Germinating now?

[David Nicholson]

They look like onions to me

Well they would, wouldn't they

[Lesley Cox]

Mark, yes, that's pretty much as I remember it. You see what I mean by a spidery flower. The affinity with I. sintenisii is obvious and I don't see why so many sources would be mis-naming as ssp brandzae, a form of I. setosa which is quite different. Likely it was one person in the first place and people who received it as such never bothered to check, before distributing it.

When yours are well grown on and flowering, I'll be asking for seed unless I can get some in the meantime.

[Lori S.]

More.... some new ones, others previously mentioned but now with true leaves...

1) Aubrieta canescens    -warm, germ in 6 days    Pavelka; 2500m, Bolkar Dag, Turkey, limestone rocks,dwarf compact cushions, many stemless pale pink solitary flowers, 2008 seed.
2) Arabis androsacea     -warm, germ in 6 days     Holubec; ex. Turkey: Ala Dag, 2200m, limestone scree; small cushions, white hairy rosettes, white flowers on 4cm long stems;2009 seed.
3) Inula acaulis ssp. caulescens  -warm, germ in 6 days ;Pavelka - 2000m, Sipikor Dag, Turkey; dwarf perennial; 1-3 yellow flowers on scapes 48cm; moist places in mountains; 2006 seed.
4) Eremostachys speciosa   -warm, germ in 8 days   Holubec;Kazakhstan: Foothills of Zailiski Ala Tau, 1400m, mountain grassland; xeric plant 20-40cm, bipinnate leaves, 15cm long, large yellow flowers in compact racemes, 15cm long; 2009 seed.
5) Ajania tenuifolia   -warm, germ in 8 days         Holubec;China: Zheduo Shan, Sechuan, 4300m, alpine grassland; aff. Tanacetum; 2009 seed.
6) Convolvulus holosericeus  -warm, germ in 8 days    Pavelka;1500m, Bozkir, Turkey; dwarf compact cushions; silky silver short leavesk solitary stemless white flowers, white to pale yellow; dry stoney places; 2008 seed.
7) Dianthus arpadianus ssp. pumilus  -warm, germ in 5 days but slow-growing;  Pavelka;1700m, Kaz Dag, Turkey; dwarf compact hard cushions, silver short leaves, pink flowers, stemless or scapes to 5cm; stoney places, 2008 seed.
8 ) Inula heterolepis   -warm, germ in 5 days          Pavelka;1500m, Akkaya Dag, Turkey; limestone rocks; tufted white lanate plant, many smaller yellow flowers, 10-20cm; 2006 seed.
9)Phyllophyton camplanatum  -warm, germ in 8 days    Holubec; China: Beima Shan, Yunnan, 4500m, limestone scree; beautiful hairy Lamium, 5-12 cm high, imbricate reddish green leaves, long blue axillar flowers; 2008 seeds.
10) Bolanthus cherierioides -warm, germ in 10 days      Pavelka;2100m, Sultan Dag, Turkey; dwarf compact cushions, many stemless pale pink solitary flowers, sunny stoney hills.

[arilnut]

Here is a tray of tecophilaea seedlings that poped up 2 weeks ago.

John B

[arillady]

Aril species and hybrids have been slowly emerging from seed with cooler nights and days. With a welcome 30ml of rain I have started to plant out any pots that have shown germination. The plan is that with the soil still warm they should take off well before the frosts or relatively (for us) cold days ahead. Must get roses planted out too as autumn planting is so much better than winter or spring before the blast of summer.

[iann]

pediocactus and sclero-maybe toumeya are said to need cold stratification) he also suggests it for several other cold zone cacti, echinocereus etc.

None of these need cold stratification.  Echinocereus are easy to germinate although there are species I haven't tried.

Pediocactus and Sclerocactus are difficult to germinate and one suggested technique is to put them through freeze thaw cycles, but they are quite capable of germinating without ever being cold.  Scarification and patience are two other techniques   They're difficult to keep alive though, some species verging on the impossible.  I have three seedlings so far this year from four pots of seedlings.

[cohan]

pediocactus and sclero-maybe toumeya are said to need cold stratification) he also suggests it for several other cold zone cacti, echinocereus etc.

None of these need cold stratification.  Echinocereus are easy to germinate although there are species I haven't tried.

Pediocactus and Sclerocactus are difficult to germinate and one suggested technique is to put them through freeze thaw cycles, but they are quite capable of germinating without ever being cold.  Scarification and patience are two other techniques   They're difficult to keep alive though, some species verging on the impossible.  I have three seedlings so far this year from four pots of seedlings.

pedio and sclero are mentioned in an article on the mesa gardens website, he advises the outdoor freeze/thaw treatment; perhaps like some others there are issues with the age of the seed?-older germinating better..i know people who have tried warm germination with pedios with no results..
i've heard pedios do not like warm summer nights..no problems here with that overall, it seems at least some sp of pedio should do very well outdoors here..

