out of the seed by repeated soaking and washing - for example some Iris, Arum or Glaucidium palmatum, where the classic treatment is to put the seeds in a sock and tie it to the arm of the ball valve inside your lavatory cistern for a couple of weeks.
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I think that dry "fat" seed of many species often appreciates a gentle soaking before sowing.
As you say Tom, the seed will germinate if sown only covered by a centimetre of grit, but we would contend that the seedlings will grow on better if sown deeper.
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As this species is a great lover of very moist spots I did soak the seed as Mark recommended and they plumped up quite nicely overnight. The 5 precious seeds were planted deeply, again to prevent e drying of the future bulbils as per the BD.
johnw - +8c and blowing like mad.
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Good luck John. One of my favourite species. I was lucky enough to get some bulbs sent from a friend, but I would hesitate to try them here. Climate is just wrong. I wonder what species like a Mediterranean climate other than reginae olgae and its relatives?