Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Seedy Subjects! => Grow From Seed => Topic started by: Eric Locke on October 05, 2008, 08:33:48 PM
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Hi all
I have for the first time, seed heads on this lovely Arisema.
Having turned red these are now starting to drop.
Can anyone please pass on any information as to how to raise these from seed.
Many thanks.
Eric
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Hello Eric - First, wash the seeds. I find the best way is to put them in a kitchen sieve and gently rub them until all the red coating is detached then dry them between paper towels.
Sow the seeds on a moisture-retentive seed raising mix then cover them with either a thin layer of the mix, or (I prefer) a .5cm layer of washed grit. Fresh seeds as yours are, should germinate quite quickly, maybe within weeks. Keep the pot cool and moist and perhaps under cover for this coming winter.
Are you in the UK? It seems to me that if they are ripe now, it is quite late. I would have expected the seeds to be ready around June/July. But sow them now anyway. They germinate best while fresh.
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Hello Lesley
Yes.I am in the UK.
Many thanks for your advise which I shall follow and hopefully will have many plants to pass on to others.
Eric
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Eric,
Lesley is spot on for what I'd be doing as well. Interestingly, while you're harvesting seed, I have one of them in flower here in Australia!! :D
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Mine are through but not opening out yet. Won't be long. I saw hundreds in a Blue Mountains garden at Mt. Tomah, all just about out. Magnificent!
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Lesley,
The idea of hundreds of them!! :o I'm just happy to get a single flower some years. :'(
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Are you in the UK? It seems to me that if they are ripe now, it is quite late. I would have expected the seeds to be ready around June/July. But sow them now anyway. They germinate best while fresh.
Lesley,
The seeds of my Sikokianums were never ripe before the middle or the end of December.
This was normal to me. Germination was easy, as you told.
The problem is to receive some seeds. You have to spot female and male plants and pollinate them. It seems there are no insects here which do the job.
Gerd
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I know what you mean Gerdk. We have had lots of Arisaemas flowering this year but only 2 have set seed.
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Well, I don't know about the seeds but I just wanna say - the plant is really spectacular! :P
I hope that You'll grow It!Wish You luck! :)
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Seeds all harvested , washed, dryed and ready for sowing.
I could not believe the large numbers of seeds !!
Each small pod contained six or seven seeds and from the two complete seed heads I have a minimum count of one thousand. Is this usuall ?
These plants grew much larger this year and all flowered too which was nice.
Eric
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Fantastic harvest, Eric! You'll be cornering the market!! 8)
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I've not had seed on my sikokianums so I can't say it that number per berry is usual but with other species I generally get 1, 2 or 3 per berry, very rarely 4.
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Reading this thread made me look through some pictures from last year and I found this Arisaema fruit with berries containing 8-10 seeds
each. It was sown in regular sowing soil (for the Swedish market, a peat based medium with some perlit in it) exactly one year ago and
stored quite cold (but not under freezing point) till the frost risk was over. It germinated fantastically and now I have a lot of small
bulbs. :)
The last picture is from this July when it was in full growth.
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Hi Johan
Thats one hell of a pot full. Which Arisaema is it?
I was wondering if anyone new of any suppliers of the more unusal Arisaemas from China and Japan.
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ellen&dan,
Guess I got lucky! Other Arisaema seed boxes did not move at all!
I don't know wich species it is yet. I collected the seeds myself last year, when I was travelling in Sikkim/India. A friend, very much dedicated to Arisaemas has suggested A. wallichianum, but I guess I have to wait and see... ;)
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A. wallichianum is a lovely Arisaema. Thats what makes collecting wild seeds so much fun, waiting for it to flower and seeing what you get.
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Johan,
If you see no germination the first season it may be because the seed may be from a species such as Arisaema urashima. Such species don't produce an eophyll the first year, instead they just form a tuber.
David
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David,
Yes, I have heard about some species behaving that way. I will keep the seed boxes for at least another year and just hope for a delayed germination.
If you see no germination the first season it may be because the seed may be from a species such as Arisaema urashima. Such species don't produce an eophyll the first year, instead they just form a tuber.
Is there anyone who know wich Arisaema species that behave in this way?
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John,
Keep them for a few years. I've had germination of one species at least 3 years after sowing them. I never throw out seed pots for a few years anyway, because you never can tell when the conditions will be "just right" for whatever it is to germinate. One year I had Trillium seed germinate very well.... in pots that were 2, 3 or 4 years old. All chose the same year to germinate as the conditions were obviously spot on that year. :D
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Johan
That is an amazing tray of seedlings (you sure that it is not lettuce ::)). I sow my smaller quantities of seed in a small square pot and am delighted to see one seed germinate. The rest are a bonus. Good luck with them.
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Paul,
I will keep my seed pots for a few more years, thats for sure. It is really hard to throw away any of the seed boxes, especialy the ones wich I have collected the seeds myself. I will probobly keep those boxes forever ;)!
I cant wait til spring, to se what will germinate for me. This is what makes sowing so fantastic. -As long as you have seed boxes around, it could be christmas any day!
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David,
Normaly I dont sow that amount of seeds. and nomaly I dont have that kind of luck. I guess that every single seed must have germinated in that box.
We grow a lot of Arisaemas in the nurery where I work, so some of the bulbs will eventually end up there.
The last cuple of days I have gone through about ten different first year old Arisaema seedlings. ANd I find it amazing how big the differenses are between different species. And that its also possible to see some of the species characters. The first one is A. sikkokianum. The other remain sp. the second picture is the one from the massive seed tray. I think that the last one could be A. nepentoides
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Johan,
The other thing I have found is that if you haven't had germination after a few years you should disturb the pot. In the past I've had Fritillarias for example that have had germination over a couple of seasons, then I have ended up taking out the larger bulbs after about 3 years..... then I get more germination the following spring. I know for absolute sure that it has happened with a couple of different Fritillarias, and an Erythronium, at the very least. There is something about the disturbance that stimulates the remaining seeds to germinate. Worth giving it a try before considering throwing out a seed pot.
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this autumn, I obtain seeds of Arisaema saxatile from mine. I will sow them immediatly to morrow. First trying
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In my optinion it is very easy to raise A. sikokianum from seeds.The fist flowers appear in the second growing season !, but only male flowers.But it is very difficult to obtain seeds.Every year I pollinate my plants, the seed heads break down before seeds reach maturity.So I hope this year is a better one....
With other Arisaema species it needs 4 or 5 years for the first flowers.
Here I want show a manmade hybrid: A. serratum x A. sik.
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Hello everyone
Does anybody have any tips on sowing & germinating Arisaema sikokianum seeds?
Kind regards
Mike
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I just got some of these from the AGS seedex and I'm looking for the same advice. The site:
http://www.onrockgarden.com/
says:
A 2 8 * sow thinly; keep dry when dormant; do not move for 2 years
A Sow @ 20C. Seed germinates within 3 months.
2 Requires darkness.
8 Pulpy coat inhibits germination. Remove by soaking and rinsing in clean water daily for 7 days. Discard water.
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Mike, David, this thread was already in existence so I have moved your posts to it!
M
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Maggi you are wonderful!!
Thanks very much.
Mike
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Results from my sowings. :)
More are germinating every few days too. :)
Eric
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I wish mine (see above) looked so good. I have now learnt how sensitive arisaema are to sunlight - the sun at the end of January was enough to stop them growing. They did produce bulbs which I've put in the fridge.