[iann]

Fritz Hochstatter, possibly the leading expert on Pediocactus and possibly with the benefit of large quantities of seed straight off the plants, says:

The cleaned seeds, treated with fungicide are kept at 30°C by day and 15-20°C at night in a germination box/propagator. Those seeds that have not germinated after 2-3 weeks are carefully pricked-open with a needle and replanted in the germination box. After another 10-14 days furthe seeds will germinate. Its worth mentioning that the seeds are not cold (frosted) pretreated. They are germinated in a mix of peat and sand.

I don't find freezing necessary, but it will contribute to weakening tough seed coats.  Pediocactus become dormant in summer and increasingly likely to rot.  They grow incredibly quickly (for a cactus) during a short period at the end of winter, and less obviously a little in late summer or autumn.  I'd guess that your winters are just too cold for even the hardiest Pediocactus.  Pediocactus occur at lower and lower altitudes the further north you go, nearly down to sea level in Washington state.  Maybe with ideal conditions and a sheltered spot.  I find P. simpsonii and P. nigrispinus very tolerant of water in an English summer although the other species are very tricky all round.

I'm going to throw in a gratuitous picture because this is the time of year when Pediocactus do their stuff before it gets too hot

[Maggi Young]

Gratuitous flower photos.... don't you just love it!!
 That's a cute and cheery photo, Iann

[Lesley Cox]

All that baby pink and sunshine disguising a vicious base.

[Maggi Young]

All that baby pink and sunshine disguising a vicious base.

Yes! That's what I like about it!!

[JPB]

Lilium washingtonianum has been sitting and not moving for more than a month now (see photo). Does it need a cold-treatment or something to trigger development of the leaves? Or shoud I leave it and wait till next winter?

Thanks, Hans

[ashley]

I was delighted to receive several paeonia spp from the exchange last year, germinating now with a range of different foliages & colours

[cohan]

Fritz Hochstatter, possibly the leading expert on Pediocactus and possibly with the benefit of large quantities of seed straight off the plants, says:

The cleaned seeds, treated with fungicide are kept at 30°C by day and 15-20°C at night in a germination box/propagator. Those seeds that have not germinated after 2-3 weeks are carefully pricked-open with a needle and replanted in the germination box. After another 10-14 days furthe seeds will germinate. Its worth mentioning that the seeds are not cold (frosted) pretreated. They are germinated in a mix of peat and sand.

I don't find freezing necessary, but it will contribute to weakening tough seed coats.  Pediocactus become dormant in summer and increasingly likely to rot.  They grow incredibly quickly (for a cactus) during a short period at the end of winter, and less obviously a little in late summer or autumn.  I'd guess that your winters are just too cold for even the hardiest Pediocactus.  Pediocactus occur at lower and lower altitudes the further north you go, nearly down to sea level in Washington state.  Maybe with ideal conditions and a sheltered spot.  I find P. simpsonii and P. nigrispinus very tolerant of water in an English summer although the other species are very tricky all round.

I'm going to throw in a gratuitous picture because this is the time of year when Pediocactus do their stuff before it gets too hot

i think i must have read that before; i only had one seed batch of pedios this year--we'll see what (part) winter does for them--outdoor treatment sounds much easier than handpricking, that would be a last resort;
actually there are many pedios at rather high cold elevations, and many--most simpsonii for example, are rated usda zone 3 (beavercreek offers a number of forms), and i know someone growing a number in edmonton-well to the north of here, with slightly colder winters but also slightly warmer summers; also another grower in the mountains in british columbia, zone three-with a lot more snow than here, but similar short summer; interstingly, both of those growers report nigrispinus forms also to be fully hardy for them, which one might not have thought given the altitudes they come from;
...time will tell what will actually grow here

[t00lie]

Lilium washingtonianum has been sitting and not moving for more than a month now (see photo). Does it need a cold-treatment or something to trigger development of the leaves? Or shoud I leave it and wait till next winter?

Thanks, Hans

Hello Hans

Interestingly i had a couple of seeds of L.washingtonianum var purpurascens ,(sown Aug 09), germinate in summer a month or so back --the attached pic ,(of last weekend),shows the cotyledon growth of one ,as well as an other forming a very small bulb but with no above the ground growth yet.
 
The pic also shows a third seed just now germinating with a radicle pushing through the seed wall.

The pot has been placed under cover and so i expect growth to continue over winter.

Unfortunately i cannot answer your questions other than to say that in my climate they seem very slow to grow away once germination has occured.

Cheers Dave.